Feature

A view of the Russian Colony of Novo-Arkhangel’sk, Sitka Island, Alaska, by Friedrich Heinrich von Kittlitz, 1826. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

Alaska: Russia’s American Folly

In 1867 the United States purchased Alaska from Tsar Alexander II at a price of just two cents an acre. What brought Russia’s American empire to such an ignominious end?

The Presidential Election of 1876

In the centenary year of the Declaration of Independence, a deeply troubled American Republic went to the polls to elect a new president. A close and bitter election followed, fought in the shadow of scandal and fraud.

Landing at Suva on the Fijian island of Vita Lev, by Robert Bruce, 17 June 1871. State Library Victoria. Public Domain.

The British Acquisition of Fiji

Traders and missionaries from Europe settled on Fiji many years before its official annexation by the British Empire.

Members of the uniformed Solidarité Française in a funeral parade following the riot of 6 February 1934. La Contemporaine, Nanterre (CC0).

The Origins of Fascism in France

The decade before the Nazi occupation was a period of bitter division in France, raising questions about the nature of French fascism.

Scottish Independence: The Medieval Roots of the Thistle

At what point did the Scots first see themselves as a distinct kingdom separate but equal to that of England? Scottish sovereignty and independence have medieval origins.

The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, Part One

Henry I. Kurtz describes how the generous policies of Lincoln’s successor towards the former Confederates led to impeachment proceedings against him in 1868.

Oates, Scott, Wilson, Evans and Bowers at the South Pole, by Herbert Ponting, 18 January 1912. Australian National Maritime Museum. Public Domain.

Captain Scott's Secret

Diaries from Robert Scott’s Terra Nova expedition shed new light on the deaths at the South Pole. Was a scandal silenced in the name of myth-making?

Fly Me To The Moon

In 1961, rattled by Soviet advances in space, President John F. Kennedy declared that, within a decade, the United States would land a man on the Moon. David Baker tells the story of how it took the US Air Force to change NASA and make the dream a reality.

The Real Bethlehem

The ‘little town’ celebrated by western Christians as the location of the Nativity is much more than a stylised depiction evoked in Christmas cards each December, says Jacob Norris.

The Battle of Trafalgar, by John Christian Schetky, c. 1841. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Public Domain.

Collingwood and Nelson

With Nelson dead at the Battle of Trafalgar, vice-admiral Lord Collingwood took command. It was the tragic conclusion to a friendship that began decades earlier.