Introduction

Abstract

THE coinage of a memorable phrase or seductive epithet to describe this or that phenomenon is a common device for drawing popular attention to it. Thus, the ‘Great Depression’ was derived from the Royal Commission on the Depression of Trade and Industry in 1886, which offered an opportunity for merchants and manufacturers to ventilate their concern over foreign competition. Subsequently the period to which the ‘Great Depression’ applied was extended by historians to cover the years between 1873 and 1896, when falling prices appeared to be the dominant trend. This revisionism, one of the imperatives of historical research, is an important part of the historiographical process, for in attempting to describe and explain the past the historian necessarily resorts to compression and comparison in order to highlight the major contrasts and similarities in historical trends, problems and periods. Such a process requires categorisation and labelling as a legitimate shorthand device for isolating what is peculiar or particularly significant. Unfortunately there is a danger not only that historians’ labels may distract us from the complexity of historical change but also that they will persist after research findings have undermined their validity.