Political

The Character of Richard III

Shakespeare’s enormous influence in shaping subsequent concepts of 15th-century England is nowhere better illustrated than in the case of the character of Richard III. 

Ike and Obama

President Obama has more in common with Dwight D. Eisenhower than any other of his predecessors, says Michael Burleigh.

Machiavelli: Not So Machiavellian?

Alexander Lee considers new evidence which suggests that Machiavelli may not have been the archetypal proponent of power politics he is remembered as.

British Diplomacy and the Giant Grenadiers of Frederick William I

The tall army recruits known as the Potsdam Giants, F.L. Carsten writes, played a considerable part in the British diplomacy during the early 18th century, and the efforts of the Prussian recruiting sergeants to procure men of the desired size extended to the British Isles.

Two Sides of the Same Party

Stephen Bates on the divisions that split Peel’s Tory administration in the mid-1840s, resonant of splits in the Conservative Party today.

Cobbett and Hunt: An Unnecessary Act

The term ‘Cobbett and Hunt’ was shorthand for radical politics in the early 19th century, but the petty hatred that developed between the two men had a devastating effect on the outcome of the 1832 Reform Act, says Penny Young.