Fraser Raeburn
@fraserraeburn.bsky.social
Historian interested in foreign fighters, transnational solidarities, emotion, anti-fascism and the Spanish Civil War. Currently based at @uvahumanities.bsky.social. Author 'Scots and the Spanish Civil War' (EUP, 2020). He/him.
Just passing through Wannsee en route to a conference
November 26, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Just passing through Wannsee en route to a conference
Cannot believe that I spent a week being angry that my favourite dumpling place in Sydney was closing only to find that it is actually the less good place with an almost identical name a few doors down that's closing.
November 26, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Cannot believe that I spent a week being angry that my favourite dumpling place in Sydney was closing only to find that it is actually the less good place with an almost identical name a few doors down that's closing.
21st century history PhD: sorry, my specialty is mid-19th century mustaches, you'll need to ask someone else about 1890s beards
19th century German:
19th century German:
November 22, 2025 at 5:34 PM
21st century history PhD: sorry, my specialty is mid-19th century mustaches, you'll need to ask someone else about 1890s beards
19th century German:
19th century German:
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
CFP: www.northampton.ac.uk/research-blo... Nostalgia and Radical Politics, Past and Present, a 2 day workshop (15-16 June 2026) 🗃️Please share - and submit an abstract!
Call For Papers: Nostalgia and Radical Politics, Past and Present | UON
Centre for Historical Studies, University of Northampton, UK Monday 15 – Tuesday 16 June 2026 Nostalgia, defined most simply as a wistful or...
www.northampton.ac.uk
November 17, 2025 at 1:56 PM
CFP: www.northampton.ac.uk/research-blo... Nostalgia and Radical Politics, Past and Present, a 2 day workshop (15-16 June 2026) 🗃️Please share - and submit an abstract!
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
📣 New Voices continues with a blog from Rosie Charles, @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social.
Rosie's blog explores superphosphate manufacturing by the British and French empires, charting the impact of fertiliser production on imperial expansion and agricultural practices.
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
Rosie's blog explores superphosphate manufacturing by the British and French empires, charting the impact of fertiliser production on imperial expansion and agricultural practices.
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
Empire in the Soil: Superphosphate and the British and French Imperial Manufacture, 1914-1937 « History# « Cambridge Core Blog
The history of European imperial agriculture has often been told through the lens of technological innovation, such as the development of the agricultural automotive industry or the application of adv...
www.cambridge.org
October 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
📣 New Voices continues with a blog from Rosie Charles, @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social.
Rosie's blog explores superphosphate manufacturing by the British and French empires, charting the impact of fertiliser production on imperial expansion and agricultural practices.
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
Rosie's blog explores superphosphate manufacturing by the British and French empires, charting the impact of fertiliser production on imperial expansion and agricultural practices.
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
Genuine peace offering or court-mandated statement?
October 27, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Genuine peace offering or court-mandated statement?
Probably just rehashing archive theory 101 here, but I wonder whether archival holdings for 1914-18 or 1939-45 are uniquely rich, because (among other reasons) the people selecting documents for preservation at the time were aware of the historic nature of the events at hand.
October 22, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Probably just rehashing archive theory 101 here, but I wonder whether archival holdings for 1914-18 or 1939-45 are uniquely rich, because (among other reasons) the people selecting documents for preservation at the time were aware of the historic nature of the events at hand.
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
Bluesky keeps on evolving and thriving! Keep up to date with some of your favorite history people with the AskHistorians Starter Pack! Collecting the friends, flairs and contributors of our great community in one beautiful list!
go.bsky.app/AXQNBFg
go.bsky.app/AXQNBFg
October 18, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Bluesky keeps on evolving and thriving! Keep up to date with some of your favorite history people with the AskHistorians Starter Pack! Collecting the friends, flairs and contributors of our great community in one beautiful list!
go.bsky.app/AXQNBFg
go.bsky.app/AXQNBFg
Honestly English nationalists need to find a different hill to die on that the relative merits of cuisines.
October 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Honestly English nationalists need to find a different hill to die on that the relative merits of cuisines.
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
poor old Tony Abbott is on the public broadcaster dismissing the oldest and longest continuous oral histories in the history of humanity as “hearsay” how’s your morning going.
October 12, 2025 at 7:54 PM
poor old Tony Abbott is on the public broadcaster dismissing the oldest and longest continuous oral histories in the history of humanity as “hearsay” how’s your morning going.
Perfectly representative of AI-driven efficiency savings: you go back and forth for far longer than you otherwise would have, only to arrive at a solution that doesn't work anyway.
This is amazing. I laughed out loud www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
![As 32-year-old Rich points out, though, "it's not like using ChatGPT guarantees success".
When he met someone in a bar one Friday night and swapped social media handles, he asked AI what his next move should be.
ChatGPT discerned that sending an initial message on Monday midmorning would set the right pace. "Then it gave me some options for what the message could be," says Rich.
"Keep it light, warm, and low-stakes so it reads as genuine interest without urgency," the bot advised. "Something like: Hey Sarah, still laughing about [tiny shared moment/reference if you've got one] - good to meet you!" Rich went back and forth with ChatGPT until he felt they'd hit upon exactly the right message ("Hey Sarah, it was lovely to meet you") but sadly she never replied, he says. "It's been two weeks now."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ugcmot4f3ool6cottht63wx4/bafkreierpoqvjgg5hqx3zhtlfmvrfq3vaakb3h5wppcdzrvs5jh3zr7ce4@jpeg)
October 12, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Perfectly representative of AI-driven efficiency savings: you go back and forth for far longer than you otherwise would have, only to arrive at a solution that doesn't work anyway.
You can celebrate autumn in the Netherlands, but only in specially designated holiday zones.
October 11, 2025 at 7:29 AM
You can celebrate autumn in the Netherlands, but only in specially designated holiday zones.
In a now-deleted AskHistorians comment someone claimed that more Protestants than Jews were killed in WW2, which has me absolutely spiralling between the layers on which the comparison makes zero sense and the mental image of someone actually sitting down and tallying the war dead by denomination.
October 10, 2025 at 10:11 PM
In a now-deleted AskHistorians comment someone claimed that more Protestants than Jews were killed in WW2, which has me absolutely spiralling between the layers on which the comparison makes zero sense and the mental image of someone actually sitting down and tallying the war dead by denomination.
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
Friends and comrades made a crowdfunding page for my family.
It’s really hard to post this. I know that there are a lot of other important issues asking for money but things have gotten to the point where we need to open ourselves up to your support.
Thank you for your consideration.
It’s really hard to post this. I know that there are a lot of other important issues asking for money but things have gotten to the point where we need to open ourselves up to your support.
Thank you for your consideration.
"Help us leave safely" on FreeFunder
Click here to support "Help us leave safely" by Dara on FreeFunder!
www.freefunder.com
October 9, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Friends and comrades made a crowdfunding page for my family.
It’s really hard to post this. I know that there are a lot of other important issues asking for money but things have gotten to the point where we need to open ourselves up to your support.
Thank you for your consideration.
It’s really hard to post this. I know that there are a lot of other important issues asking for money but things have gotten to the point where we need to open ourselves up to your support.
Thank you for your consideration.
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
🦋 With Bluesky's membership growing, here's a reminder that we've put together not one but TWO starter packs of people, journals and institutions working and publishing in our field.
Follow one contemporary European historian, get 149 free!
go.bsky.app/SU3jCJb
Follow one contemporary European historian, get 149 free!
go.bsky.app/SU3jCJb
October 2, 2025 at 9:45 AM
🦋 With Bluesky's membership growing, here's a reminder that we've put together not one but TWO starter packs of people, journals and institutions working and publishing in our field.
Follow one contemporary European historian, get 149 free!
go.bsky.app/SU3jCJb
Follow one contemporary European historian, get 149 free!
go.bsky.app/SU3jCJb
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
See the full vacancy text here: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...
Vacancy — PhD position - Benign Blockades? Blockades and sanctions, 1919-1939
The Amsterdam School for Historical Studies (ASH) invites applications for a fully funded PhD position (4 years, 1.0ft). This position is part of the ERC Synergy-funded research programme BLOCKADE, wh...
werkenbij.uva.nl
October 2, 2025 at 8:01 AM
See the full vacancy text here: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...
Kind of bizarre to see an Irish outlet engage in such an uncritical repetition of British historical mythmaking about Cable Street. This was not Mosley's March on Rome moment.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/heri...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/heri...
Battle of Cable Street: when the Irish helped beat back the fascists
A survivor of the legendary London street battle recalls a dramatic day in the East End
www.irishtimes.com
October 4, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Kind of bizarre to see an Irish outlet engage in such an uncritical repetition of British historical mythmaking about Cable Street. This was not Mosley's March on Rome moment.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/heri...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/heri...
Civil debate is not what you're doing if you are telling people that they have no right to exist or are inherently inferior to others.
September 13, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Civil debate is not what you're doing if you are telling people that they have no right to exist or are inherently inferior to others.
It'd be very Death of Stalin if Trump was actually perfectly alive, saw the shitposting and then had a rage-induced heart attack. Just saying.
August 30, 2025 at 11:26 AM
It'd be very Death of Stalin if Trump was actually perfectly alive, saw the shitposting and then had a rage-induced heart attack. Just saying.
Which way, historians.
August 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Which way, historians.
In Edinburgh for a couple of days and experiencing the Fringe again for the first time since the pandemic. Everything feels so familiar, except that the comedians now all have their neurodivergences diagnosed.
August 21, 2025 at 10:52 AM
In Edinburgh for a couple of days and experiencing the Fringe again for the first time since the pandemic. Everything feels so familiar, except that the comedians now all have their neurodivergences diagnosed.
Train service: sorry we need to cancel half the trains for reasons
Traveller: can you at least keep the half with more than the minimum number of carriages to compensate for the increased crowding
Train services: lol no
Traveller: can you at least keep the half with more than the minimum number of carriages to compensate for the increased crowding
Train services: lol no
August 18, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Train service: sorry we need to cancel half the trains for reasons
Traveller: can you at least keep the half with more than the minimum number of carriages to compensate for the increased crowding
Train services: lol no
Traveller: can you at least keep the half with more than the minimum number of carriages to compensate for the increased crowding
Train services: lol no
What a week for senior US academics going mask-off about how much they despise any traditional or principled notion of what a university should be.
August 14, 2025 at 11:11 AM
What a week for senior US academics going mask-off about how much they despise any traditional or principled notion of what a university should be.
Reposted by Fraser Raeburn
As always, Ted Chiang is great in this interview.
cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...
cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...
August 14, 2025 at 1:24 AM
As always, Ted Chiang is great in this interview.
cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...
cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...