In the Medieval Moment
The past is more than a set of events with an inevitable outcome. Historians must strive to capture it in all its fascinating strangeness, argues Chris Wickham, as he ponders the problems of writing about the Middle Ages.
History Today
The Gain from Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine inspired and witnessed the revolutions that gave birth to the United States and destroyed the French monarchy. A genuinely global figure, he anticipated modern ideas on human rights, atheism and rationalism.
Lee Kuan Yew becomes Singapore’s Prime Minister
Richard Cavendish remembers how a former-British colony gained a long-serving leader.
Blondin’s first tightrope-walk across Niagara Falls
Richard Cavendish remembers how the daredevil Jean-François Gravelet stunned the world on 30 June 1859.
The German battle fleet scuttled at Scapa Flow
Richard Cavendish records how Germany sank its own navy in the aftermath of the First World War, on 21 June 1919.
The Koran on ‘Christian’ paper
Paper was used in the Islamic world long before it appeared in the Christian West. But when Renaissance Europe mastered its manufacture, writes Matt Salusbury, it presented Muslim scholars with some theological conundrums.
Mutiny at Cattaro 1918
‘We don’t want cinemas, we want peace.’ David Woodward introduces a little-known First World War insurrection in the Austro-Hungarian fleet, framing it within the context of that empire’s multicultural makeup and the revolutionary spirit of the times.
'Tamburlaine,' the Great Emir
The exploits of Tamburlaine, or Timur the Tartar, inspired the composition of one of the great English blank verse tragedies. But Marlowe’s fantastic personage scarcely outdid the fourteenth-century conqueror.
Shackleton in the Antarctic, 1914-1916
The great explorer’s skill and courage rescued a whole expedition from disaster after a struggle that lasted nearly two years. ‘Not histrionics but steady and constant leadership saved Shackleton and his men’.
The Plague and the Fire: Reminiscences of Restoration Times
A contemporary account of life in Restoration London and Oxford by William Taswell, spanning the years 1660 until circa 1675. Includes personal obervations of the Plague and the Great Fire. Originally featured in the December 1977 issue of History Today.