The Conference on African Peoples
A multiracial community of activists began organising public meetings and rallies in the 1930s, paving the way for the Pan-African Congress of 1945.
Feature
Magna Carta: The Atlantic Crossing
In no country is Magna Carta held in greater reverence than in the United States, playing a crucial role in founding the republic’s political and legal system.
Was the Weimar Republic a Failed State?
The archetypal image of the Weimar Republic is one of political instability, economic crisis and debauched hedonism. The cliché is being challenged.
‘Bugsy’ Siegel and the plot to assassinate Göring
Larry Gragg investigates the evidence behind ‘Bugsy’ Siegel’s claim that he planned to kill the high-ranking Nazi in 1939.
Thomas Cranmer's Close Shave
Derek Wilson explores the Prebendaries Plot against Henry VIII’s reforming archbishop.
The Mighty MacCailean Mór
No Scottish clan is as controversial as the Campbells. Yet, says Ian Bradley, the opening of its Argyll Mausoleum offers a chance to re-assess a contentious past.
Medieval Fatherhood
The ‘hands-on’ parenting style, so often thought to be unique to modern western society, has deep roots in the family life of the Middle Ages, argues Rachel Moss.
First step on the road to Waterloo
Marisa Linton explains how Jacques-Pierre Brissot helped to initiate the French revolutionary wars, as he and Robespierre debated whether conflict with Austria should be a ‘crusade for universal liberty’.
The Battle for Britain
Andrew Stewart investigates the forgotten role of those ‘ideal soldiers of democracy’, troops from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, who arrived to defend Britain from invasion.
The Birth of Comedy
From sausage-sellers to suffragettes, questioning and puncturing our political leaders through satire has been essential for democracy ever since comedy was born in Ancient Greece, argues Edith Hall.