Empire

The diffusion of wild flowers, thousands of miles from their native places, is a “vegetable record” Geoffrey Grigson suggests, of human migration and colonization.

James Kinross tells the story of the French Foreign Legion, a force famous for fighting in Africa, Russia, Mexico, Indo-China and France itself, as well as across the world.

J.H. Plumb documents the repeated attempts by British explorers and abolitionists to open West Africa for the Empire.

Eric Robson looks at the constitutional background - and legacies - of the American Revolution.

Emile de Groot on the often fractious but ever-intimate relationship between European powers and Egypt.

Arthur Waley on the pioneering French explorer and early scholar of Indian culture.

T.H. McGuffe analyses the failure of Admiral Byng to relieve the besieged British forces against French onslaught.

A.J. Halpern queries the source of Russia's disputed status as a European state.

Christopher Sykes delivers a historical backdrop to mid-20th century tension on the Persian Gulf.

A man of deep convictions, George III ruled at a time “when kings were still expected to govern. That he failed to acquire “true notions of common things”, Lewis Namier writes, was “perhaps the deepest cause of his tragedy.”