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Peter McPhee

@petermcphee.bsky.social
605 followers 476 following 41 posts

Historian of France Chair of the History Council of Victoria, Australia Emeritus Professor, University of Melbourne Latest book: An Environmental History of France, 1770-2020 www.bloomsbury.com/uk/environmental…

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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Indeed!
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Yes, a classic early, low budget Dr Who series, dripping with clichés.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Yes, definitely a small puppy and sparrows on the window sill!
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Haha. Not sure about the lace ...
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Yes
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
You could begin with Martyn Lyons' overview then try one of the major biographies.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
Thierry Lentz is a great specialist in Napoleonic studies, but as Director of the Fondation Napoléon he presents a particular view.
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Briony Neilson @brionyneilson.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
I'm honoured to be speaking to @petermcphee.bsky.social on Mon 6 Oct at 1pm AEDT about my book Dangers of Youth: Age, Criminality, and Juvenile Justice Reform in Third Republic France at an online event hosted by the George Rudé Society. Please register here: uni-sydney.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Picture shows a book cover for Dangers of Youth
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
A beautiful essay about John Hirst's distinctive and significant contribution to our historical culture.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Félicitations ! Un travail extraordinaire.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Of course in some senses Napoleon was a soldier of the French Revolution but he also ended it in 1799. There are no clear ruptures in history.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Yes, but I'm also thinking of applied science with directly related things like the roll out of decimal measures.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Yes, you're quite correct: I should have had something to say about scientific and medical developments. That's a rather 'dated' volume now.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Thank you. 91 posts!
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
www.abc.net.au/news/science...
abc.net.au
150 years ago, 17 countries signed a treaty that affects how we live today
The next time you pick up a bag of spuds from the supermarket or fill up the car with petrol, you can thank a treaty signed in 1875 for the metric system that underpins daily life.
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Dr Nuits de Young @nuitsdeyoung.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
@petermcphee.bsky.social @mlinton.bsky.social @paulchopelin.bsky.social @ser-1789.bsky.social @cecs-york.bsky.social #FrenchRevolution #FrenchHistory #Robespierre #RevolutionFrançaise
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
The commemoration of the massive (and tragic) Donghak peasant rebellion of 1894 in Jeongeup, South Korea. The columns refer to the 90 places involved and the names of the identified victims are added to each year. The ring reminds us never to forget. There is no memorial like this to 1789 in France.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Brilliant article by Brooke Boney on why acknowledging First Peoples matters and the real reason why some people won't. www.theage.com.au/national/wel...
theage.com.au
Welcome to Country is not an election issue, so why are we talking about it? I think I know
If this Welcome to Country furore has shifted your vote, perhaps it’s time to come clean on your motivations.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
(from Australia) suggesting that you can explain the US dysfunction by reference to Trump and his body alone just demonstrates what's with US politics and commentary.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Spare a thought for the 2,000 people of the Australian territory of Norfolk Island who don't export anything to anyone but now have a tariff of 59%. Smart people those MAGAs.
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Dr Nuits de Young @nuitsdeyoung.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
@petermcphee.bsky.social @mlinton.bsky.social
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
A superb example of environmental history which integrates sensory experience, cultural identity, art, politics and economics in a beautifully written and gorgeous book.
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Dr Nuits de Young @nuitsdeyoung.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
@petermcphee.bsky.social @mlinton.bsky.social #FrenchRevolution #FrenchHistory
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
www.facebook.com/share/14zotK...
facebook.com
Redirecting...
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Alas, the easiest way to explain history is to ascribe it to a trope connected with an individual, as if the smash and grab going on in the US can be fully explained by reference to Trump
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Yes, you're right. The book sounds interesting so I'll keep an open mind!
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
The old clichés about "Robespierre's Terror" and his omnipotent control, apparently even over mirrors and underwear. Thanks for sending.
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Macron made Trump “the first president in history who had to be interrupted and corrected by an ally when the president of the United States was lying and lying about that ally” www.huffpost.com/entry/lawren...
huffpost.com
Trump Dragged After Being ‘Fully Humiliated On The World Stage’
Donald Trump was “humiliated and exposed in a way that no previous president ever could be," said MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Sometimes you need to laugh.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
youtube.com/watch?v=JYqf...
youtube.com
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History Council of Victoria @historycouncilvic.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
🎉 We are excited to join the history community here at BlueSky as the peak body for history in the Australian state of Victoria! Follow us for updates about HCV events, advocacy, news and opportunities. We have a bumper calendar coming up in 2025! ➡️ Learn more: www.historycouncilvic.org.au
historycouncilvic.org.au
History Council of Victoria
The History Council of Victoria is the peak body for history in Victoria. Through its activities, it encourages the understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of history, and aims to raise the profile ...
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History Council of Victoria @historycouncilvic.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
📚We are excited to announce our first Book+Author event of the year, feat historian Dr Geraldine Fela in conversation with our excellent host, Dr Yves Rees! The talk will take place in our brand new venue, the intimate Bard's Apothecary. ➡️Book now: historycouncilvic.org.au/book_author_...
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Dr Nuits de Young @nuitsdeyoung.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
A name used in my favourite Artois family… Memorial slab, with #MementoMori skull, in St Martin's, Carvin, to Robert Antoine & Barbe Catherine Duquesne, children of Jean François Duquesne & his wife Scholastique de Robespierre. @ser-1789.bsky.social @petermcphee.bsky.social @mlinton.bsky.social
An early 18C incised floor-slab in St Martin's Church, Carvin, France, with inscription for the siblings Robert Antoine & Barbe Catherine Duquesne. They are children of Jean François Duquesne and Scholastique de Robespierre. There is a skull memento mori carved at the bottom.
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Rebecca Spang @rlspang.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
This is completely true. It's also true that all doctors in the USA first have a BS or a BA degree from a university and it's generally considered important that physicians be capable of empathy and dealing with uncertainty. These skills are taught in the Humanities (which NIH, NSF etc do not fund).
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Dr Nuits de Young @nuitsdeyoung.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
For #18thCenturyists, let us remember Ms Faithfull as one of the more authentic-looking figures in Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette': Maria Theresia. @invitinghistory.bsky.social @suburbanbeatnik.bsky.social @hottycouture.bsky.social @mlinton.bsky.social @petermcphee.bsky.social @annihawk.bsky.social
Marianne Faithfull as Maria Theresia in Sofia Coppola's film 'Marie Antoinette': a woman in 18C costume, with powdered hair and a richly decorated black dress, seated in a lavishly decorated room with gilded furniture and plasterwork.
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Dr Nuits de Young @nuitsdeyoung.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
@mlinton.bsky.social @petermcphee.bsky.social @invitinghistory.bsky.social @suburbanbeatnik.bsky.social @annihawk.bsky.social @ser-1789.bsky.social
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Are we at a turning point in world history? | David Motadel www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Are we at a turning point in world history? | David Motadel
Political leaders increasingly caution that we are facing a historical ‘inflection point’. Are we?
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Are we at a turning point in world history? | David Motadel www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Are we at a turning point in world history? | David Motadel
Political leaders increasingly caution that we are facing a historical ‘inflection point’. Are we?
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Jennifer Yee @jenwhy.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Linen was essential, for clothing and sail-making in France from the middle ages until the 18thC. #Frenchpodcast with fascinating details on techniques and lots on production in Brittany, with @nadegegauffre.bsky.social and @soazigvillerbu.bsky.social #FreHistory www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...
radiofrance.fr
Tisser du lin, une histoire cousue de fil blanc : épisode 1/4 du podcast Textiles, une histoire étoffée
AUDIO • Textiles, une histoire étoffée, épisode 1/4 : Tisser du lin, une histoire cousue de fil blanc. Une série inédite proposée par France Culture. Écoutez Le Cours de l'histoire, et découvrez nos p...
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The French History Podcast @fhp.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
In most developed countries people of all political leanings believe climate change is a global threat (86% of left-wingers and 75% of right-wingers in France!), with the exceptions of the US, Israel Canada and Australia where their right-wingers deny the threat posed by climate change.
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Dr Nuits de Young @nuitsdeyoung.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Here in the UK there are curriculum issues. When I was at high school 1978-83, we did courses covering 2-3 centuries across diff countries. Now, there are 'modules' – gter depth, but more narrowly focussed & unconnected chronologically. No overview of what happened when, where, across Europe/world.
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
I agree, but there are other factors: history was most popular in high schools 50 years ago before being crowded out of the curriculum by new subjects. Why didn't history retain its appeal as senior high school numbers grew?
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
Bernhard Schlink, The Granddaughter.
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Briony Neilson @brionyneilson.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Cell door from Saint Lazare prison - among the objects on show at the ‘Paris 1793-1794: Une année révolutionnaire’ exhibition at the Musée Carnavalet
Photo shows door made of wood and metal on display in an exhibition
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Henrike Lähnemann @hlaehnemann.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
#nuntastic #teamnun - brilliant example of medieval women's voices resurfacing!
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Bérénice Gagne @berenicegagne.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
"Le retour à la vie des petites rivières urbaines" @cnrs.bsky.social "En France, des milliers de kilomètres de petits cours d’eau urbains oubliés et pollués au cours du temps constituent pourtant un réseau hydrographique essentiel à l’environnement" #inondations lejournal.cnrs.fr/articles/le-...
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AuPalais @palaisau.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
🩵
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Le Canard enchaîné @lecanardenchaine.fr · 15/12/2024
✏️ Vu par Aurel (@jesuisaurel.bsky.social) #assad
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Peter McPhee @petermcphee.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
For people in Melbourne, this digitally augmented 3D exhibition on the history and reconstruction of Notre Dame de Paris is a must see, now on at the Immigration Museum.
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Briony Neilson @brionyneilson.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
For me, André Zysberg will forever be synonymous with the history of French port city bagnes and quantitative history. RIP. 🗃
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