History Today

The Rise of the Nazis

Fifty years ago this month, Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor of Germany by the aging President Hindenburg. How were the Nazis able to 'seize power' in this way? Jeremy Noakes begins our special feature by explaining their success.

War and Man's Past

'War, far from being an exact science, is a terrible and impassioned drama' wrote Baron de Jomini in 1862. John Keegan argues that it is this drama that military historians must confront in their probe into man's past.

Adolf Hitler and the Cartoonists

W.A. Coupe argues that German cartoonists ridiculed Hitler as a Chaplinesque little man, so it was easy not to take him seriously – until it was too late.

Why War?

John Keegan reflects on the motives for war throughout human history.

Garibaldi and South America

The Italian patriot's style of leadership – and his famous red shirts – were a legacy of his South American experience and proved an inspiration to Latin American radicals for many generations.

James Gibbs: Architect

As with his mentor, Christopher Wren, it is only necessary to look around, explains Bryan Little, to see the monuments to James Gibbs, that prolific early eighteenth-century architect.

The March of Bricks and Mortar

The publication of Exploring the Urban Past edited by David Cannadine and David Reeder, The Rise of Suburbia edited by F.M.L. Thompson and The English Terraced House by Stefan Muthesius, occasions Robert Thorne to reflect on the burgeoning interest of historians in suburban history.

Faction: Clientage and Party: English Politics, 1550-1603

Changes in the structure of the Court and the emergence of religion as a major political issue curbed the influence of faction in the later Tudor period. But it was not eliminated; the last decade of Elizabeth's reign, argues Simon Adams, saw the greatest faction-struggle of the sixteenth-century.