Political

The prime minister at the time of Napoleon’s defeat was a keen observer of European politics. His government sought a balance of power on the Continent, but with minimal British engagement.

At the beginning of the 20th century the Great Powers competed for the right to extract the vast oil reserves around the Iraqi city of Mosul. The motivation – and prize – was energy security. 

Winning the vote meant millions of women needed a party to represent them in Parliament. Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst founded one, with limited success.

Fiercely anti-Communist, Clement Attlee found Britain’s intelligence agencies to be invaluable tools.

In his lifetime George Downing was regarded as ‘ready to turn to every side that was uppermost’, but even Pepys was grudgingly forced to admit his qualities in eighteenth-century political life.

The earliest surviving written evidence of a Romance language, the Oaths of Strasbourg were sworn on February 14th, 842.

When Joe Biden said ‘God save the Queen’, was he heralding the end of the republic?

Turkey has a long history of coups, but the failed İzmir plot to assassinate Atatürk in 1926 had a lasting impact. One foreign journalist recorded the reprisals that followed with admiration – which soon turned to fear.

Churchill’s vision of Britain’s role in the world may provide the key to Brexit.