2013
To read any piece marked
, you'll need a subscription to our online archive
|
Seventy years ago this month a Nazi train was stopped by resisters as it travelled from Flanders to Auschwitz. Althea Williams tells the story of a survivor. ... |
|
Lucy Inglis admires Nicholas Orme’s article on medieval childhood, first published in History Today in 2001. |
|
Harriet Tuckey’s relationship with her father was a difficult one. Only at the end of his life did she realise the importance of the contribution he had made to... |
|
Richard Weight reassesses Quentin Bell’s 1951 article on the morality of fashion, which anticipated the enormous social and stylistic changes of the 1960s. |
|
Sarah Gristwood considers some earlier female MPs who might have given Mrs Thatcher a run for her money. |
|
Nigel Jones on the redemption sought by the assassin of Weimar Germany’s foreign minister. |
|
The notorious prison was closed for good on March 21st, 1963. |
|
Martin Evans offers a frank reassessment of his article on 30 years of Algerian independence, published in History Today in 1992. |
|
Roger Hudson views the famous vessel from an unfamiliar perspective. |
|
Roger Hudson pictures British gunboat diplomacy in Egypt in 1882. |
|
Some commentators predict that the 21st century will be the ‘Asian century’, marking a significant shift in power from West to East. If so, it will not be so... |
|
Canberra was born on March 12th, 1913. |
|
The founder of the Baha'i religious movement proclaimed his vision on April 21st, 1863. |
|
A new exhibition at the British Museum on the aftermath of the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79 raises questions about the relationship between past and present, says... |
|
The right to determine who enters its territory has always been seen as a test of a state’s sovereignty, but the physical boundaries have often been vague, says... |
|
The self-made American was born on July 17th, 1763. |
|
The great political philosopher was born on April 5th, 1588. |
|
Mihir Bose recalls a classic case highlighting the problems with Britain’s antiquated libel laws. |
|
When major political figures die, history is put on hold and the simplicities of myth take over, argues Tim Stanley. |
|
Christian Byzantium and the Muslim Abbasid caliphate were bitter rivals. Yet the necessities of trade and a mutual admiration of ancient Greece meant that there... |
|
The civil war between Roman Catholics and Huguenots reached a brief peace on March 19th, 1563. |
|
The French chanteur was born on May 18th, 1913. |
|
Jonathan Fenby looks at a brief experiment in Chinese democracy, brought to an end by political assassination one hundred years ago this month. |
|
Almost 50 years after his death, Churchill continues to fascinate historians, says Roland Quinault. |
|
While Antony and Cleopatra have been immortalised in history and in popular culture, their offspring have been all but forgotten. Yet their daughter, Cleopatra... |
|
The term ‘Cobbett and Hunt’ was shorthand for radical politics in the early 19th century, but the petty hatred that developed between the two men had a devastating... |
|
Michelle Liebst looks at how the career of the great explorer of Africa reflects the wider failings of Victorian imperialism. |
|
The ruthless archbishop died on May 15th, AD 913. |
|
One of the strangest literary figures of his time died on June 17th, 1963. |
|
The bibliophile and founder of the Bodleian Library died on January 29th, 1613. |
|
For all its faults C.E Hamshere’s account of Francis Drake’s 16th-century circumnavigation, published in History Today in 1967, applies a historical... |
|
The suffragette jumped in front of the King's horse on June 4th 1913 |
|
Martin Pugh reconsiders the motives and impact of the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison. |
|
In challenging times Britons seek comfort in a past that never existed. Tim Stanley shatters their illusions. |
|
Britain’s involvement in the Middle East between the wars proved a rich seam for authors of adventure stories. Michael Paris shows how these, in turn, helped to... |
|
The capital went underground on January 9th, 1863. |
|
As English universities seek more diverse means of funding, Jill Pellew looks at the ways in which philanthropists helped to establish universities in three very... |
|
Sally White recalls the efforts of the British League of Help, launched in the wake of the First World War by Lilias, Countess Bathurst, to raise funds to support... |
|
In the latest of his occasional surveys of historical fiction, Jerome de Groot casts a critical eye on the often disparaged genre of romance. |
|
The French poet was ordered to leave his city on January 3rd, 1463. |
|
A new online resource opens up possibilities for interpreting the infrastructure of the Roman world, says Jasmine Pui. |
|
The indiscriminate use of ‘Nazi’ to describe anything to do with German institutions and policies during Hitler’s dictatorship creates a false historical... |
|
Inspired by his upbringing at the English court, Hákon I – nicknamed ‘Athelstan’s foster-son’ – strove to make Norway more like his mentor’s realm, a well-... |
|
Derek Wilson looks at Henry Tudor’s long period of exile and asks what influence it had on his exercise of power following his seizure of the English throne in... |
|
Hal Wert tells the story of the two Lithuanian-American aviators, Steponas Darius and Stanley Girenas, whose attempt to bring honour to the land of their birth... |
|
In our latest survey of historical fiction Jerome de Groot finds a remarkable breadth of books that address our need for present-day certainties to confound the... |
|
Benjamin Ziemann examines the enigma of Karl Mayr, the reclusive army officer who nurtured Adolf Hitler’s early political career and participated in the Kapp... |
|
Yvonne Sherratt explores the ways in which Adolf Hitler attempted to appropriate the ideas of some of Germany’s greatest thinkers during his brief incarceration in... |
|
A pioneer of global governance, Lionel Curtis is all but forgotten today. His ideas, says Tom Cargill, are in urgent need of reassessment. |
|
President Obama has more in common with Dwight D. Eisenhower than any other of his predecessors, says Michael Burleigh. |
|
Peering through the pines, a German cycle company of the First World War is captured on camera. Roger Hudson explains. |
|
Roger Hudson looks at an episode that inspired one of the greatest films ever made. |
|
Roger Hudson explains a moment of panic on the streets of the newly liberated French capital. |
|
Roger Hudson considers a photogaph showing London postmen as part of a vast, global mail network. |
|
Syrie Maugham was a businesswoman and beauty whose interior designs became a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. However her relationships with a series of... |
|
Who is and who is not an American? The question goes back to the Revolution. The answer is always changing, says Tim Stanley. |
|
Tim Pat Coogan points the finger of blame for the Great Famine at ministers in Lord Russell’s government, which came to power in 1846, and sees echoes of the... |
|
The scientist and natural philosopher John Tyndall was known to the public through his lectures and newspaper debates. But, say Miguel DeArce and Norman MacMillan... |
|
The future French empress was born on June 23rd, 1763. |
|
Benn Steil argues that John Maynard Keynes had an astute grasp of Britain’s debt situation in 1944 and how it might recover from ‘financial Dunkirk’. Yet his... |
|
George T. Beech investigates whether a King of Wessex adopted a new name for his country in 828, but failed to implement the change. |
|
A selection of readers' correspondence with the editor, Paul Lay. |
|
A selection of readers' correspondence with the editor, Paul Lay. |
|
A selection of readers' correspondence with the editor, Paul Lay. |
|
A selection of readers' correspondence with the editor, Paul Lay. |
|
A selection of readers' correspondence with the editor, Paul Lay. |
|
A selection of readers' correspondence with the editor, Paul Lay. |
|
Victoria Gardner looks back at earlier attitudes to Britain’s press freedom and how the withdrawal of the Licensing Act of 1662 spawned a nation of news addicts.... |
|
Seth Alexander Thévoz looks at how Victorian clubs in London’s West End played a role in oiling the nation’s political wheels. |
|
'Magna Carta was a bitter indictment of the (mis-)rule of King John’; How far do you agree? This essay was the winner of the 2012 Julia Wood essay prize. |
|
Deborah Cohen opens the archives of the Scottish Marriage Guidance Council, founded in 1946, and finds that couples in the postwar years were more than happy to... |
|
Jerome Carson and Elizabeth Wakely explore the mental illnesses suffered by some famous historical figures and consider the impact on their lives and achievements... |
|
Graham A. MacDonald reappraises the ideas and impact of the 20th-century political thinker, Michael Oakeshott. |
|
Tom Wareham examines the role played by a legendary yet ill-fated pirate in the consolidation of England’s early trading empire. |
|
Following his disastrous Russian campaign, the emperor of France needed money quickly. The desperate measures he took are revealed by Noelle Plack. |
|
Roger Howard recalls a moment 50 years ago when Israel was rocked by exaggerated claims of a threat posed by Egypt. |
|
Far from enslaving Anglo-Saxons under the Norman yoke, the Conquest brought freedom to many, as Marc Morris explains. |
|
Gordon Marsden appreciates the long and brilliant career of the great historian of Tudor Britain. |
|
We downplay terrible acts from the distant past, in a way that we never would when considering more recent crimes, says Tim Stanley. |
|
Pevsner Architectural Guides still bear the mark of their founder, despite ample revision. Jonathan Meades plots their glorious evolution. |
|
The recent introduction of police commissioners to England and Wales is supposed to bring the force closer to the people. But, asks Clive Emsley, where is the... |
|
The Spanish explorer landed in the New World on April 3rd, 1513. |
|
Stephen Cooper argues that we should resist using ‘medieval’ as another word for backward. The 15th century, in particular, was a time of remarkable progress and... |
|
Postwar Britain’s relationship with its past was laid bare in a long-running television show, argues Tim Stanley. |
|
Roger Hudson expands on a photograph of Enoch Powell campaigning in his Wolverhampton seat in 1970. |
|
John Gillingham challenges an idea, recently presented in History Today, that the Anglo-Saxon King Egbert was responsible for the naming of England. |
|
Nigel Watson celebrates 80 years of the British Interplanetary Society. |
|
The Vikings are back with a vengeance, writes Jeffrey Richards |
|
Pilgrims were a lucrative source of income for the Church and miracles did not come free. Adrian Bell and Richard Dale discover some striking parallels with modern... |
|
Postwar decolonisation in West Africa saw tensions rise between the fading imperial powers of France and Britain, according to papers recently unearthed by Kathryn... |
|
The poet was appointed on July 16th, 1913. |
|
Of humble origins, Rodrigo Calderón became a key figure at the court of Philip III of Spain. Notorious in life, he gained dignity and immortality in death, as... |
|
Trade was the impetus for early contacts between Russia and England, though each country had its own view of how the relationship should function. Helen Szamuely... |
|
The earliest explorers to uncover the ancient Maya civilisation in Central America could not believe that it owed its creation to the indigenous population, whom... |
|
Crispin Andrews finds echoes of one of Sherlock Holmes’ most celebrated mysteries in a tale of 18th-century France. |
|
Joost Schouten was one of the ablest servants of the 17th-century Dutch East India Company, but he came a serious cropper when his fellow countrymen discovered his... |
|
The ill-fated fortress was opened on February 14th 1938. |
|
Britain’s loss of Singapore in February 1942 was a terrible blow. But Japan failed to make the most of its prize, says Malcolm Murfett. |
|
Hent Kalmo considers the roots of sovereignty and the changing basis determining the authority of a state to govern itself or another state at the expense of local... |
|
The relationship between an ‘unquiet past’ and the concerns of the present has been a key feature of recent engagements with the Spanish Civil War, as Mary Vincent... |
|
Though Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, the influence of St Columba on Scottish Christianity remains profound. Ian Bradley examines the Celtic evangelist’s... |
|
Margaret Clitherow, a butcher’s wife from York, was one of only three women martyred by the Elizabethan state. Her execution in 1586 was considered gruesome, even... |
|
The great Confederate commander was fatally wounded at Chancellorsville on May 2nd, 1863. |
|
As the Syrian crisis intensifies, John McHugo looks at the country’s troubled relationship with the West during the Cold War and the continuing Arab-Israeli... |
|
The Whig interpretation of the past is a moral fable more akin to theology than history, argues Tim Stanley. |
|
Atheism today is widely perceived to be the opposite of spirituality. This assumption is turned on its head when we look at the neglected origins of the Victorian... |
|
In the 1800s Rome became a microcosm for great power rivalries. E.L. Devlin describes a case of ambassadorial privilege that caused controversy between the papacy... |
|
The Dambusters Raid is one of the best known operations of the Second World War. But, as James Holland explains, the development of the ‘bouncing bomb’ took place... |
|
Exhuming historical characters makes for dramatic headlines and can seem a great way to get easy answers, but we should think twice before disturbing the remains... |
|
Guy Atkins explains what made the postcard such an extraordinary and successful phenomenon of the early 20th century and draws parallels with today’s social media... |
|
The study of the religious upheavals that took place in England during the 16th and 17th centuries has proved one of the most provocative areas of recent... |
|
The great Russian dynasty was founded on July 22nd, 1613. |
|
The English aversion to eating horse flesh, recently highlighted in a number of food scandals, dates back to the coming of Christianity, as Jordan Claridge... |
|
The Oxford Dodo has defined our idea of the creature. When alive, the bird was displayed in London as part of a kind of urban freak show. In death it featured in... |
|
Philip Baker considers the lasting impact of the Levellers’ famous efforts to reform the English state in the aftermath of the Civil Wars by means of written... |
|
One of the great postwar publishing ventures and a highly original study of British attitudes to imperialism were among the winners at our annual celebration of... |
|
This year marks the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Utrecht and the 250th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris. Both treaties reshaped the world and had profound... |
|
Few foresaw the horror of the First World War. The financier Jan Bloch did and he outlined his vision to Britain’s military establishment, as Paul Reynolds... |
|
The wedding of Elizabeth Stuart and Frederick V took place on February 14th 1613. |
|
Alexander Lee admires an article by Frederick Godfrey from 1952, reflecting new attitudes towards the Renaissance. |
|
Kathryn Hadley visits an exhibition in Paris that sheds light on the multifarious pre-colonial histories and identities of the Southeast Asian archipelago. |
|
After the upheavals of 1688, England’s shifting social order needed new ways to define itself. A taste for fine claret became one such marker of wealth and power,... |
|
As the arbiter of taste to high society, Beau Brummell became a friend of the Prince Regent. It wouldn’t last. By Nicholas Storey. |
|
Enter our crossword and win the audiobook Galileo’s Daughter, read by Rula... |
|
Enter our crossword for February and win the audiobook America: Empire of Liberty,... |
|
Enter our crossoword for January and win the audiobook The Invention of Childhood by Hugh Cunningham and Michael Morpurgo. |
|
Enter our crossword and win the audiobook The Rise of Rome: The Making of the World’s Greatest Empire |
|
Enter our crossword and win the audiobook Shakespeare’s Local: Six Centuries of History, One Pub |
|
Enter our crossword and win the audiobook Mao: The Unknown Story, written by Jung Chang and read by Di Langford. |
|
Enter our crossword and win the audiobook A History of Private Life... |
|
Mark Ronan describes new efforts at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, to decode the world’s oldest undeciphered language. |
|
Sean McGlynn reconsiders the origins of the popular myth and suggests a new contender for the original folk hero; not an outlaw from Nottingham but a devoted royal... |
|
The German First World War commander Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck has been described as the 20th century’s greatest guerrilla leader for his undefeated campaign in East... |
|
Carol Dyhouse questions some of the assertions made by John Gardiner in his 1999 article about the Victorians. |
|
Jonathan Conlin considers a 1990 article on the past, present and future of history broadcasting, whose pessimistic forecasts have not quite come to pass. |
|
The celebrated little person was married on February 10th, 1863. |
|
Tim Stanley draws parallels between a New York gang war of the 1900s and an act of horrific violence in south London. |
|
The entry of Turkey into the First World War may have extended the conflict by as much as two years. It certainly changed the country forever. Yet the advent of... |
|
Stephen Bates on the divisions that split Peel’s Tory administration in the mid-1840s, resonant of splits in the Conservative Party today. |
|
Peter Mandler explains how the anthropologist Margaret Mead, author of best-selling studies of ‘primitive’ peoples, became a major influence on US military... |
|
Bayreuth has much for which to thank Richard Wagner, but the determination of a Prussian princess to create something out of her dull and provincial 18th-century... |
|
Of the many immigrants from the United Kingdom who took up arms in the war, only a small number were English. Daniel Clarke explores the experiences of those who... |
|
Lord Byron’s death there in April 1824 created an enduring legend. But the real story of the poet’s mission to help Greece in its revolution against Ottoman... |
|
A vast study of the cultural exchanges across the Atlantic between 1250 and 1820. |
|
What do St Petersburg, Bombay, Shanghai and Dubai have in common? They were all 'ideas' before they were cities. |
|
A scientific history of the world aimed at the teenage market. |
|
A new book sheds new light on a scandal that marked the moment when deference died and post-Victorian Britain was born. |
|
Otter hunting, badger digging and other human and animal encouters in British history. |
|
A new acccount of the Taiping Rebellion, an event largely forgotten in the West but of huge importance. |
|
How the introduction of modern science in India was shaped by political and cultural imperatives. |
|
How the automobile has shaped Britain over the past 120 years. |
|
We label Oliver Cromwell as a Roundhead and Prince Rupert as a Cavalier, but what of the conscripts who fought on both sides? |
|
The worst maritime disaster in history is still little known outside Germany. |
|
The story behind the making of the many classic films produced at Ealing Studios. |
|
A richly detailed history of a country that is both romantic and beautiful yet rarely at peace. |
|
A major antidote to the dangerous view that Europe and America will increasingly come into conflict with non-Western civilisations. |
|
Two books offer rival understandings of Mussolini's regime, and the practice of history. |
|
‘A surprise every tenth page, a shock every twentieth’: the working life of serial writer Herbert Allingham. |
|
A book that attempts to explain why Anglo-Americans have been so committed to international co-operation disappoints. |
|
The story of the Georgian bachelor who, having been rejected by a paramour, attempts to cultivate an ideal spouse. |
|
A new book shines a fresh light on the famous sea battles of the era of Nelson and Napoleon. |
|
What people in England from the Middle Ages to the 20th century thought about death and the possibilities of an afterlife. |
|
The psychic life of a nation told through private grief. |
|
A biography of historian-statesman Thomas Babington Macaulay and his abolitionist father Zachary advances the history of Britain and the British Empire.... |
|
A new book covers Egypt's intervention in Yemen, and how it led to the Six-Day War. |
|
How the Third Reich used Leonardo, Shakespeare, Martin Luther and others to bring a veneer of intellectual credibility to underpin its ideology. |
|
A rare, and successful, attempt to reconstruct the experiences and emotions of parenting in the past. |
|
A clear-headed account of demonic possession from the ancient world to the present. |
|
A thoughtful re-assessment of ethnic relations in Lusophone countries from Brazil to East Timor. |
|
William Dalrymple's account of the first Anglo-Afghan war misses the big picture, argues David Loyn. |
|
Did Scotland experience the Second World War in a distinctive way, or did it endure the conflict as part of the wider United Kingdom? |
|
A new book on the battle is full of "contortions, omissions, misconceptions, mistakes and absurdities", argues Marc Morris. |
|
How climate change can help understand everything from the failure of centralised states to the accelerated spread of religion. |
|
A stylish, traditional take on the Enlightenment is unlikely to convert many one way or the other. |
|
A vividly drawn portrait of the life of an early modern executioner. |
|
Revisiting one of the more curious exports to India from Britain: women seeking husbands. |
|
According to Nazi ideology a Jew, even one who had died for Germany in the First World War, was not a real German. |
|
Paul Lay enjoys a loving, almost lecherous, illustrated book that looks back fondly at the 18th century. |
|
In this month's quiz, we have questions on the Eiffel tower, the 'Soccer war' and John of Gaunt's medieval palace. |
|
This month's quiz features questions on the death of Abraham Lincoln, a long-running civil war and a famed historian's alter ego. |
|
In this month's quiz we have questions on fascism in Romania, the French Third Republic and bearded British prime ministers. |
|
This month's quiz takes in Margaret Thatcher's political career, the origins of the mechanical clock and cricketing Prime Ministers. |
|
The story of the most famous of the Victorian 'suburban ghosts'. |
|
The story of a remarkable First World War soldier. |
|
The truth behind the propaganda of the 'ideal Nazi hero'. |
|
The story of Valentine Greatrakes, whose "miraculous" healing powers wowed restoration Britain. |
|
The wartime role of Britain's black servicemen and women. |
|
An ambitious book outlines the circumstances in which history was produced, the objects it was intended to serve and the changing forms it took. |
|
What do the bugged conversations of German prisoners of war reveal about Nazi Germany? |
|
Though he has a starring role in War and Peace, Alexander I remains a shadowy figure. |
|
The latest book by David Cannadine is a discussion of the interpretation of history, and an attempt to justify the discipline to the world. |
|
Huge, noisy, stinky, overcrowded and unknowable in its vast, inhuman scale: life in 19th-century London. |
|
A study of the non-Germans who fought Hitler's campaign against the Soviet Union during the Second World War. |
|
The trial of two theatrical female impersonators in 1871 has long been seen as a watershed moment in the emergence in England of notions of gay identity. |
|
New contributions to the huge volume of 'Wildeana'. |
- Home
- Location
- Period
- Themes
- Magazine
- Subscribe
- Archive
- Ebooks
- Reviews
- Blog
- Contact



