Feature

The French Revolution: A Complete History

A nuanced history of the French Revolution, which shows that its facts are anything but fixed.

Makeshift: the Sea Gem in position in the North Sea

Drilling and Disaster in the North Sea

Klaus Dodds looks back 50 years to a crucial – and ultimately tragic – moment in the UK’s exploitation of its oil and gas resources.

A Teutonic Knight on horseback, Artur Grottger, c.1856. Museum Narodowe w Warszawie. Public Domain.

The Rise of the Teutonic Knights

The success of the medieval Teutonic Knights owed much to the charismatic leadership of Hermann von Salza, one of the most dynamic individuals of the 13th century.

‘Brisk Cathartic’: A sick man stranded on the toilet after taking a laxative. Coloured etching by J. Gillray, 1804, after J. Sneyd. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

Shameful Secrets: The Sexual Health of Early Modern Men

Men’s awkwardness when talking about their bodies, especially sexual health, has changed little since the 17th century.

Pro-Tibet banners at an anti-communist protest outside the Chinese embassy in New Dehli, 1962. UHM Library Digital Image Collections. Public Domain.

Sikkim and the Himalayan Chess Game

When India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947, the region’s Princely States – including tiny Sikkim – became pawns in South Asia’s great power politics.

Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Britain

We may know it when we see it, but corruption is not a fixed concept. Mark Knights explains how 300 years of scandal have forged perceptions of what is – and what is not – corrupt.

Liberty and the Common Law

England’s legal system, which has since spread beyond its country of origin, resulted from an uncommon combination of centuries of input from a wide variety of sources. Harry Potter traces its roots and follows its branches.

Peter the Great's Special Book

The reforming Tsar sought to westernise his empire, yet in 1723 he published an uncompromising reassertion of his absolutist doctrine, which has traditionally marked Russia’s national consciousness.

African-American suffragist Nannie Helen Burroughs, far left, at the Banner State Woman’s National Baptist Convention in 1915

Slavery, Women’s Suffrage and the American Civil War

As calls for women’s suffrage gained momentum following the Civil War, an uncomfortable racial faultline emerged dividing white suffragists from their African-American sisters.

Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie on horseback, by Walter Mittelholzer, c. February 1934. ETH Library Zurich. Public Domain.

In the Court of Haile Selassie

Three very different writers – Evelyn Waugh, Wilfred Thesiger, and Ryszard Kapuscinski – reported on the court of Haile Selassie during his reign, producing contrasting accounts of Ethiopia’s emperor.