History Today

Poland is the only country in the world to invoke Napoleon in its national anthem. Andrzej Nieuwazny explains how Bonaparte has retained a hold over Polish imagination throughout the last two centuries.

Gavan McCormack analyses the attempts by the Japanese nation to deal with its uncomfortable past.

Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster Amistad claims to educate as well as entertain; but how accurate is his portrayal of this slave revolt? John Thornton looks at the facts behind the film.

Geoff Butcher describes how, throughout history, Malaria has played a major role in affecting the outcome of human endeavour.

Richard Tames introduces an exhibition that explores posters in their many forms at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

When a king from Bechuana visited England in 1890s, he won friends and respect everywhere he went, and his tale cast new light on the interactions between Britain and her empire, as Neil Parsons explains.

Richard Cavendish explores Levens Hall in Cumbria.

Signed on 13 April 1598, the Edict of Nantes granted rights to France's Calvinist Protestants, known as Huguenots.

Renaissance Venetians developed a sophisticated technology for keeping the city’s vital waterways free from silt and in the process, as Joseph Black explains, created a unique landscape that inspired travellers and painters.