History Today

William Gardener assesses the handiwork of Sir William Jackson Hooker and John Lindley.

In the year 1765 Dr. Johnson’s future biographer set out on his journey to Corsica.

By challenging and destroying the system of General Warrants, John Wilkes struck an important blow for civil liberty in England, writes George Rudé.

C. Northcote Parkinson traces the development of the tin mining and plating processes, from Chinese joss-sticks, to the modern tin can.

All the Nazi leaders had a talent for self-dramatisation. None was more enamoured of the role he had chosen than Heinrich Himmler.

The unexpected fall of Gladstone's government in June 1885 was a cause of acute embarrassment to the parliamentary Opposition, whose victory caught them unprepared.

Henry McAleavy traces both the daring adventures and wavering fortunes of an unusually cultured Chinese 'Singing Girl' of the Boxer era.

Christopher Lloyd traces the development of naval missile technology alongside the often adverse reactions these “infernal machines” provoked.

Maurice Ashley offers a tribute and reassessment of Sir Charles Harding Firth, the great historian of England in the seventeenth century.

During the struggle that followed the Russian Revolution, Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno waged war against Whites and Reds alike for an independent Ukraine.