Volume 73 Issue 5 May 2023

An examination of an apothecary, French, early 18th century.

The Water of Life

Paris was flooded with Eau de Cologne during the early years of Napoleon’s rule. Everyone was using it and everyone was selling it.

‘A Continuous Performance Since Peter the Great’: Russia is shown manipulating conflict in the Balkans on the cover of Puck magazine, 7 October 1903. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

The Balkan Federation: Doomed to Disunity?

Talk of a Balkan federation became a hot topic at the end of the Ottoman Empire, eventually dying a death at the dawn of the Cold War. Was Europe’s ‘Little Orient’ destined to fall apart?  

Winston Churchill speaking at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in front of a picture of Abraham Lincoln, 1944. Bridgeman Images.

Churchill Off Record

Once the war was won, Winston Churchill had two preoccupations: preserving his place in posterity and making lots of money. If they could be achieved at the same time, so much the better. 

Civilian prisoners captured during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 1943.

Warsaw in Flames

The story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is typically one of defiance and bravery against the odds. But what of those unable to fight?

Prester John on his throne in Ethiopia, from a map of East Africa in the Queen Mary Atlas, by Diogo Homem, Portuguese, 1558.

The King Who Wasn't There

Belief in Prester John, a lost Christian king ruling over a distant kingdom, gripped medieval Europe for half a millennium. Once seen as a saviour, he would become an adversary.

Miniature of the Battle of Cresson from Les Passages d’outremer by Sébastien Mamerot, c.1474. Wikimedia Commons

Against the Odds

The Battle of the Springs of Cresson marked the beginning of the end for the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The removal of the Cherokee, c.1850. The Granger Collection/Alamy.

The Trail of Tears

The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on 28 May 1830, forcing the migration of five Native American nations from their homelands.

Karl Marx, c.1875.

On the Spot: Chris Wickham

Which person in history would I most like to have met? Karl Marx. You’d have to know the right questions to ask, though.