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Margaret MacMillan

Professor Margaret MacMillan became the fifth Warden of St Antony’s College in July 2007. Prior to taking on the Wardenship, Professor MacMillan was Provost of Trinity College and professor of History at the University of Toronto. She was educated at the University of Toronto (Honours BA in History) and at St Hilda’s College and St Antony’s College, Oxford University (BPhil in Politics and DPhil). From 1975 until 2002 she was a member of the History Department at Ryerson University in Toronto and she also served as Chair of the Department. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Senior Fellow of Massey College, University of Toronto, and sits on the boards of the Mosaic Institute, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, and the editorial boards of International History and First World War Studies. She has honorary degrees from the University of King’s College, the Royal Military College, Ryerson University, Toronto, the University of Western Ontario and Huron University College of the University of Western Ontario. In 2006 Professor MacMillan was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Professor MacMillan’s publications include Women of the Raj as well as Peacemakers: the Paris Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to Make Peace. The latter was published in North America as Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World and won the Duff Cooper Prize, the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction (the first woman to do so), the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History, the Silver Medal for the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award and the Governor-General’s prize for non-fiction in 2003. It was a New York Times Editor’s Choice in 2002. She has subsequently written Canada’s House: Rideau Hall and the Invention of a Canadian Home, jointly with Marjorie Harris and Anne L. Desjardins; Nixon in China: The Week That Changed the World (entitled Nixon and Mao in the US) was nominated in January 2007 for a Gelber Prize, awarded annually to the best book on international affairs published in English. Her most recent book is The War that Ended Peace: How Europe abandoned peace for the First World War (Profile Books, 2013). She comments frequently in the media on historical issues and current affairs

Series featuring Margaret MacMillan

  • European Studies Centre
  • Oh What a Lovely War? First World War Anniversary Lectures
  • St John's College
  • Researchers at work in Bodleian archives and historic collections
  • Building Peace 2010 to 2019
  • Latin American Centre
  • The Emerging Middle Class in Latin America: Causes, Challenges and Opportunities
  • Alumni Weekend
  • The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
  • Mansfield College
  • Humanitas - Visiting Professorships at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge
  • Politics and International Relations Podcasts
# Episode Title Description People Date
22 Panel Discussion 'The age of the strongman: populism and authoritarianism in global politics' A discussion on leaders and populism with Lord Patten, Gideon Rachman, Margaret MacMillan and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira Lord Patten of Barnes, Gideon Rachman, Margaret MacMillan, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira 07 Dec 2022
21 Creative Commons Nemir Kirdar Memorial Event Memorial event for the late Mr Nemir Amin Kirdar (1936-2020). Roger Goodman, Margaret MacMillan, Eugene Rogan, Serra Kirdar 15 Nov 2022
20 Live Event: On Being Unprepared (For Our Own Times) TORCH Goes Digital! presents a series of weekly live events Big Tent - Live Events! Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. Decolonisation the Curriculum Week. Margaret MacMillan, Homi K. Bhabha 13 Oct 2020
19 10th Anniversary Dahrendorf Lecture and Colloquium 4. Writing a history of Europe What Stories Does Europe Tell? Contested Narratives, Complex Histories, Conflicted Union. Ian Kershaw, Andreas Wirsching, Margaret MacMillan, Paul Betts 10 Jun 2020
18 America and the Treaty of Versailles A public lecture for a series on the United States and World War One. Margaret MacMillan 15 May 2017
17 Creative Commons Moving from War to Peace The 3rd Keynote of the War Time 2016 conference held 9-11 November 2016 Margaret MacMillan 29 Nov 2016
16 Varieties of Resistance, Professor Margaret MacMillan: Adam von Trott Memorial Lecture 2015 Professor Margaret MacMillan's Lecture, Varieties of Resistance was held at Mansfield College, Oxford on the 19th of November 2015 and was introduced by the Principal of Mansfield College, Baroness Helena Kennedy. Margaret MacMillan 25 Nov 2016
15 Elliot Lecture: 'The History of the Russian-Soviet Soul' St Antony's College hosts the 2015 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, Svetlana Alexievich, for a discussion of her the Soviet soul and her current and former projects. Svetlana Alexievich, Margarita Vaysman, Oliver Ready, Margaret MacMillan 17 Jun 2016
14 'Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World' Professor Timothy Garton Ash discusses the premise of his new book titled 'Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World.' Timothy Garton Ash, Margaret MacMillan, Adam Roberts, Patricia Thornton 16 Jun 2016
13 The Past and its Publics Simon Schama, Craig Clunas and Margaret MacMillan tackle the thorny question of how the past should interact with the public, or publics, who consume it. Simon Schama, Margaret MacMillan, Craig Clunas 20 May 2016
12 Latin American Culture and Politics in the 1960s: The View from Buenos Aires Professor John King, Warwick University, delivers the annual Guido Di Tella Memorial Lecture 2015. John King, Margaret MacMillan, Leigh Payne 25 Mar 2015
11 Welcome panel Andrew Hamilton (University of Oxford), Enrique García (CAF-Development Bank of Latin America), Margaret MacMillan (St Antony’s College) introduce the Emerging Middle Class in Latin America Conference Andrew Hamilton, Enrique Garcia, Margaret MacMillan 17 Nov 2014
10 Choice or Accident? The outbreak of the First World War The causes of the First World War have long been controversial and remain so. The Warden of St Antony's College, Oxford, and author of The War that Ended Peace (2013) brings us up to date on the debate. Margaret MacMillan 04 Nov 2014
9 The Meaning of 1914 A conversation between Professor Sir Hew Strachan and Professor Margaret MacMillan, chaired by Professor Patricia Clavin. Hew Strachan, Margaret MacMillan, Patricia Clavin 30 Oct 2014
8 The Peace that Ended the War The first in our lecture series for Trinity Term 2014, given in the JCR at Mansfield College by Professor Margaret MacMillan -- Warden of St Antony's College and a Professor of International History at the University of Oxford. Margaret MacMillan 03 Sep 2014
7 The past is never dead: Balkan legacies of the First World War part one Speakers include; Ivo Banac (Yale University), Richard Crampton (St Edmund Hall, Oxford), Basil Gounaris (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Margaret Macmillan (St Antony’s College, Oxford), Eugene Rogan (St Antony’s College, Oxford) Othon Anastasakis, Elizabeth Roberts, Margaret MacMillan, Richard Crampton 19 Jun 2014
6 Creative Commons Pax Canadiana: Canada, the Commonwealth, and the End of Empire Dr McKercher is Royal Bank of Canada Visiting Scholar at the Bodleian Library. His research explores Canadian reactions to the demise of the British imperial order, looking at Canadian foreign relations beyond the North Atlantic. Asa McKercher, Richard Ovenden, Margaret MacMillan 13 Jun 2014
5 OxPeace 2014: Opening Plenary Part 1 Professor Margaret MacMillan gives a talk for the opening plenary to the OxPeace 2014 Conference; New Wars? No Wars? Peacingmaking in new contexts Margaret MacMillan 02 Jun 2014
4 Creative Commons Accident or Choice? The Outbreak of the First World War The causes of the First World War have long been controversial and remain so. The Warden of St Antony's College, Oxford, and author of The War that Ended Peace (2013) brings us up to date on the debate. Margaret MacMillan 03 Feb 2014
3 Europe: still a common vision? Dr Wolfgang Schäuble (German Federal Minister of Finance) delivers a lecture for the European Studies Centre, St Antony's College on 29th October 2012. Wolfgang Schäuble, Chris Patten, Othon Anistasakis, Margaret MacMillan 03 Dec 2012
2 Creative Commons Why are we still trying to understand the outbreak of World War One? In this St John's College Research Centre 2012 Annual Lecture, Professor Margaret MacMillan examines the reasons why this question has remained important over the last 100 years and suggests some possible explanations for the outbreak of the war. Margaret MacMillan 29 Oct 2012
1 Creative Commons After "Returning to Europe": Divides and Challenges in the Enlarged European Union Professor Claus Offe (Professor of Political Sociology, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin) delivers the 2011 European Studies Centre Annual Lecture on 4th March 2011. Claus Offe, Margaret MacMillan 11 May 2011