History Today Review of the Year

Ukraine War One Year On 

With 24 February marking the first anniversary of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine (Crimea and Donbas having been occupied in 2014), William Rees looked at the precedents for Vladimir Putin’s narrative of Western collapse (‘Decline and Fall’). Later in the year, George Garnett reflected on Putin’s abuse of history to underwrite his aggression (‘Vladimir Putin the Historian’) and Christopher Hale asked: ‘Will Putin Get His “Nuremberg Moment”?’ Meanwhile, reports of prisons being emptied to bolster the ranks of the Russian army found echo in Adam Drake’s account of Edward I recruiting criminals for his war with France (‘Outlaws at War’).

Coronation of King Charles III 

The pageantry of 6 May caused both Eleanor Parker (‘Old Traditions, New Hope’) and George Garnett (‘Long Live the Ancien Régime!’) to reflect on the origins of the coronation ceremony, its changes, and the ‘timeless’ hopes for ‘a land of peace and justice, for good government and seasons of prosperity.’ 

While royal regalia glistened, the institution itself seemed tarnished to some. The mood had been set by the release of Prince Harry’s titillating tell-all in January and ​​Jonathan Spangler showed that the dilemma faced by second sons was no recent phenomenon (‘Heirs and Spares’). These tawdry tabloid tales also gave Anthony Taylor reason to recall the nadir of the British royal family’s popularity in the 1870s (‘Off With Their Heads!’).

Decline of Local News 

In May, with local newspapers reaching their lowest numbers since the 18th century, we asked ‘What Do Historians Lose with the Decline of Local News?’. The situation continued to deteriorate over 2023 with redundancies at regional publisher Reach to ensure that the question remains as pertinent at the end of the year as it was at the beginning.

Birth of Nations 

Several anniversaries over 2023 commemorated the rise of modern nation-states from the wreckage of empire. In June, Elanor Kramer-Taylor used the 75th anniversary of Windrush to reflect on how the aspirations of Britain’s Caribbean colonies were deeply intertwined with the fortunes of Britain’s new residents (‘What Happens Back Home’).

On the centenary of Lee Kuan Yew’s birth in September, Albert Lau detailed his role in the emergence of Singapore (‘Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore Story’). In October, Murat Metinsoy marked the first 100 years of the Republic of Turkey by exploring the transformative role of another energetic (and autocratic) reformer – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (‘Turkey and the End of the Ottoman Empire’). 

December saw a double for the United States: the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party and the 200th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine. Max Edling examined this ‘period of state-formation and state-building unrivalled in modern history’ in ‘The 50 Years that Made America’.

Israel/Hamas Conflict 

History casts its long dark shadows over the ongoing Israel/Hamas conflict. The failures of Israeli intelligence to prevent the attack on 7 October were quickly compared to those of the October War/Yom Kippur War, but the events of 1973 inform the present in other ways. Writing on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, Reem Abou-El-Fadl revealed the domestic political pressures and realpolitik that still guides the response by Egypt and other Arab governments to the question of Israel and Palestine (‘Why Egypt Went to War in 1973’). 

With Zionism so often misunderstood by both its critics and its allies, William Eichler’s article from the summer also proved relevant (‘The Origins of Zionism’). Similarly, four historians gave us a fresh lens through which to view the contested moral high ground in ‘What is a “Just War”?’. As Cathal J. Nolan observed: ‘No war of aggression can be just, which is why we devote so much effort to saying the other side started it.’

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