Political

Why is the sordid murder of Horst Wessel, a young Nazi storm troop leader in Berlin in early 1930, so important? Nigel Jones recalls his death and the black legend that sprang from it.

T.G. Otte goes to the heart of Whitehall to explore the origins and future of an important government archive which is becoming far more accessible to historians.

Janet Copeland focuses on an important figure in the emancipation of British women.

F.G. Stapleton highlights the key role played by the Italian King in the Rise of Mussolini.

Did it matter that the fifth Tudor monarch was a woman rather than a man? Retha Warnicke investigates.

Robert Pearce attempts to probe the nature of the 1918-22 Coalition.

India cast off the monarchy in 1950, but the Nehru-Gandhi family have become republican royalty. How did one dynasty take centre stage in the world’s largest democracy?

Is the US President as a republican substitute for royalty? Frank Prochaska explores the relationship between George III and the Founding Fathers, and the constitutional and ceremonial continuities between Britain and America. 

Richard Barber describes the discoveries he made when Channel Four’s Time Team uncovered Edward III’s huge circular building at the heart of Windsor Castle.

R.J. Knecht looks at the ­practical considerations behind the smooth operation of the huge courts of the Valois kings of France.