Social

The Paris Commune of 1871, which ended with the most ferocious outbreak of civil violence in 19th century Europe, is still a subject of intense historical interest and controversy.

Richard O. Collin tells the story of Italy’s parallel police forces, and how they have contended with Mussolini, the Red Brigades – and the Mafia.

Ghana's slaving past, long regarded as too sensitive to even discuss, is now becoming a lively issue. A group of Ghanaians, led by lawyers and tribal chiefs, have convened an Africa-wide meeting to seek 'retribution and compensation for the crime of slavery’.

Raymond E Role explores the evolution of the intramural games that began in the Middle Ages and still flourish in Italy today.

Jan Herman Brinks examines the Dutch myth of resistance and finds collaboration with the Nazis went right to the top.

Michael Broers describes Napoleon’s efficient police-state and shows how the system became a model for rulers throughout Europe.

Beginning our new series on the history and development of policing, Clive Emsley sets the scene with a broad discussion of the origins and issues of early policing in Continental Europe.

Adrian Seville describes the humble beginnings of the earliest lottery, tracing its development from 16th-century Venice across the Channel to Britain.

In reviewing the career of one of the key figures in modern Russian history, Michael Lynch rejects the notion that Trotsky would have been a more humane leader than Stalin.

Tsar Alexander II oversaw a set of reforms which held out the prospect of modernising Russia but whose failure paved the way for revolution.