History Today

Raymond E Role explores the evolution of the intramural games that began in the Middle Ages and still flourish in Italy today.

David Chandler tells how Napoleon’s first battle with the British saved the vital port of Toulon – and opened the door to a glittering military career.

George Orwell's last novel was published on 8 June, 1949.

David Nash argues that opposition to the Second Boer War began the tradition of peace politics that has flourished through the twentieth century.

Clare Griffiths reflects on the last time a Labour government faced angry farmers fighting for their livelihood.

Peter Connolly explains how he became the most admired historical illustrator-author on Greece and Rome.

Who discovered Australia? Most people think of the First Fleet that went to Botany Bay 1788, but our ideas may require rethinking, following recent research on DNA analysis, and epidemiological studies of a rare disease. 

Jan Herman Brinks examines the Dutch myth of resistance and finds collaboration with the Nazis went right to the top.

The rival leaders in Spain’s Civil War were as different as the causes they embodied. Paul Preston compares their contrasting characters.

Bruce Kent reflects on the achievements and shortcomings of the peace movement and anti-nuclear weapons campaigns of the 1980s, from a post-Cold War perspective.