The Siege of Rochester
The struggle between King John and his barons turned into open warfare at Rochester Castle in 1215. Yet the story of how the fortress came to be besieged has not been fully understood, says Marc Morris.
History Today
The Navy and the Napoleonic Wars
Though attention this year has been focused on the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, the decisive blows that defeated Napoleon were landed at sea, says James Davey.
Colonial Encounters
The First World War threw together people from all over the world. Anna Maguire considers images of these chance meetings and the light they shed on a global conflict.
Historians and the Freedom of Information Act
The British government should be more open in its dealings with researchers.
Liberty and the Common Law
England’s legal system, which has since spread beyond its country of origin, resulted from an uncommon combination of centuries of input from a wide variety of sources. Harry Potter traces its roots and follows its branches.
Hitler's inevitable decision?
New perspectives on the Holocaust are possible if we transcend the limitations of German national history and consider it as a global catastrophe, argues Timothy Snyder.
Davy’s lamp described
The first effective miners' safety lamp was unveiled on November 9th 1815.
Yemen’s Endangered Treasures
The current conflict in southern Arabia is threatening one of the most remarkable sites of the region’s pre-Islamic civilisations.
The Past Made Flesh
Jerome de Groot muses on how authors of historical fiction try to flesh out the bare bones of history, drawing on old and new works.
Peter the Great's Special Book
The reforming Tsar sought to westernise his empire, yet in 1723 he published an uncompromising reassertion of his absolutist doctrine, which has traditionally marked Russia’s national consciousness.