Interwar period

In 1926 Umberto Nobile became a hero of Mussolini’s Italy when he piloted Roald Amundsen’s Norge over the North Pole. Two years later his reputation went down with his airship.

Martin Pugh argues that life during the interwar years was brighter than has often been suggested, in spite of its association with economic depression and the rise of Fascism.

Andrew Boxer considers explanations for France’s disastrous foreign policy between the wars.

To what extent did Italian fascism represent Mussolini’s triumph of style over substance?

Robert Pearce sees remarkable continuity in Churchill’s outlook, despite the transformation of his fortunes, in the 1930s.

From 1931 it looked as though Britain’s first Labour prime minister would be its last. Is it time to reappraise the political reputation of Ramsay MacDonald?

Robert Pearce attempts to probe the nature of the 1918-22 Coalition.

After he fell from power, Bismarck became a mythical hero figure of the right. The legend of the ‘Iron Chancellor’ was wielded by militarists, conservatives, and eventually, Adolf Hitler.

Robert Carr dissects a book frequently referred to but seldom read.

The Agadir Crisis of 1911 was one of several incidents that raised international tensions between Germany and France in the years before the First World War.