2000

David McKinnon-Bell analyses the state of France around 1598 and explains why recovery under Henry IV was so rapid.  

Samantha Riches describes the role of St. George as a patron saint in medieval England

The 60th anniversary of De Gaulle’s London address to ‘Free France’.

Janet Backhouse looks at A History of Reading in the West, edited by Cavallo, Gulgielmo and Chartier Roger (eds) and Incunabula Studies in Fifteenth-Century...

October 8th, 1600

The reunification of Berlin’s libraries after the fall of the Berlin Wall

The High Street Londinium exhibition at the Museum of London

Sean Lang describes the changes in college history since the sixties and deplores the trend towards Hitler-dominated history.

Marion Shoard describes the centuries-long battle waged by Britons for the right to roam over the hills and vales of their island.

The ancient library of Alexandria, destroyed by fire in AD270 is to be replaced by a new great library in the city to open this year, which will also serve as a...

As we enter the new dispensation, wherein AS and A2 equals an A Level, Graham D. Goodlad gives some timely and pertinent advice.

Richard Cavendish marks the start of a landmark archaeological project, on March 23rd 1900

March 1st 1950

Our seasonal round-up of the latest history titles from the publishing world catering for the general reader and specialist alike.

E.S. Neale

Jeffrey Green argues that to ignore the diverse black presence in Britain prior to the 1940s is to perpetuate a distorted view of British history

Esmond Wright recalls the life of the American philosopher, scientist and man of letters in his years in a street near Charing Cross.

The launch of Phoenix Press to discover out of print history titles that deserve to be brought back into print.

Margaret and Ian Millar describe the life of a pioneer astronomer, born on March 16th 1750.

Richard Cavendish charts the birth, on May 9th, 1800, and childhood of John Brown.

Joseph Needham, one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable scholars, was born on December 9th, 1900.

February 2nd, 1650

Thomas Babington Macaulay, the most famous historian of his time, was born on St Crispin's Day, October 25th, 1800.

The future William III of England was born on his mother's nineteenth birthday in an atmosphere of funeral gloom, on November 4th, 1650.

Flashman author George MacDonald Fraser explains how ‘history disguised as fiction’ has been his inspiration and is also his aim.

Jan Bolton assesses the strengths and weaknesses of a new text on Tudor Britain.

Richard Kelly compares three books on a similar theme.  

Graham Darby casts a critical eye on a volume in a new series.  

Richard Wilkinson finds stimulation in a new book on Labour's leaders.  

Robert Pearce reviews a mixed bag of new publications.

Annette Mayer commends a wide-ranging study of women's history.

Michael Paris looks at the romanticised image of war in boys’ popular fiction prior to 1914, and at the sustaining appeal of the genre in spite of the realities of...

Peter Ghosh reviews two volumes on British intellectual history.

Simon Young recounts the history of the long-forgotten British Celt colony off the Galician coast

Malcolm Billings reviews the astonishing holdings of the Museum of Underwater Archaeology at Bodrum, Turkey.

Penny Young looks at the ambititious plans to reconstruct the celebrated Ottoman bridge in Mostar, destroyed by fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovinia.

Richard Cavendish explains how a fleet led by Pedro Alvarez Cabral reached the Brazilian coast on April 21st, 1500.

California became the thirty-first state of the United States on September 9th, 1850.

R.C. Macleod re-tells the story of the force that began by policing the Klondike and ended by spying on separatists and 'subversives'.

Brian Fagan looks at this new title by David Keys.

A reflection on the life of this great historian, who died in April 2000.

To mark the quincentenary of the birth in 1500 of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Glenn Richardson examines the emperor's ambitions and achievements.

The city of Ghent in modern Belgium, birthplace of Charles V, is currently celebrating the 500th anniversary of his birth on February 24th, 1500.

Robert Bickers shows how the history of British and European imperialism in China helps explain the ferocious Boxer War of 1900.

The Exposition Universelle in Paris ended on November 12th, 1900. In seven months, the Exposition drew over 50 million visitors. 

July 9th, 1900

The last great medieval fortification in England, Wigmore Castle in Herefordshire, has been preserved as a romantic ruin at a cost of £1 million by English Heritage....

Michael Mullett shows how the reform of the Catholic Church in sixteenth-century Europe sprang from medieval origins but that, in important ways, it was affected...

Sharpe, J.A.

Tony Aldous looks at a new history of British theatres

The most gifted, vivid and extraordinary of the medieval Holy Roman Emperors died on December 13th, 1250.

The brilliant inventor and engineer William George Armstrong died on December 27th, 1900, aged ninety.

April 16th, 1850

June 3rd, 1900

Robert Peel suffered a fatal fall from his horse on June 29th, 1850. He died three days later.

Barry Cunliffe tells how, aged nine, his first encounter with Roman remains in a Somerset field determined his ambition to become an archaeologist.

Eric Kentley reviews the Design Museum’s new exhibition on Isambard Kingdom Brunel

June 3rd 1940 was the last night of evacuations of Allied forces from Dunkirk.  Patrick Wilson assesses the importance of Operation Dynamo.

Martin Johnes and Iain McLean examine the political aftermath of the Aberfan disaster.

Bush, Julia

Leah Marcus shows the Tudor queen to have been a mistress of the English language as much as of the English people.

Peter Mandler reviews a book by Paul Longford

Stewart MacDonald introduces the humanist scholar whose writings made him one of the most significant figures of 16th-century Europe.  

Dowden, KenThe Triumph of the Moon A History of Modern Pagan WitchcraftHutton, Ronald

Suzanne Bardgett describes the process of creating the new Holocaust Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and explains what it sets out to achieve.

Stephen Gundle settles in the stalls to re-view the epochal Fellini film that defined the hedonistic spirit of post-war Italy.

John F. Crossland reviews a book by David Fraser

Harriet Jones considers the impact of the new Freedom of Information Act on students of contemporary history.

Graham Goodlad considers the background to the reform of the Poor Law in 1834 and its impact on society.

Joan Perkin tells the rags-to-riches story of Harriet Mellon, the actress who married the banker Thomas Coutts.

Daniel Snowman meets the historian of Russia and its peoples.

Richard Cavendish remembers the events of February 17th, 1600

Jeremy Black reviews The World and the West - The European Challenge and the Overseas Response in the Age of Empire, by Philip D. Curtin, and The...

The remains of the Roman fort of Segedunum, marking the eastern end of Hadrian’s wall and its new interpretation centre.

Turkish archaeologists work against the clock to discover the secrets of ancient Hasankeyf before it is flooded by the waters of the proposed Ilisu dam

History Today’s review of current trends in historical study at British universities.

Garton Ash, Timothy

History Today’s new prize for the best historical audio-visual work

John Claydon provides practical guidance on a vexed issue.

Jonathan Glover

John Mason describes the convoluted way in which Hungary has publicly celebrated its history through all the vicissitudes of its recent past.

Michael Kustow gives his impressions of the David Irving libel trial against Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books, which raises important questions of the nature of...

Ronald F. Maxwell reviews a historical film directed by Luc Besson.

Daniel Snowman talks to Britain’s most distinguished military historian and the Defence Editor of the Daily Telegraph.

Richard Cavendish describes the events leading up to Jordan's annexation of the West Bank, on April 24th, 1950.

Henrietta Harrison sees the Boxer Movement through the eyes of an ordinary Chinese man.

Michael K. Jones reviews a book by Nicholas Wright

Richard Monte looks at the history and heritage on show in Kracow, one of the European Cities of Culture 2000.

Daniel Snowman meets the biographer of Tudors and Stuarts, and the author of The Weaker Vessel and The Gunpowder Plot.

What did Hitler mean by Lebensraum? Did he attempt to translate theory into reality? Martyn Housden 'unpacks' the term and puts it into historical context.

Service, Robert

Mark Girouard

Robert Perks explains the value of sound archives in the armoury of the modern historian, and introduces Britain’s premier collection of recorded speech.

Mike Corbishley explains how English Heritage, custodian of much of the best of England’s built historical environment, makes the past accessible to young minds

Richard Wilkinson argues that, for all his faults, a case can be made for the aloof aristocrat at the Foreign Office in 1900-1905.

Harris, Ruth

Hugh Stephenson looks at the first volume in three-part biography of Margaret Thatcher by John Campbell.

Eric Ives looks at the cases of two English monarchs who broke with convention by selecting spouses for reasons of the heart, rather than political convenience....

Alan Farmer has been impressed by a new CD-ROM.

Perry Biddiscombe traces the historical background to the contemporary neo-Nazi and skinhead violence in Germany.

Debra Higgs Strickland examines the extraordinary demonology of medieval Christendom and the way it endowed strangers and enemies with monstrous qualities.

Erica Fudge explores a shift in attitudes towards bestiality in the sixteenth century and how this impinged on wider issues concerning human status.

Moseley, Ray

Stephen Bourne tells how a Blitz adoption led to his passion for rediscovering Black history in Britain.

Penny Young explores the astonishingly rich archaeological heritage of Oman.

Lucy Chester examines the processes by which the Indo-Pakistan border was drawn, dividing a single country into two.

Charles Maechling argues that the Japanese attack, which took place on December 7th 1941, was partly a response to the country's limited energy resources.

Peter Furtado peruses the refurbished National Portrait Gallery, unveiled on May 4th, to cope with 21st century visitors.

John Miller describes the state of the British kingdoms as James Stewart waits to become monarch of the entire archipelago.

Allan Macinnes investigates the state of the islands at a crucial moment in British state formation.

Jeremy Black continues our Portrait of Britain series describing the impact of the French Wars on the islands and the shifting landscape wrought by the Industrial...

Asa Briggs completes our Portrait of Britain series with a survey of the islands at the beginning of the 20th century.

Ann Williams describes the state of the island at a time when Anglo-Saxon culture was reaching its peak, while also politically challenged by the Vikings.

Emma Mason argues that rising population brought a surprising degree of movement, politically, geographically and socially.

James Campbell peers into the murk of the ‘Dark Ages’ and sifts truth from fiction about our post-Roman history.

Consumer historian Robert Opie tells how he first came to recognise the value of everyday discarded things, and suggests the need for a new awareness of our recent...

How the Republican triumph over the Federalists in the fiercely fought US elections of 1800 was due to skilful appropriation of the American Revolution to partisan...

Alison Brown reviews a new title on Renaissance printing by Brian Richardson.

Peter Furtado announces recent awards for historical writing.

Jenny Bryce asks why the Americans introduced the 18th Amendment when the historical evidence suggested it was doomed to failure. This essay won the Julia Wood...

Martin Evans contrasts the triumphalism of France’s 1931 Colonial Exhibition in Paris with the rotten reality of its ramshackle empire.

Walsham, Alexandra

Ludmilla Jordanova insists on the importance of history beyond the groves of academia, and considers some of the challenges that historians face in this field.

Peter Ling describes how the refusal of four black students to accept a lunch-counter colour bar led to the collapse of segregation in the American south.

Sarah Searight finds that, in the past as in the present, Caspian oil has produced political conflict as well as economic development.

The ancient town of Zeugma, now flooded by the damned Euphrates

Simon Craig discovers that drug abuse in professional sport goes back more than a hundred years.

Simon Thurley, Director of the Museum of London, describes the discovery at the bottom of his garden that changed his life.

Phillip Hall analyses the finances of Britain’s monarchy, arguing that those who claim that the royals pay for themselves are misusing history.

John Morison shows how an accumulation of grievances resulted in a spontaneous revolution in Russia in 1905.

Richard Kelly finds compelling links between England soccer managers and post-war political leaders

The propaganda effort made by the Argentinian dictators, Juan and Eva Perón to win the gratitude and affection of the entire population

Richard Cavendish remembers the events of February 9th, 1950

Mike Greenwood on a new BBC initiative to help audiences take their interest in history further.

Matthew Hilton examines the mystique surrounding tobacco which continues to confound the anti-smoking lobby.

Exhibiting the history of Scott and Shackleton and their journeys to the South Pole

A comprehensive review of new history books appearing between January and June, with something to satisfy all tastes.

The State Trials on CD Rom

Bergère Marie-Claire (translated by Janet Lloyd)

Peter Monteath discusses the origins and fate of a huge Nazi holiday camp planned to invigorate the German workforce by means of ‘Strength through Joy’.

John Marriott looks at attitudes to the London poor since the 17th century.

Juliet Gardiner former editor of History Today, describes the first steps on her path to becoming a historian.

Michael Morrogh explains the significance of Lloyd George's answer to the Irish question.

November 29th, 1700

Malcolm Gaskill reviews a book by James Sharpe

September 3rd, 1900

October 7th, 1950

Roger Spalding introduces one of the most important publications in modern world history.

Hillenbrand, CaroleThe Cruades c.1071-1291Richard, Jean (translated by Jean Birrell)

Robert Pearce reviews a work on the 1930s by Piers Brendon

August 17th, 1850

August 2nd, 1100

Desmond Shawe-Taylor on the re-opening of the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the history of its foundation.

Paul Doolan describes the unique 400-year-long trading, intellectual and artistic contacts between the Dutch and the Japanese.

P.G. Maxwell-Stuart examines the impact of early Christianity on notions of magic and definitions of witchcraft.

William Doyle discusses traditional and revisionist interpretations of the downfall of the Kings of France, arguing that notions of a 'desacralised monarchy' are...

Richard Cavendish describes the execution of James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, on May 21st, 1650.

Nick Cull explores how the smash-hit horror film exploited all the issues that most worried Americans in the early 1970s.

John Ray reviews books by Rosalie David and Joyce Tyldesley

Kay Staniland unravels the threads of a career as costume historian and textile curator at the Museum of London

Napoleon's forces surrendered to the British in Malta on September 5th, 1800.

August 5th, 1600

The economic crisis which began in 1929 is often seen as the major turning point in 20th-century world history. Patricia Clavin examines its causes and effects....

Christine Riding and Jacqueline Riding (ed.)

Davies, Norman

July 12th, 1450

When North Korean tanks and infantry crossed the Thirty-Eighth Parallel in 1950, the Korean War began. The three-year war cost United Nations and South Korean...

Brian Catchpole reviews two books on British involvement with modern Korea.

Mark Rathbone charts a dramatic transformation in the fortunes of the Liberal Party by examining its leaders.

Peter Clements assesses why two nations which seemingly had so much in common at the beginning of the 1930s were at war with each other by the end of the decade....

Levene, Mark and Roberts, Penny (ed)Lethal Imagination. Violence and Brutality in American HistoryBellesiles, Michael (ed.)

Larry Gragg describes the earthquake that shattered Jamaica in 1692, and reviews the complex lessons that preachers drew from it.

Adamson, John (ed.)The Power of Kings. Monarchy and Religion in Europe 1589-1715Kléber Monod, Paul

Britain’s national archive of official documents and the ways in which it is developing to meet the changing needs of its users

Favez, Jean-Claude (ed. and transl. John and Beryl Fletcher)

Andrew Pettegree (ed.)Europe’s ReformationsJames D. Tracy

Richard Cavendish describes the relief of Mafeking, following a seven-month siege, on May 16th/17th, 1900.

Many have seen the Restoration of the monarchy, which which took place on May 29th 1660, as inevitable. Yet Ivan Roots, defying augury, is impressed by its...

How should we interpret the Bolshevik Revolution, in the light of later events? Michael Lynch explains the issues with which we have to grapple and gives tips on...

Edward Pearce considers the vitriolic reception offered by some to Russian Jews seeking asylum in Britain a hundred years ago.

Can a truthful biography of Thomas More be written? Aware that yawning gaps in the evidence have been filled by legend, and that most of us prefer comforting...

Taylor Downing and Andrew Johnston seek the truth behind the legend of the Spitfire.

Patricia Cleveland-Peck on the part played by a French cafe in the Sussex Network operations during the Second World War.

Merback, Mitchell B.

Gillian Cookson describes how the first physical link across the Atlantic was finally achieved.

Peter Furtado reviews the latest work on the Turin Shroud.

Why did infant mortality rates remain so high in the last quarter of the 19th century, when general death rates experienced a steady decline? Phil Chapple...

Rogers, Clifford (ed)

Davis Hanson, VictorA History of Ancient GreeceSchmitt Pantel,Pauline and Orrieux, ClaudeSchmitt Pantel,Pauline and Orrieux, ClaudeThe Greek Achievement. The...

Jonathan Lewis points to the centrality of foreign policy in the making and unmaking of English kings in the fifteenth century.

Peter Furtado makes an appeal to original subscribers to help celebrate History Today’s 50th Birthday in 2001.

On June 2nd 1619, a treaty was signed between England and Holland, regulating trade in the East between the English and Dutch East India Companies. Huw V. Bowen...

Ludovic Kennedy tells how an early introduction to British law set him on a path devoted to campaigning for justice.

John Foot describes the background to a trial that threatens to clarify an obscure and ignoble chapter in Italy’s recent past.

Freedom from Fear The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 David M. KennedyAmerica Divided The Civil War of the 1960sMaurice Isserman and Michael Kagin

Edward VIJennifer Loach, edited by Geroge Bernard and Penny WilliamsTudor Church Militant. Edward VI and the Protestant ReformationDiarmaid MacCulloch

Food - A Culinary History from Antiquity to the PresentUnder the direction of Jean-Louis Flandrin and Massimo MontanariEnglish edition by Albert SonnenfieldFast Food...

John Haywood reviews a work by William W. Fitzhugh and Elisabeth I. Ward (eds.)

Jon Silverman asks whether Britain’s sporadic and tardy efforts to pursue Nazi war criminals reflects a lack of skill or a lack of will.

Robert Cowley (ed.)

Kathy Chater recalls how a chance discovery in family history threw up much wider questions about perceptions of black Britons in the 18th century.

70 years ago today, Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, landed in Scotland. But historians differ over the true nature of his mission.

Michael Phillips, guest curator of the major exhibition on Blake opening this month at Tate Britain, explores the lifestyle and work of the artist when he lived in...

The financier Solomon de Medina was knighed on June 23rd, 1700, at Hampton Court Palace.

Rod Phillips explains why, in spite of the reputation of old vintages, most wine consumed in the past would not have suited modern palates.

Jane Griffiths and Edmund Weiner tell of plans to bring the Oxford English Dictionary up to date and how historians can help.

Colin Spencer introduces the new Cambridge World History of Food