Political

A Loss of Face-to-Face: MPs Expenses

In the wake of the parliamentary expenses scandal, some MPs have met their constituents to explain themselves, with bruising consequences. Jon Lawrence looks back to when such holdings-to-account were commonplace and benefited democracy.

Who Won the Thirty Years War?

Peter H. Wilson unravels one of the most notoriously bloody and complex conflicts in European history to answer the question.

John Wilkes’ Way

Secrecy shrouded the ways of politicians until the 18th century. Then John Wilkes came along, writes David Horspool.

Austria’s Diminutive Dictator: Engelbert Dollfuss

A right-wing Catholic who crushed all his rivals, Engelbert Dollfuss fought hard to maintain his young republic’s independence. A.D. Harvey looks at the life of the tiny patriot of peasant stock who stood up to Hitler.

The Peasants’ Revolt, 1381

In 1381 England witnessed a ‘summer of blood’ as the lower orders flexed their muscle. Dan Jones tells the story of one of medieval England’s most dramatic yet curiously neglected events.

The Gain from Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine inspired and witnessed the revolutions that gave birth to the United States and destroyed the French monarchy. A genuinely global figure, he anticipated modern ideas on human rights, atheism and rationalism.