History Today

Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion

Clarendon’s great ‘History’ was composed largely in exile and published after his death. Hugh Trevor-Roper discusses how the historian had originally intended this great work to be private political advice to the King.

Chimurenga

The term ‘Chimurenga’ has various historical associations. It was originally used to describe the first rising against British rule of the 1890s; the Rhodesian Bush War of the 1970s is known as the Second Chimurenga. J.V. Woolford, writing as the Bush War was ongoing, puts the term in context.

Charles I at York 1642

York was in the heart of Royalist country at the beginning of the English Civil War. William Thurlow describes how it became the King’s capital.

Cavagnari of Kabul

J.M. Brereton introduces Pierre Louis Napolean Cavagnari, a soldier of French-Italian and Irish descent, who played a distinguished part in British relations with Afghanistan, eventually costing him his life.

Blockade Running from Nassau

From 1861-65, writes Richard Drysdale, during the American Civil War, Nassau in the Bahamas thrived on trade with the Confederacy.