History Today

Sweets made of ice or snow have been with us for millennia, evolving slowly into the modern chilly treat.

The shortest war in history began (and ended) on 27 August 1896.

Four new studies challenge familiar tropes to consider some important but lesser-known areas of the women’s suffrage movement. 

A contemporary of Hitler, Franco and Mussolini, Salazar is remembered by some of his compatriots as the greatest figure in the nation’s history. Why?

The arrival of Napoleon’s troops in Venice in 1797 instigated one of the biggest plunders in the history of art. 

Can the study of the past really help us to understand the present?

Methodism gained great popularity in the 18th century, but its followers were thought enthusiastic to the point of insanity, posing a serious threat to the established church.

French was the only language worth speaking in medieval Britain – and not just by the upper classes.

Why the British government can’t reveal more about an ‘open secret’.