This Month's Magazine
In the June edition of History Today, Guy Atkins celebrates the mania for postcards which reached its height in Edwardian Britain.
Also in this issue:
- Peter Murrell looks at the rise and fall of Joost Schouten, the Dutch East India’s top trader, who was lured to the East by the promise of sexual freedom;
- Jeremy Black examines the importance of the treaties of Utrecht and Paris, which consolidated Britain’s global dominance;
- Jordan Claridge asks why the English don’t eat horse flesh;
- Benn Steil questions John Maynard Keynes’ economic and diplomatic skills;
- James Holland describes the inter forces rivalry that resulted in Barnes Wallis’ ‘bouncing bomb’ used in the Dambusters raid;
- and Sarah Gristwood considers the female politicians who predated Margaret Thatcher;
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Main Features
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.
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 ‘crimes against nature’, as Peter Murrell explains.
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 explains.
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 arrogance and ineptitude in negotiating with the Americans at Bretton Woods cost Britain dear and has had repercussions to this day.
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 war was marked by confusion, uncertainty and shifting alliances, says Ian F.W. Beckett.
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 against a background of bitter rivalry between the armed services.
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 consequences for the future of Britain and North America, as Jeremy Black explains.
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 the most celebrated of all mountaineering expeditions.
History Matters
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 Turkish rule is one of hard-headed politics, which goes straight to the heart of the country’s present-day crisis, says Roderick Beaton.
Kathryn Hadley visits an exhibition in Paris that sheds light on the multifarious pre-colonial histories and identities of the Southeast Asian archipelago.
Martin Pugh reconsiders the motives and impact of the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison.
Sarah Gristwood considers some earlier female MPs who might have given Mrs Thatcher a run for her money.
Other articles
When major political figures die, history is put on hold and the simplicities of myth take over, argues Tim Stanley.
One of the strangest literary figures of his time died on June 17th, 1963.
Peering through the pines, a German cycle company of the First World War is captured on camera. Roger Hudson explains.
The future French empress was born on June 23rd, 1763.
A selection of readers' correspondence with the editor, Paul Lay.
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 scholarship. Alec Ryrie looks at some of the key works of recent years.
Jonathan Conlin considers a 1990 article on the past, present and future of history broadcasting, whose pessimistic forecasts have not quite come to pass.
Reviews
The truth behind the propaganda of the 'ideal Nazi hero'.
The story of the most famous of the Victorian 'suburban ghosts'.
A clear-headed account of demonic possession from the ancient world to the present.
Pastimes
