History Today

A scribe, probably Bede, from the Life and Miracles of St Cuthbert, English, 12th century.

Weird Writers of History

If the English language had taken a different path, historians might not exist.

War of words: Sefton Delmer broadcasting to Germany from the BBC, 1 November 1941.

Fake News is Old News

Britain’s psychological warfare campaign against the Nazis pre-empted the information wars of the 21st century.

The Opening of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House

The Met opened its doors on 22 October 1883.

‘Threads of Global Desire’ review

The story of silk, which connected the world with a thread.

‘Pour le suprême effort’: The German eagle is throttled by a French soldier, by Marcel Falter, 1918. Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. Public Domain.

1918: Year of Victory and Defeat

When the Great War broke out in 1914, the German imperial army was regarded as the finest fighting force on earth. Just four years later, it was crushed by Britain and its allies.

Alexander Morison by Richard Dadd, 1852.

Finding Keepers: Mental Illness in the 19th century

Caring for the mentally ill in Victorian Britain was hard, unrewarding and dangerously unregulated. Alexander Morison tried to improve things for both the unwell and their carers.

The death of the bronze automata Talos depicted on a Volute krater, c. 400 BC. ArchaiOptix (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Tyrants and Robots in Ancient Greece

Autocrats have deployed automatons as weapons since antiquity, not just in Ancient Greek myth but in reality.

Armistice celebrations in London, 11 November 1918.

When the Men Came Marching Home from the Great War

Having survived the rigours of the First World War, soldiers faced the return to civilian life. For some, it presented an even greater challenge.

Winfarthing pendant, early seventh century, found in a woman's grave in Norfolk, 2015.

Wynflæd’s Will

Often lost behind stories of kings, queens, bishops and saints, what was life like for an Anglo-Saxon woman below the upper ranks of society?

Vladimir Lenin directing the October Revolution, from Plakat, 1926. New York Public Library. Public Domain.

Lenin: The Machiavellian Marxist

Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, was an armed prophet who adopted the characteristics of Machiavelli’s lion and fox.