The Water of Life
Paris was flooded with Eau de Cologne during the early years of Napoleon’s rule. Everyone was using it and everyone was selling it.
Feature
The Balkans: Doomed to Disunity?
Often treated as a footnote of European history, the future of the Balkans became a hot topic at the end of the Ottoman Empire. Was Europe’s ‘Little Orient’ destined to fall apart?
Churchill Off Record
Once the war was won, Winston Churchill had two preoccupations: preserving his place in posterity and making lots of money. If they could be achieved at the same time, so much the better.
Warsaw in Flames
The story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is typically one of defiance and bravery against the odds. But what of those unable to fight?
The King Who Wasn't There
Belief in Prester John, a lost Christian king ruling over a distant kingdom, gripped medieval Europe for half a millennium. Once seen as a saviour, he would become an adversary.
Terror and Oranges
Liberté, égalité, fraternité – oranges? What does Maximilien Robespierre’s fondness for citrus fruit reveal?
The First Folio
The stage has a short memory, print a long one: 400 years since its first publication, Shakespeare’s First Folio is the reason we remember him.
A Life of Retirement
The Roman veterans village of Karanis in Egypt did not change the world. Its ordinariness is what makes it remarkable.
Asia and Africa Unite
In 1955, the Bandung Conference brought together post-colonial nations in the hope of forging a new solidarity. Could such disparate countries overcome their inherent differences?
Fostering the Foundlings
The governors of the London Foundling Hospital recruited an external network of nurses to care for children. For many, the bonds established endured.