History Today

Arnold Whitridge on the former Senator from Mississippi, who led the Government of the South during the Civil War in the United States.

It is not the least tragedy of a tragic life that Lincoln was obliged to face the most terrible decision of all, before he had grown to the full height of his Presidential stature. 

In the autumn of 1776 Benedict Arnold, whose name in American annals is now synonymous with treachery, saved the embattled Colonies from a crushing British-Canadian blow by his gallant naval delaying action upon the waters of Lake Champlain. By John A. Barton.

In square-rigged, wooden-hulled ships, without engines or modern steel plate, an early 19th-century navigator set out to solve the problem of the Northwest Passage. Captain Parry failed to reach the Pacific; but his courageous attempt remains 'one of the best-planned and most skilfully executed northern explorations' of the age in which he lived.

It fell to Shelburne in his public offices to wrestle with the problems of the American colonies. During his Prime Ministership in 1782-83, writes W.O. Simpson, Shelburne concluded the treaty of peace that recognized their independence.

Centuries after the death of Montcalm, writes Arnold Whitridge, the French presence still dominates Quebec.

Twenty years after the Declaration of Independence, writes Louis C. Kleber, the Americans, now at peace with Britain, were involved in tortuous negotiations with the Directory of the French Republic.

Besides La Fayette, writes Arnold Whitridge, many French volunteers joined the American forces to fight for a freedom they had not yet won in France.

Derek Lawrence charts the origins of submarine design.

G.G. Hatheway describes how British-Canadian and American companies entered upon a nineteenth century contest in transatlantic crossings.