Social

The troubled history of the region, and the deep-rooted antagonisms between the different ethnic groups laying claim to it.

Mikhail Gorbachev's period as President of the Soviet Union, 1985-91, was truly revolutionary. But Steven Morewood argues that he failed to understand or control the forces he unleashed.

The 1867 Reform Act did not set the British electoral system in stone until the Third Reform Act of 1884-85. John Walton reveals that its effects were complex, varied and quite often unintended.

In this assessment of Tudor peers, Matthew Christmas argues that the nobility retained their importance as a class and are fundamental to an understanding of the Tudor period.

1930s Shanghai was notoriously populated by characters of dubious political and moral allegiances. Bernard Wasserstein shows how the Japanese used their contacts among the city’s low-life to assist in their invasion and occupation.

The image of the American Civil War as a ‘white man’s fight’ became the national norm almost as soon as the last shot was fired. Susan-Mary Grant looks at the experience and legacy of the conflict for black Americans.

Controversy has raged about Hitler's military and economic preparations for war. Did he intend a world war or a series of short conflicts? Richard Overy argues that Hitler drew the lesson from 1914-18 not that a major war should be avoided but that Germany should prepare more systematically so that, this time, she would win.

The 1954 lawsuit brought against the US Army by Joseph McCarthy marked a turning point in public attitude towards the ‘Red Scare’ Senator. Thomas Doherty tells how television played a crucial role in his demise.

Women as perpetrators of crime, rather than its victims, were figures of especial fascination and loathing in the Victorian popular press. Judith Knelman delves deeper.