The British Empire’s Brothels
British servicemen overseas bought sex, sometimes in brothels run by the British army. In the 1970s they began to talk about it.
Feature
The Godless Students of London University
The founding of London’s first university was controversial, but how much truth was there to claims of its students’ radical politics and rowdy ways?
Trojan Wales: The Medieval Afterlife of an Ancient Myth
Following its conquest by the English in 1284, medieval Wales needed a new origin story that established its place in Britain. Were the Welsh descended from Troy?
Prelude to Putin: Russia and the West in the 1990s
At the end of the Cold War, Russia and the West seemed set on a path towards cooperation. Why did it veer into renewed animosity?
Fight and Flight in the Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years War devastated continental Europe, killing millions and creating as many refugees. How did they experience the conflict?
Understanding the Northern Lights
When the aurora borealis appeared in the skies of 18th-century Europe, Enlightenment scientists first turned to history to understand it.
The Wreck of the San José
Since 1708 there has been vicious competition over the Spanish treasure galleon San José, its cargo, and, now, its sunken remains.
The Maharajah’s English Tutor
The Raj’s control of India’s princely states was never absolute, as the British-appointed tutor to the last maharajah of Travancore discovered.
Oswald of Northumbria: An English Saint in the Alps
The English saint Oswald of Northumbria proved incredibly popular in the medieval German-speaking world. How did he get there?
Tito: Britain’s Man in Belgrade
During the Cold War successive British governments did all they could to maintain a friendship with Tito’s Yugoslavia. Why was the communist strongman so important to Westminster?