2004

Jeremy Black looks at an account of how Britain became a world empire.

Edmund Fryde takes a look at a major English medieval rebellion with far-reaching consequences.

John Matusiak referees the debate about the influence of Henry VIII’s son.

Peter Catterall examines a new study on fin de siécle England.

The Director of the National Gallery, Sir Edward Poynter, acquired Titian's 'Man with a Quilted Sleeve' for the museum on August 14th, 1904.

June 6th, 1654

Michael Leech reviews a selection of titles dedicated to food preparation and eating throughout history.

B.J. Copeland and Diane Proudfoot recall the contribution to the war effort in 1939-45 of the British computer scientist, whose death fifty years ago has recently...

Paul Cartledge goes in search of the elusive personality of the world’s greatest hero.

Andrew Chugg pinpoints the Emperor’s long-lost tomb.

Mark Rathbone reviews a textbook on American History.

Anthony Fletcher reads his grandfather’s correspondence from the Western Front to see how he maintained morale and developed his leadership.

Erica Fudge asks if, and how, a biography of an animal might be written.

John Matusiak explains how to tackle typical questions successfully.

Richard Wilkinson examines the examiner’s agenda and advises accordingly.

Ben Vessey introduces the man whose experiences in the 1930s affected his decision to launch a disastrous operation against Egypt in 1956.

T.A. Jenkins reviews the life and legacy of Benjamin Disraeli, statesman, novelist and man-about-town, on the bicentenary of his birth.

Louis XVI was born on August 23rd, 1754, in the palace of Versailles.

Umberto II of Italy was born on September 15th, 1904.

Robert Colls on a new history of British immigration.

Robert Pearce has examined a new reference collection from Routledge.

Stuart Kidd has enjoyed a brief biography of one of the great American Presidents.

Mark Rathbone reviews six books from Heinemann's popular A-level series.

Retha Warnicke discovers shortcomings in a new big biography of Mary Queen of Scots.

Michael Broers compares a new study of Napoleon with the others available.

Peter Furtado introduces the August 2004 issue of History Today.

Edward Falshaw advises how our study of this important period can match the examiners’ agenda.

Edward Falshaw completes his survey of questions on contemporary Britain.

David Renton probes a couple of titles on postwar British society and politics.

Stephen Tyas uncovers a skeleton in the closeted world of espionage.

Mark Cohen and John Major describe how they approached the task of producing a ground-breaking volume of historical quotations.

Glenn Richardson reviews a new biography of the French Queen, Catherine de Medici.

Robert Knecht visits two of France’s most remarkable châteaux, which stand as monuments to the ambitions of their upwardly mobile creators Thomas Bohier and Nicolas...

The self-styled tribune of the Roman Republic, Cola di Rienzo, was murdered by an angry mob, on October 8th, 1354.

Ben Kiernan points out the progress, and difficulties, in recovering history and justice after genocide.

Ann Matear examines the continuing pursuit of justice after Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Dejan Djokic pinpoints the baleful influences of historical distortion and myth in a troubled area.

Latha Menon deplores the effects of religious extremism on Indian society and the writing of history.

Rikki Kersten extols the example of an unlikely hero, the historian Ienaga Saburo, who singlehandedly challenged Japan’s official view of responsibility for its...

Helen Graham reveals the key role historians are playing in the aftermath of Franco’s ‘Uncivil Peace’.

Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Finland, Matthew Kirk, describes the impact of the Crimean War on that country and how it is being commemorated.

John Hannavy looks at panoramas of the siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War.

David Nicholls calls for curriculum reform so that the past might have a future in England.

Penny Ritchie Calder introduces a major new exhibition celebrating the greatest amphibious landing in history, and the bravery of those who took part.

Peter Furtado introduces the February 2004 issue of History Today.

After spending almost half her life in exile, the former Queen of Spain died on 9th April, 1904.

November 24th, 1504

October 25th, 1154

Louis IV died in his early thirties on September 10th, 954, as a result of a fall from his horse.

April 27th, 1404

Richard Cavendish marks the anniversary of the passing of Pope Gregory, on March 12th, 604.

Claudius died on October 13th, AD 54. Roman opinion was convinced that Agrippina had poisoned him.

Andrew Cook examines the latest evidence from MI5 on the miners’ strike and the fall of the Heath government, March 1974.

Denise Silvester-Carr follows the path through literature, history,  art and horticulture that leads to the British Library’s latest exhibition.

Howard Amos interrogates a key text on colonialism and assesses its influence.

Ian Shaw reviews two new works on Ancient Egypt.

The only Englishman ever to be Pope, Nicholas Breakspear was elected on December 4th, 1154.

Richard Pfelderer explores two new biographies of Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake.

John Gardiner reviews a title on the middle-classes in the British Raj up to the mid-20th century.

Pauline Croft analyses the causes and traces the consequences of a momentous Treaty.

Jerry Brotton looks at two new books on developments in the 18th century.

James Chapman peruses a new book which examines the role of television in British popular culture since the Second World War.

Paul Dukes examines the historical roots of this month’s enlargement of the European Union.

Will Saunders examines the diverse and changing interpretations of the Queen's relations with her Councillors.

With Millennium reshowing on UKTV History, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto offers an ecological look at the world in the 19th century.

Mark McDonald introduces an earlier Spaniard with a famous name who made an art collection in the Low Countries.

Pamela Spencer draws attention to a new exhibition opening at the Wallace Collection.

Emily Mayhew tells the story of the heroic RAF pilots who overcame horrific burns and formed ‘the most exclusive Club in the world’, and of Archibald McIndoe, the...

Denis Judd takes stock of current arguments as to the effect of British rule in India and other countries of the Empire.

David Gaimster explains how the English Reformation is emerging as a key area of interest in British archaeology, and how the discipline sheds a unique light on the...

Robert Carr traces developments in British policy between 1917 and 1956.

Philip Carter celebrates the lives reclaimed by the newly-published Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Robert Pearce changes his mind about a new textbook on Gladstone.

Mark Rathbone compares Gladstone's and Disraeli's differing approaches to a crucial foreign policy issue.

Richard Hodges shows how new evidence is leading to a fresh understanding of the role of the Vikings in European history.

A new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum unlocks the myths and realities behind historical bids for freedom.

Lucy Wooding has reservations about a new study of the Tudor heavyweight.

Simon Sebag Montefiore considers the issues involved in writing the biography of one of history’s monsters.

Daniel Snowman on a new title which looks at the boom in history, in television and film, newspapers and radio.

David Bates introduces a major conference exploring the place of history in our schools and colleges.

by Trevor Fisher

Historian and magician Peter Lamont considers what can be learned by studying the history of a famous conjuring trick – or con trick?

Terry Jones, former Python, describes how a perverse fascination with the boring bits of Chaucer converted him from being a clown into a historian of the 14th century...

Stephen Barnes on a new exploration of what modern technology has brought to society and culture.

Edward Higgs examines the contentious history of identification systems in modern Britain.

Nigel Saul reads a major study of medieval popular culture and religion.

Jonathan Hughes on a new publication which investigates the earliest surviving stories of Robin Hood.

Ludmilla Jordanova looks at a new work on the architect of the English Renaissance.

On November 1st, 1954, an insurrection broke out in Algeria.

Richard Cavendish remembers the events of February 8th and 9th, 1904

Daniel Snowman meets the historian of 18th-century British art, culture, commerce, consumption – and a sensational murder.

William D. Rubinstein samples a title on the assassinated president.

Mark Goldie traces the ways in which people across the political spectrum have used and abused the ideas of the philosopher who died 300 years ago this month.

Caroline Sharples discusses the bitter-sweet experiences of the Jewish children permitted to travel to England to escape the Nazi regime, leaving their families...

Judy Corbett and Peter Welford tell Peter Furtado about their inspired restoration of a venerable Renaissance house in North Wales.

John Etty charts the complex, and highly significant, relationship between Lenin and Stalin.

Alan Ereira, producer of many broadcast historical documentaries and presenter of a new series on the Kings and Queens of England for UKTV History, explains why...

A selection from our monthly post-bag from readers...

Feedback from History Today readers.

The editor answers you correspondence.

Robert Pearce seeks to provoke thought on the origins of a momentous election result.

Patricia Fara studies two books on a noted 17th-century physicist and inventor.

Richard Barber explores the origin of the Holy Grail story, its significance in its own time and its wider impact in subsequent centuries.

Peter Mellini looks at a work on the influential diplomat and imperialist.

R.J.Knecht reviews a publication on the Sun King.

Liza Picard reviews two new studies of life in Renaissance Italy.

Eva Parisinou explores a welcome contribution to the impact of the classical world.

July 27th, 1054

David Metz recalls the dark days of the miners’ strike and considers how close the Tory government came to defeat.

Marlene Dietrich’s wartime uniform has recently been presented to the Imperial War Museum.

Charles Spencer tells how the victories of his great ancestor John Churchill have always fascinated him.

Alexander Wilkinson considers what the French made of the controversial royal who played a pivotal role in the French wars of religion, both as Queen of Scots and...

David Harrison considers one of the greatest but most underrated achievements of the medieval world: the hundreds of bridges that defined the British communication...

George Weidenfeld recalls a masterful historian of ancient Rome, and much else besides.

Peter Furtado introduces the July 2004 issue of History Today.

Phil Chamberlain explains a Second World War plan to silence German double agents in the event of a German invasion of Britain.

Robert Garland asks what murder meant to the apparently bloodthirsty Greeks and Romans.

Derek Wilson examines a title on the life of Mary Queen of Scots.

George Redmonds explains the value of taking a historical approach to the study of names.

December 2nd, 1804

Rana Mitter evaluates a new study of the use of opium in China in the modern era.

Narrative historian and festival organiser Derek Wilson looks back over half a century of popularising history

Janet MacDonald looks at the surprisingly good rations that kept the Jack-Tars jolly.

Vincent Barnett argues that surface differences should not cover up deep-seated similarities.

F.J.M. Scott samples two contrasting books on British naval legends.

Daniel Snowman profiles the historian of War, Finance, Empire and ‘Virtual’ History.

Robert Pearce introduces one of the most important – and misunderstood – thinkers of the 19th century.

Alastair Bonnett discusses Eastern ideas of the West, and argues they form part of a non-Western debate on modernity and society.

Daniel Snowman has been tracking down what Britain’s ‘Historic Heritage’ means to some of those in charge of it.

The first-ever parliament of the Sudan was opened by the British governor-general, Sir Robert Howe, on January 1st, 1954.

June 14th, 1404

John Gardiner analyses a study of the Crystal Palace from the Victorian era to the 1930s.

Andrew Petersen uncovers the city that was once an Islamic capital, and suggests reasons for its decline in the eleventh century.

Miles Taylor reviews a new biography of Lord Palmerston.

Robert Pearce looks at a selection of the season’s titles newly out in paperback.

Robert Pearce looks at a selection of the season’s titles recently out in paperback.

Richard Stoltz on a new book which looks at the creation of the post-war West German intelligence service.

Alexandra Walsham on a new interpretation of the transition from Catholicism to Protestantism in the English Reformation.

Charles Freeman looks at two titles on the life, impact and theology of the apostle Paul.

Richard Cavendish visits Penshurst Place, home to the Sidney and Shelley families.

Jonathan Lewis takes issue with a common interpretation.

 Michael Paris examines the way in which aspects of D-Day were filmed at the time and have subsequently been reconstructed in popular cinema.

Richard Wilkinson exposes prejudice and myth in assessing the career of a key figure in modern French history.

Emelyne Godfrey looks at the latest trends in postgraduate historical studies.

Juliet Gardiner looks at what it meant to refuse to fight or lend support to the war effort in the Second World War, the different reasons people asserted this...

Tristram Hunt explores a new book on women, family and society in Victorian Britain.

John Matusiak provides a post-revisionist perspective on Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset.

Have politicians always been seen as liars? Mark Knights finds political spin at work in the early party politics of Queen Anne’s England.

Robert Pearce has been immersing himself in a gargantuan set of reference books.

Sally Doganis provides an insider’s view of the challenges facing those who bring the past to the small screen.

Colin White surveys current scholarship on the national hero and announces an autumn lecture series devoted to him.

Lucy Worsley discusses the importance of the art and discipline of horsemanship to the men who became known as the Cavaliers.

Ian Mortimer takes issue with those who put limits on historians’ questionings of the past.

Danny Wood visits Carranque Archaeological Park, near Madrid, recently opened to the public.

Stephen Young puts the career of the 40th American President into historical perspective.

Graham Goodlad asks whether Lord Salisbury deserves his reputation as one of the great Victorian Prime Ministers.

Andrew Cook describes how a chance encounter with Houdini had a profound impact on the methods of Britain’s leading First World War spymaster.

Catherine Allen describes a new oral history project that aims to create an archive charting the experiences of disabled people throughout the twentieth century.

Carol Davis visits a church in Liverpool that has tragic links with the Irish Famine. The opening of a new study centre there will assist those trying to trace...

Daniel Snowman meets the celebrated telly-don and historian of 17th-century Holland, 18th-century France and America, all of British history and much else besides....

Damian O’Connor examines the motives of the man who started the conflict.

Retha Warnicke pays tribute to one of the first historical advisors to History Review.

Patricia Fara calls for a more inclusive, and realistic, history of Science.

Arthur Marwick reveals how beauty moved from being enticing and dangerous to being enticing and all-powerful.

September 4th, 1104

Charles Freeman offers a new theory to explain the positioning in Venice of the famous horses looted from Constantinople eight hundred years ago this month.

Clive Foss investigates how Stalin changed the calendar to keep the Soviet people continually at work.

Geoffrey Roberts accounts for the Soviet victory in the greatest battle of the Second Word War.

Mike Pitts examines two titles which look at the megaliths of the Stone Age and the part they play in modern culture.

Giles Radice, for many years Labour MP for Durham and chronicler of the politics of his party, describes how the past became important to him.

Nick Fellows offers practical advice.

Seán Lang looks forward to the return of narrative to the teaching of history in schools.

John Lucas rejoices at the return of Christopher Wren’s Temple Bar to London after more than 120 years of ‘exile’ in Hertfordshire.

Susan Pedersen introduces Eleanor Rathbone who devoted her career as a politician and social reformer during the turbulent interwar years to improving the lot of...

Glen Jeansonne sees the former president as a mirror of his age.

Gerard DeGroot investigates the effects of the ‘peace dividend’ on the Nevada desert.

Tom Palaima reviews two timely titles focusing on Greek athletics and the Ancient Olympics.

Philip Pedley sees fateful flaws in a famous agreement.

Richard Wilkinson is impressed by a new study of the women’s movement.

Russell Chamberlin introduces the commemorations to the anniversary of the start of Operation Overlord, sixty years ago this month.

Richard Cavendish marks the birth of the American continent's namesake, on March 9th, 1454.

May 4th, 1904

Christopher Lee describes the voyage of discovery that led to him becoming a historian.

Linda Proud explores a book on the workings of a Renaissance court and characters otherwise forgotten to history.

Richard Evans has written two articles for History Review explaining how a modern, progressive country surrendered to a brutal and murderous dictatorship. In the...

Glenn Richardson looks at almost nine hundred years of enmity, jealousy and mutual fascination, a hundred years after the Entente Cordiale.

Richard Cavendish charts the events leading up to Britain and France's declarations of war on Russia on successive days on March 27th and 28th, 1854.

Christopher Allmand considers the long-lasting impact of the great study of military tactics and organisation.

Nicholas Orme considers how the crowded cities of medieval England dealt with the death and burial of their citizens.

February 6th, 1804

February 26th, 1154

Tom Palaima reviews a new title on the deceased and how they have influenced primitive man to twentieth century society.

Alan Farmer has enjoyed two new Seminar Studies on US history.

George Watson considers how news of a political and moral bombshell was received, particularly by intellectuals on both the Left and the Right.

Richard Cavendish describes the French defeat in Indochina, on May 7th, 1954.

Jeremy Black explores a new title on development in the pre-industrial West.

Richard Cavendish describes the race in which Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile, on May 6th, 1954.

Dean Juniper argues that war encouraged the development of radio technology, as of so much else.

Museum director Duncan Robinson reintroduces the famous Cambridge museum that has undergone some major developments in recent months.

Jonathan Phillips sees one of the most notorious events in European history as a typical ‘clash of cultures’.

Steven King argues that government policy on pensions is returning to the principles and practice of the Old Poor Law.

Patricia Pierce tells the tale of William-Henry Ireland, whose teenage angst led him to pull off an unlikely hoax.

Robert Hume investigates the first of the major railway disasters in Britain, which took the lives of over thirty people in a collision in North Wales.

William Philpott considers a brace of titles on the First World War.

The Hampton Court Conference opened on January 14th, 1604. The most important product of the conference was the King James Bible.

David Johnson reviews a new dynastic history on the family acceded to the British throne.

Stephen Cullen reassesses the role of ‘Dad’s Army’.

April 3rd, 1954

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto reviews works on two major oceans and their impact on history.

Andrew Syk investigates whether one British army division truly comprised ‘lions led by donkeys’, or whether its officers learned the lessons of their early mistakes...

Patrick Dillon delves into a new account of street life in 18th-century London.

The best history books, films and students of 2003 announced.

Peter Day delves into documents recently released from the National Archives to review the short and sad career of Talal, father of King Hussein of Jordan.

F.M.L. Thompson reviews two publications on the history of the automobile.

Charles Allen challenges the accepted account of a tragic massacre that took place in Tibet a century ago this month.

A.D. Harvey peruses the new updated version of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

The Republican Party was founded on July 6th, 1854.

The beauty of Sirmione, which lies at the southern tip of Lake Garda in Italy, has proved an inspiration for poets since 56 BC, as T.P. Wiseman explains.

Martin D. Brown tells the little-known story of how British and American soldiers disappeared in Slovakia’s Tatra Mountains during the remarkable episode of...

Susan Whitfield, head of the International Dunhuang Project, introduces a new exhibition of treasures of ancient central Asia, opening at the British Library.

July 21st, 1904

Hugh Kennedy examines the life of one of the most powerful men in the world in the eighth century.

Mark Rathbone looks at the role of the Supreme Court in the history of civil rights in the USA from 1865 onwards.

William Frend, later professor of ecclesiastical history at Glasgow University, explained how he influenced the course of European history in 1944.

John Charmley rewrites the history of the Tory Party restoring to its heart the earls of Derby, owners of Knowsley Hall.

Michael Leech visits the city that is celebrating the anniversary of the marriage of Mary Tudor and the future Philip II of Spain, 450 years ago this month.

Charlotte Crow lifts the curtain on ‘juvenile drama’ – a 19th-century phenomenon, subject of a new exhibition on Regency toy theatre at Sir John Soane’s Museum in...

When Teddy Roosevelt was re-elected, on November 8th, 1904, his words to his wife Edith were: 'My dear, I am no longer a political accident'.

Hugh Small challenges the accepted view of why the Light Brigade charged the Russian guns at Balaclava on October 25th, 1854.

As the 75th birthday of the famous cartoon adventurer Tintin is marked at the end of this month by a special exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, Hergé’s...

Patricia Wright revisits the career of a 14th-century abbot who ruthlessly protected the interests of his abbey and who built a remarkable celestial clock.

Hugh Purcell tells the story of the man who inspired the Home Guard, taught it guerrilla warfare and paid a price for his political beliefs.

Gallery owner John Martin appeals to readers to help identify figures in a significant work ‘The Opening Session of the United Nations’ by the twentieth-century...

It was not until a year after the armistice that the remaining American divisions were withdrawn from Korea, on August 18th, 1954.

Jonathan Smele commends a new study of a key Soviet thinker and actor.

Historical novelist Linda Proud explains why she thinks fiction can be as truthful as ‘fact’.

F.J. Stapleton stresses that we need to apply as well as understand historiography to assess the impact of the Sondwerg Theory on German Kaiserrich Historiography...

Graham Gendall Norton studies a pair of books exploring two extraordinary 20th century European figures.

Chris Wrigley reviews a book exploring the 250-year history of British trade unionism.

Dr Rita Gardner, Director of the Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) introduces a new initiative to make its holdings accessible...

Peter Furtado opens the October 2004 issue of History Today.

Valentine Fallan offers a new look at a once-derided source for the Norman Conquest.

David Bates introduces the summer’s major historical conference.

Bernard Porter argues that, through most of the nineteenth century, most Britons knew little and cared less about the spread of the Empire.

Matthew Hilton examines the past progress and future dilemmas of the Consumers’ Association.

Andrew Bridgeford argues that we have failed to appreciate the ingenuity and complexity of the story depicted by the Bayeux Tapestry.

Virginia Berridge examines the relevance of past experiences to current policy-making.

Tim Black seeks to answer a question of momentous historical importance.

Peter Anderson identifies the groups, the grievances and the events which started the war.

Geoff Quilley shows how the work of Hodges, official artist on Cook’s second voyage and subject of a major exhibition opening this month at the National Maritime...

Is it history or fiction? Is it better than both, or worse than either? Robert Pearce wrestles with these questions.

Archaeologist Keith Branigan uncovers clues revealing the patterns of emigration from the Isle of Barra to British North America, from 1770 to 1850.

Peter Furtado visits the British Museum to see a newly-acquired collection of Native American objects.

• Susie Steinbach, Women in England 1760-1914: a social history (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 2004)
• Joanna Martin, Wives and Daughters: Women...

June Purvis looks back at thirty years of women’s history in Britain.

Michael Robertson tells how a group of lower-middle-class men in late-Victorian England found the American poet an inspiration in their desire to reconcile...

Ian Knight reviews a new revisionist history of the Anglo-Zulu war.

History Today announces its prize for the best history on television in the last year.

John Strachan looks at women and advertising in late Georgian England.

Paul Shirley describes the freedom struggles of African Americans in the Bahamas after the American War of Independence.