Empire of Exceptions: The Making of Modern Brazil
Brazil may be one of the 21st century’s emerging superpowers, but its independence from Portugal was not inevitable, nor was its survival certain.
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The Bay of Pigs Invasion
Perhaps the US-backed invasion of Fidel Castro's Cuba was inevitable, but its failure bucked the trend.
Crystal Palace: Reflections of Empire
Glittering monument to Britain’s colonial achievement or fragile symbol of a fragmenting imperial dream? Jan Piggott charts the efforts to make Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace flourish as an ‘Acropolis of Empire’.
The British Prime Minister & the Development of British Democracy, 1868-1997
Graham Goodlad examines the changing role of the occupant of Number Ten in an era of significant political change.
Mussolini, Abyssinia and British Imperialism
Mussolini’s colonial land grab in Abyssinia provoked a political storm in Britain. The links between fascism and imperialism were not lost on the British left nor by the empire’s black subjects.
Chekhov and Conservation
The great Russian author Anton Chekov drew inspiration from the countryside and explored the practical and spiritual impact of trees and the consequences of deforestation.
The League of Nations: A League of its Own
The League of Nations has been much derided, but it laid the foundations for an international court and established bodies that the United Nations maintains today.
The Battle of Britain: The Many and the Few
Richard Overy looks behind the myth of a vulnerable island defended by a small band of fighter pilots to give due credit to the courage of the redoubtable civilian population.
South Africa: Remembering Sharpeville
The killing of 69 black South Africans on March 21st, 1960 was a turning point: the world judged apartheid to be morally bankrupt and the political agitation that ensued would eventually overturn white supremacy.
Napoleon: An Extraordinary Rendition
When Napoleon surrendered to a British naval captain after his defeat at Waterloo, the victors faced a judicial headache. Was St Helena Britain’s Guantanamo Bay?