‘The French Revolution: A Political History’ by John Hardman review
It may not have been the first, argues John Hardiman in The French Revolution: A Political History, but it was the first of its kind.
Political
Tito: Britain’s Man in Belgrade
During the Cold War successive British governments did all they could to maintain a friendship with Tito’s Yugoslavia. Why was the communist strongman so important to Westminster?
Joyce Butler and the Sex Discrimination Act
After a long battle, Britain’s Sex Discrimination Act came into force in 1975. What did it do for women?
How did the Habsburg Empire Survive?
Finished by the First World War and buried under the nation states that succeeded it, the Habsburg monarchy had survived for centuries despite its obvious faultlines. What held it together?
The Decembrists: Russia’s First Revolution
The Decembrist revolt of 1825 saw Russia’s nobility attempt to depose tsar Nicholas I. Dismissed as romantic idealists, they were driven by a bold vision for the future of the country.
The Problem with Britain’s Pensions
How to finance old age has been a problem since the inception of Britain’s welfare state. Why is pension reform so difficult?
‘Turncoat’ by Dennis Sewell review
In Turncoat: Roundhead to Royalist, the Double Life of Cromwell’s Spy, Dennis Sewell asks whether George Downing was the ‘biggest scoundrel in Stuart England’?
Drinking to Australian Democracy
The colony of New South Wales did not have its own parliament until 1856, but it did have a tradition of public dinners and politically charged toasts.
‘El Generalísimo’ by Giles Tremlett book review
El Generalísimo: Franco: Power, Violence and the Quest for Greatness by Giles Tremlett considers the making of the mediocrity at the heart of modern Spain.
Border Control: How States Get Recognised
What makes a state? Is it its people, its borders, its government, or does it rest on recognition from international powers? Across the 19th and 20th centuries, the process by which states have been created and recognised has taken many forms.