History Today

Geoffrey Powell profiles the Praetorian Guard. This corps d'elite, first established on a permanent footing by Augustus, played a powerful part in the history of imperial Rome.

The first of two articles by C.G. Cruickshank describing logistics and pageantry in the reign of King Henry VIII.

Six Mughal Emperors between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries bequeathed an alien glory to the Indian scene.

A. Lentin introduces Princess Dashkova. During the reigns of Peter III and Catherine II, the Russian Princess was a tireless intellectual and a seasoned western traveller.

Alan Rogers reflects the influence of power among those surrounding the throne and how, throughout the entire medieval period during which Parliament existed, the magnates had greater sway than the Commons.

Jack M. Sasson reads the letters of Shamsi-Adad and describes his humanity, patriarchal wisdom and easy sense of humour.

In the year of Napoleon’s coronation, writes Ann Kindersley, three patriotic Serbs officially asked for the help of the Tsar in their revolt against the Turks.

Henry I. Kurtz describes how subduing the Indians of the Plains was one of the chief tasks of the United States Army after the close of the Civil War.

For 1,000 years before the invention of printing, writes J.J.N. McGurk, handwriting in its various European scripts was a fine art

R.W. Davies describes how the legions and their auxiliaries were employed by Roman Governors to maintain law and order in their provinces.