History Today

Karl I in Chernivtzi, Ukraine, 6 July 1917. Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy.

Kaiser Karl and the End of the Habsburgs

Fifth in line to the throne, Karl I was not expected to become the Habsburg emperor. By the time he did, in 1916, it was already too late for the crumbling empire.

Birth of an Ottoman Traveller

Evliya Çelebi was born on 25 March 1611.

Frederick Douglass, by Samuel J. Miller, 1847-52. Art Institute of Chicago. Public Domain.

Frederick Douglass on Tour

When abolitionist author Frederick Douglass visited Britain and Ireland in 1845, he was celebrated in poems and songs wherever he went. Arriving as an enslaved man, he left with his freedom.

Sandinistas at the walls of the Estelí National Guard headquarters, Nicaragua, 1979.

The CIA has veered far from the purpose for which it was founded. Intended to gather and collate intelligence, it became instead a secretive organisation accountable to no one, which had disastrous consequences for Latin America.

Drawing of two knights on a horse, the emblem of the Knights Templar, from the Chronica Majora of Matthew Paris.

The End of the Templars

Pope Clement V suppressed the order on 22 March 1312.

‘Charles II, Crown Prince of England,’ by François Dieussart, C.1646-50. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

The Maid Who Restored Charles II

In 1659 the restoration of the exiled Charles II seemed impossible. It might not have occurred at all but for the forgotten intervention of a blacksmith’s daughter.

Born in Babylon

The spread of Rastafari carried pan-African ideals from rural Jamaica to the world. From its origins in 1930s Kingston, it has espoused a striking message: Africa yes, England no.