Britons in the Great Fire of Moscow
Some British and Irish-born Muscovites waited out Napoleon’s invasion of 1812, surviving both the French army and the five-day inferno.
Feature
Cardinal Richelieu: Hero or Villain?
The image of Cardinal Richelieu, carefully crafted during his lifetime, soon became that of a demonic schemer. How?
Britain and the Medusa Shipwreck
The French tragedy at sea, immortalised in Géricault’s masterpiece The Raft of the Medusa, was put to use in the service of British patriotism.
Sewing Machines: Liberation or Drudgery for Women?
With its effects felt on both the household and workplace over the 19th century, the invention of the sewing machine changed women’s lives. But not always for the better.
The Great Smog
Devra Davis looks at the London Smog disaster of 1952-53.
Corn, Catholics and the Constitution: The Tory Crisis of 1827-30
Graham Goodlad considers the reasons for the disintegration of the early nineteenth-century Tory Party, which had dominated British politics for more than four decades.
Sir John Simon
David Dutton asks whether Simon was the 'Worst Foreign Secretary since Ethelred the Unready'.
The Folly of ‘Unconditional Surrender’
Was the call for the ‘unconditional surrender’ of Germany, Italy, and Japan the most ruinous Allied policy of the Second World War?
The History of Deforestation
Michael Williams continues our series on History and the Environment by considering how long humans have been making ever-growing inroads into forests.
Monsters and Moral Panic in 18th and 19th Century London
Jan Bonderson describes a bizarre series of assaults on London ladies in 1790, and explores the effects of this and other heinous crime epidemics on the capital.