U3A in London (Hampstead) - Wednesday European History Talks

Summer Term 2026

July 15th

223. Fatal Competition. How competition on the North Atlantic steamship route lead to the sinking of the Titanic with 129 slides.

July 22nd

224. Votes for Women. The British story. with 90 slides.

Autumn Term 2026

Sep 16th

225. 1908 on Mainland Europe and Britain, starting in Serbia & the Turkish Empire, then Ireland, Britain, Portugal & back to Britain with 108 slides.

Sep 23rd<

226. Balkan Wars and Ireland with 123 slides.

Sep 30th<

227. Italian Futurism. A modernist Art movement with unfortunate implications with 211 slides.

Oct 7th

228. 1st World War 1 1914 with 116 slides.

Oct 13th<>/p>

229. 1st World War 2 1915-1 with 103 slides.

Oct 21th

230. 1st World War 3 1915-2 with 112 slides & music.

Oct 28th

231. 1st World War 4 1915-3 with 96 slides.

Nov 4th

232. 1st World War 5 1915-3 and 1916-1 with 96 slides.

Nov 11th

233. 1st World War 6 1916-2 with 83 slides & music..

Nov 18th

234. The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams 12/10/1872 - 20/8/1958. His music & life including his Great War experience with 152 slides & music.

Nov 25th

235. 1st World War 7 1916-3 1917-1 with 102 slides.

Dec 2nd

236. 1st World War 8 1917-2 with 105 slides.

Dec 9th

237. Egon Schiele. The scandalous Austrian Expressionist artist. with 314 slides.

Spring Term 2027

Jan 6th

238. 1st World War 9 1918 with 94 slides.

Jan 13th

239. 1st World War 10 1918 with 106 slides.

Jan 20th

240. Revived States in the Baltic. Finland, Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania with 98 slides.

Jan 27th

241. The composer Jean Sibelius 1865 - 1957. The leading Finnish composer’s life & works with 158 slides & music..

Feb 3rd

242. The Russian Civil War. Reds versus Whites & the Polish involvement with 103 slides.

Feb 10th

243. Talking about Peace. The Versailles Conference & peace treaties with 103 slides.

Feb 17th

244. New thinking, good & bad: Psychoanalysis, curing syphilis & economic bad ideas with 86 slides.

Feb 24th

245. After World War I-1. The Ottomans, Britain & Italy with 107 slides.

Mar 3rd

242. The Russian Civil War. Reds versus Whites & the Polish involvement with 103 slides.

Mar 10th

243. Talking about Peace. The Versailles Conference & peace treaties with 103 slides.

Mar 17th

244. New thinking, good & bad: Psychoanalysis, curing syphilis & economic bad ideas with 86 slides.

Mar 24th

245. After World War I-1. The Ottomans, Britain & Italy with 107 slides.

Summer Term 2027

Apr 28th

246. Russian Modernism in Visual Art Part Two ....also in the service of the Soviet Revolution with 229 slides.

May 5th

247. After World War I-2. Germany, Disarmament, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Britain & the early Soviet Union with 108 slides.

May 12th

248. Czechs, France, Britain, Italy to 1929 with 104 slides.

May 19th

249. The Bauhaus: Modern art, architecture & Design in Germany with 220 slides.

May 26th

250. Iberia 1900 - 1975. Spain is not involved in the Great War & Portugal to past the end of these talks with 110 slides.

June 2nd

251. Neutral countries in the Great War: What happened in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands & Switzerland with 83 slides.

June 9th

252. The composer Bela Bartok 25/3/1881 - 26/9/1945. Folk-based modernism from Hungary with 156 slides & music.

June 16th

253. The Balkans: The formation of modern Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece & Romania with 98 slides.

June 23th

254. The Roaring twenties: The arts & entertainment cut loose from pre-War conventions with 143 slides.

June 30th

255. Russia, Germany & Dictators The Soviet Union after Lenin. Germany struggles to pay reparations. Albania etc with 108 slides.

July 7th

256. The Great Crash...leading to the Great Depression. Economists largely get it all wrong with 101 slides.

July 14th

257. A low dishonest decade-1. The 1930s part 1 - Russia, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Spain & Baltic states with 84 slides.

July 21st

258. A low dishonest decade-2. The 1930s part 2 - France, Balkans, Austria, Turkey, Britain, Italy conquers Ethiopia, Britain digs itself a hole in the Levant & the Czech soft dictator dies, with 98 slides.

Autumn Term 2027

259. A low dishonest decade-3. The 1930s part 3 - The Germans re-occupy the Rhineland, Stalin purges the Communist Party, Civil War engulfs Spain, France elects a Popular Front government, more Stalin purges, Britain rearms & gets a better but still Tory government with 87 slides.

260. Last of the 1930s. The 1930s part 4 is the immediate run-up to the Second World War with 115 slides.

261. The Phony War. Nothing much hsppens except at sea & in China with 1035 slides.

262. Hitler's First moves. He takes Denmark & Norway. Britan gets a coalition government. Hitler takes the Benelux & France. Italy rushes to the aid of the victor. Britain sinks some of the French fleet, wins the Battle of Britain & holds Malta. Italy conquers British Somaliland, attacks Egypt & Greece with 104 slides.

263. Not a Walk in the Park. Britain courts the USA. Italy & the British navy scrap in the Mediterranean but Britain reconquers Ethiopia. The Free French fail in Senegal but win Central Africa. Italy loses against Greece but Hitler wins & gets bogged-down in Jugoslavia/ Britain defends Malta & defeats the Italian fleet. War starts in the Western Desert. The Bismarck is sunk, The China-Japan war is complicated with 96 slides.

264. The Axis makes Big Mistakes. Hitler attacks the Soviet Union & gets stuck in the mud. War opens between Japan & the USA at Pearl Harbour. Britain loses Hong Kong, Malaya & Singapore. The USA loses the Philippines. Romania has a coup. Jugoslavia becomes a German nightmare with 112 slides.

265. Dmitri Dmitrevitch Shostakovich 25/9/1906 - 9/8/1975. The Russian composer who mirrored his times with 184 slides & music..

266. The Allies get a grip but in the Western Desert, are pushed back to El Alamein. The USA starts beating Japan at Midway. Hitler tries to take the Soviet oilfields & fails. Britain wins at El Alamein & Britain & the USA invade Algeria. Stalingrad falls & things improve at Leningrad with 95 slides.

267. The Turning of the Tide The US captures Guadalkanal, the British get on top of the U-boats, the Soviets push the NAZIs back & win the Battle of Kursk, the Dam Busters bust dams, the Allies invade Sicily & Italy leaves the War but the NAZIs set up a Puppet State under Mussolini. .

268. The Long Slog - 1 The US take the Soloman Islands, the Soviets cross the Dnieper, the British sink the Scharnhorst, Burmese & Chinese matters, the Allies invade Italy & take Rome, the British stop the Japanese entering India, The Japanese defeat the Chinese towards Indo-China with 92 slides.

269. Innovations. Big bombs, Midget submarines, Industrialised murder & Atomic weapons with 93 slides.

270. The Long Slog - 2 The US take the Marshall Islands, Biak & Saipan, the Soviets take Odesa, the NAZIs invade Hungary, D-Day happens & the Allies advance, The German army resistance tries to kill Hitler, the Battle of the Philippine Sea with 94 slides.

Spring Term 2028

271. The Path to Victory The Soviets almost get to Warsaw & the Poles rise up, the Allies advance through France but try to take a Bridge too Far, Romania & Hungary quit the War, the US takes most of the Philippines with 96 slides.

272. Victory in Europe, with 106 slides.

273. Oh, what a mess. Defeating the Japanese in Burma, off Japan's coast & in China. Atom bombing Japan. Starting to fix Europe. Albania frees itself. Problems in Greece, with 10i slides.

274. Rebuilding Europe. The Iron Curtain, The Greek Civil War. Top-level War Criminals. The Greek Civil War ends. Stopping Germany starving & the Berlin air-lift. The nuclear arms race, with 94 slides.

275. Empires-1. The British & French Empires start to dissolve, with 106 slides.

276. Points East. The Chinese & Vietnamese Communists win their wars. Stalin dies. The Korean War, with 106 slides.

277. Empires-2. Breaches in the Rule of Law by the USA in Iran & Guatemala & Soviets in East Germany, The British in Malaya. Khrushchev overthrows Stalinism, with 88 slides.

278. Britain’s comeuppance. Decolonisation starts. Egypt & the Suez Crisis. the British coup d'etat. The Middle East, with 107 slides.

279. Some Loose ends. Algerian Independence, the Berlin Wall, dissolving the British Empire, etc with 104 slides.

280. The End. More loose ends, with 114 slides.

...and back to the beginning.