Europe

Womaniser, courtier, soldier and pioneer royal architect: Charles McKean investigates the rise and fall of a 'Renaissance man' in 16th-century Scotland.

Hitler's march into the demilitarised Rhineland heralded Churchill's 'gathering storm' – but could the Fuhrer's bluff have been called and the Second World War prevented? Sir Nicholas Hederson, who as Britain's ambassador in Washington during the Falklands crisis saw diplomatic poker eventually turn to war, offers a reassessment of the events of 1936.

A mission to the heathen? Hugh MacLeod looks at working-class attitudes towards organised Christianity in fin de siecle Berlin and other urban centres.

Max Beloff looks at what he (and other historians) got wrong (and right) about the future 50 years ago.

Anthony Gross traces the tenacious efforts of Henry VI's partisans to regain the throne from the House of York, and at a strange alliance that nearly paid off.

Ronald Quinault wonders what Churchill would have made of Maastricht in the light of his post-war activities.

As discussion grows about defence post Cold War, Martin Dedman and Clive Fleay look at an abortive 1950s plan for a 'European Army'.

Peter Laslett discusses how the Continent's 'happy families' have changed dramatically since the War.

The life and times of Austria's grand old man, the Emperor Franz Joseph, via the Kaiservilla.