Lord Robert Cecil: A Nineteenth-Century Upbringing
The gifted third son of the last Victorian Prime Minister was described as having ‘one foot in the Middle Ages and the other in the League of Nations’, as his descendant, Hugh Cecil, finds out.
Edwardian
The Edwardian Social Network
Guy Atkins explains what made the postcard such an extraordinary and successful phenomenon of the early 20th century and draws parallels with today’s social media.
Emily Wilding Davison: The Good Terrorist
The motives behind Emily Wilding Davison’s fateful actions at the Epsom Derby are still debated – and so is their impact on the Suffragette movement.
The Diplomacy of Edward VII
Long excluded from public business, King Edward showed, when he came to the throne, a remarkable grasp of foreign affairs. He was, as A.P. Ryan says, “a good European and a lover of peace.”
The Budget and the Lords: The Crisis of 1910-11
The crisis of 1909-11 involved two General Elections and a threat to flood the House of Lords with newly created Liberal peers. It ended, as Steven Watson notes here, in a triumph for the progenitors of the modern welfare state.
London's Olympics: Political Games
David Runciman compares the 2012 games with the London Olympics of 1908 and 1948 to see what they reveal about the changing relationship between politics and sport over the last century.
Painted out of History
The abdication crisis of 1937 forced a royalist magazine to present a different face to the world, as Luci Gosling reports.
1911: China’s First Revolution
The failings of China's 1911 Revolution heralded decades of civil conflict, occupation and suffering for the Chinese people.
How Long Before the Sunset ? British attitudes to war, 1871-1914
Rowena Hammal examines the fears and insecurities, as well as the bombast and jingoism, in British thinking.
The Career of A.J. Balfour
Graham Goodlad reviews the career of A.J. Balfour, an unsuccessful Prime Minister and party leader but an important and long-serving figure on the British political scene.