Europe

Britain’s recent disputes with the European Union are part of a long historical narrative, argues James Ellison – but it is not the whole story.

After decades of advance, democracy in Europe has begun to look curiously vulnerable.

Ian Bradley looks at the life of Vincent Priessnitz, pioneer of hydrotherapy, whose water cures gained advocates throughout 19th-century Europe and beyond and are still popular today.

The Treaty of Versailles, negotiated by the fractious Allies in the wake of the First World War, did not crush Germany, nor did it bring her back into the family of nations. Antony Lentin examines a tortuous process that sowed the seeds of further conflict.

With the New Year release of Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse Gervase Phillips explores the true story of the horses and mules that served the British army during the First World War.

Would a new Act in Restraint of Appeals such as Henry VIII enacted against Rome in 1533 achieve a similar objective for Eurosceptics today of ‘repatriating powers’ from the EU? asks Stephen Cooper.

An international group of scientists has successfully sequenced the entire genome of the Black Death, the epidemic that killed 60% of Europe's population in the 14th century.

Robert Pearce asks whether Britain benefited from the 1853-56 contest.

By reinterpreting the years before 1914 William Mulligan sees the 'July Crisis' in a fresh perspective.

Lindsay Pollick reviews changing interpretations.