History Today

In 1807, writes C.E.S. Dudley, when the British were enforcing their world-wide blockade against France, a short action took place off the Virginian coast that led to violent controversy.

To be a pilgrim - a choice that led not to contemplation but to holy war in the climate of 11th century Europe. Marcus Bull asks why.

Julia Jones examines The career of Willem van de Velde the Elder, the first official war artist.

The Great War provided unprecedented opportunities for scientists, especially women.

Unpopular in the country at large, neglected by successive governments, the Victorian army was slowly brought up to date, writes Brian Bond, despite military obscurantism and strenuous bureaucratic opposition.

In the autumn of 1936, on Communist inspiration, a shock force was internationally recruited to assist the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. Where did the Brigades come from and why? By Hugh Thomas.

At the crisis of the battle Napoleon withheld the Imperial Guard, writes Michael Barthorp, only to commit it piecemeal at a later stage to its first and last defeat.

Andrew Johnson’s impeachers failed by one vote to win the two-thirds majority needed in the Senate.

Henry I. Kurtz describes how the generous policies of Lincoln’s successor towards the former Confederates led to impeachment proceedings against him in 1868.

Béla Menczer describes how the last Austrian Emperor strove to regain one of his family’s Kingdoms.