Volume: 54 Issue: 10

S.P. MacKenzie asks why Colditz, the prisoner-of-war camp that saw escape attempts by 316 men in the Second World War, has captured a particular place in the...

The self-styled tribune of the Roman Republic, Cola di Rienzo, was murdered by an angry mob, on October 8th, 1354.

The grandson of William the Conqueror died on October 25th, 1154.

Claudius died on October 13th, AD 54. Roman opinion was convinced that Agrippina had poisoned him.

Philip Carter celebrates the lives reclaimed by the newly-published Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Mark Goldie traces the ways in which people across the political spectrum have used and abused the ideas of the philosopher who died 300 years ago this month.

Janet MacDonald looks at the surprisingly good rations that kept the Jack-Tars jolly.

Daniel Snowman profiles the historian of War, Finance, Empire and ‘Virtual’ History.

Alastair Bonnett discusses Eastern ideas of the West, and argues they form part of a non-Western debate on modernity and society.

Colin White surveys current scholarship on the national hero and announces an autumn lecture series devoted to him.

Catherine Allen describes a new oral history project that aims to create an archive charting the experiences of disabled people throughout the twentieth century.

Steven King argues that government policy on pensions is returning to the principles and practice of the Old Poor Law.

Sami Abouzahr untangles US policy towards France at the time of the Marshall Plan and the war in Indochina.

Hugh Purcell tells the story of the man who inspired the Home Guard, taught it guerrilla warfare and paid a price for his political beliefs.

Peter Furtado opens the October 2004 issue of History Today.