David Armitage

Colonel John Nixon making the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in the State House Yard, Philadelphia, 8 July 1776. English engraving, 1783. Granger/TopFoto.

Disputing the Declaration of Independence

That the United States declared its independence in July 1776 is well known; that the British state commissioned, but never published, a counter-declaration is not.

Lamartine refusant le drapeau rouge devant l’Hôtel de Ville, by Hénri-Félix Philippoteaux, 1848. Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris. Public Domain.

‘The Revolution to Come’ and ‘Revolutions: A New History’ review

Two recent books, The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin by Dan Edelstein and Revolutions: A New History by Donald Sassoon, illustrate the past and future of revolutionary studies.

"The Red Army has crushed the White Guard parasites- Yudenich, Denikin, and Kolchak. Comrades! Fight now against infection! Annihilate the Typhus-bearing louse!"

Talkin’ ’bout a revolution

The meaning of revolution is ever-changing. David Armitage shows how events in recent history have caused a revolution in the meaning of revolution.

Obituary: Nicholas Henshall

Inspirational schoolmaster who became a leading scholar of 18th-century Europe.

Rough Crossings

'The Projecting Age' - William Paterson and the Bank of England

David Armitage looks at the Bank's founder and his contribution to the Financial Revolution that arguably launched Britain on the road to economic pre-eminence.

Christopher Columbus and the Uses of History

'An event which ought to have been beneficial to all' - David Armitage looks at how the 'discovery' of America has drawn mixed reviews from the West over five centuries of commemoration