History Today

Julian Symons describes how, in the year of South African crisis, 1899, Buller, once regarded as the ablest of British commanders, was stricken by a strange failure of nerve.

One of the Prince’s last and most notable services to his adopted country, writes Sir John Wheeler Bennett, was the redrafting of a provocative British despatch at a moment of high tension in Anglo-American relations.

The German Progressive Party was founded in 1861, writes F.L. Carsten, but “the Liberals desired the unification of Germany so ardently that they were willing to forego their political ambitions when Bismarck gained unification at the point of the sword.”

In modern French politics, writes John Terraine, the Army and its champions — “still treading the long road back from Sedan” — have sometimes played a dangerous part.

After being expelled from Portugal, writes J.S. Cummins, France and Spain, the Jesuit order was suppressed by a reluctant Pope.

Guienne and Gascony were lost to the English Crown in 1453. General Sir James Marshall-Cornwall describes how Henry VIII had ambitions to regain them.

A man of letters in the German struggle against Napoleon, writes Douglas Hilt, August Wilhelm von Schlegel had many French connexions and is a renowned translator both of Shakespeare and Sanskrit writings.

During the twenty-four years of Lord Cromer’s consulship, writes Peter Mansfield, British engineers were active on the Nile.

Off the Shetlands and along the English Channel, writes C.R. Boxer, Dutch East-Indiamen, wrecked by storm, are now being carefully salvaged.

Stephen Usherwood describes the Oxford Movement, the revival of the Catholic faith in England, and the hostility that both aroused.