History Today
Architecture and Empire
British imperial architecture as epitomised by the work of Sir Herbert Baker was not tied to any geographic setting. Its elements could be re-ordered to fit any tropical dependency. As Thomas R. Metcalf explains, what had been hammered out in Pretoria, and redefined in Delhi, could be carried to such places as Kenya. But Baker, who designed the imperial acropolis of New Delhi with Lutyens, differed from his colleague, "the most original and creative architect of his age." For Baker architecture always served a political purpose: for Lutyens, Empire was incidental.
Childhood Revisited: The Genesis of the Modern Toy
'A trifle... a thing of no value... a bauble' or an educational aid, the gift-wrapping of a social morality? Toys mirror a culture, argues John Brewer - for society's attitude towards play reflects its conception of the role of childhood.
Charles V and the Turks
The loss to the Turks of Constantinople, the ancient capital of the Eastern Empire, in 1453 had been a terrible blow to Christendom. It was the crusading dream of Charles V, argues Sinclair Atkins, to reconquer the Byzantine city.
Makers of the Twentieth Century: Weizmann and Ben-Gurion
With their differing approaches Weizmann and Ben-Gurion were the founding fathers of the state of Israel. Inspired by Herzl they laboured to give Zionism unity, force, world respect and, ultimately, a homeland.
Piracy in the South China Sea
By C.R. Boxer.
Tibet, China and the Western World
Sir Peter Allen examines the history of Tibet's relationship with China and the Western World.
Queen Elizabeth and the Historians
A.L. Rowse charts how three centuries of British historians have produced many different interpretations of the great Queen’s character.
Queen Victoria in Ireland, 1853
Joseph Hone asks whether, had the Queen shown her Irish subjects greater signs of affection, could the Union have been preserved?
Cecil Rhodes
The life of Rhodes - an empire-builder, arch risk-taker, megalomaniac mine-owner and namesake of Zimbabwe's pre-independence antecedant, Rhodesia.