History Matters
Thoughts, opinions and commentary on all things historical.
The relationship between France, Germany and Britain is at the heart of the European story. Three historical figures embody it.
France’s elite police unit is being compared to the SS – not for the first time.
In one Italian hospital, an invented disease helped save hundreds from the occupying Nazis.
Founded to safeguard the world’s heritage, UNESCO’s status often threatens what it seeks to protect.
Good intentions, misinformation and fear contributed to haemophiliacs becoming the hidden victims of HIV in Ireland.
Laws prohibiting homosexuality helped create new languages of same-sex desire.
Short, angry missives pinged across the world – Russian propagandists used postcards to get their message across.
Were US-Cuban relations soured for the want of ten dollars?
The buildings that came out of Portugal’s New State were described as an ‘architectural lie’.
Venetian officials sought to stem a ‘plague’ of sodomy by promoting the heterosexual sex trade.