Political

Frank Dikötter looks at how historians’ understanding of China has changed in recent years with the gradual opening of party archives that reveal the full horror of the Maoist era.

Painter of genius, gifted courtier and much-travelled man of the world, Rubens reached England in 1629, charged with the delicate task of furthering an entente between the Spanish government and Great Britain. C.V. Wedgwood shows how he enjoyed the conversation of his youthful host, whose fine aesthetic taste he shared, but shrewdly judged the weakness of King Charles I’s diplomacy.

Ben Sandell shows that grappling with the meaning of a key term can reveal much about the nature of conflict in 16th-century France.

Mark Rathbone looks at the Battle of the Widow McCormack’s Cabbage Garden and at what happened to those involved.

Retha Warnicke investigates one of the key questions of Tudor England: why did queen Elizabeth I never marry?

Magnus Stenbock, the Swedish aristocrat and war hero, lived his life in pursuit of honour. Yet, as Andreas Marklund reveals, he died in disgrace, broken by the schemes of a cunning spy. 

The idea of a female monarch was met with hostility in medieval England; in the 12th century Matilda’s claim to the throne had led to a long and bitter civil war. But the death of Edward VI in 1553 offered new opportunities for queenship, as Helen Castor explains.

Stephen Gundle examines the political demise and commercial rebirth of the Italian dictator.

The traumatic but ultimately victorious march of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communists ended on 22 October 1935.