History

Anything to do with History

Allene @Allene - about 10 hours ago

My Back Pages | History Today

‘People who keep journals have life twice’, claimed the writer Jessamyn West – though it’s hard to imagine that anyone who has kept a diary over the last 12 months will be keen to relive it anytime soon. Diarists of 2020 will, however, be providing a service to historians...continued

2 minutes read

Jimmy @Jimmy - about 10 hours ago

Beowulf the Bro | History Today

In the introduction to his 1952 translation of Beowulf, the Scottish poet Edwin Morgan ventured that in translation ‘communication must take place; the nerves must sometimes tingle and the skin flush, as with original poetry’. Morgan’s aim was to ‘interest and at times to...continued

5 minutes read

Elvie @Elvie - 1 day ago

Through a Glass Darkly | History Today

Over the years Hugh Johnson has had a crack at just about everything when it comes to wine writing and in most cases he got there first. His was the first small-format annual guide, his was the first atlas. He is certainly not the first person to write a history of wine –...continued

5 minutes read

Elian @Elian - 2 days ago

Stakhanovite Shopping | History Today

On 3 August 1935 Aleksei Stakhanov mined a record-breaking 102 tonnes of coal in six hours. He became an overnight celebrity. Towns were renamed in his honour, his face graced the covers of international magazines, including Time, and a movement was created in his name: S...continued

6 minutes read

Angus @Angus - 3 days ago

The Black Death: A New Culprit?

When it comes to the Black Death, rats are usually cast as the villains of the piece – and with good reason. After all, it was most likely thanks to them that the plague (Yersinia pestis) was reintroduced to Europe. Though there has been some debate about how and where th...continued

10 minutes read

Moises @Moises - 4 days ago

Discovery of the Periodic Table

It came to him in a dream, Dmitri Mendeleev told a friend. He hadn’t slept for three days worrying how to classify the elements. Exhausted, he fell asleep and the answer came.Sadly, this may not be true. To begin with, Mendeleev – born in Siberia in 1834 – had been think...continued

2 minutes read

George @George - 4 days ago

Prometheus | History Today

Peter Paul Rubens opened his studio in Antwerp in 1610 and Prometheus Bound was one of his first works to be produced there – though the eagle was painted by Frans Snyders, a colleague renowned for his depictions of the natural world. The scene is that of the Titan Promet...continued

2 minutes read

Erik @Erik - 4 days ago

Writ in Water | History Today

Europe’s longest river weaves through what has come to be seen as Russia’s heartland, from the Valdai Hills north-west of Moscow to its delta near Astrakhan where it empties into the Caspian Sea. The Volga also links numerous peoples, including Bashkirs, Mari, Tatars, Udm...continued

4 minutes read

George @George - 7 days ago

Zombies, Cannibals and Werewolves | History Today

Over the centuries, claims of cannibalism have been used repeatedly to justify slavery and imperialism. Indigenous Americans and enslaved Africans, it was said, were uncivilised and un-Christian people, whose savagery could be curbed only by European control.After the Atl...continued

6 minutes read

Alexie @Alexie - 7 days ago

The Edict of Thessalonica | History Today

Emperor Constantine the Great authorised Christianity across the Roman Empire in 313, but it was Theodosius I, half a century later, who put the brute force of the imperial state behind the faith.Policy had vacillated through the fourth century. The emperor Julian had bee...continued

2 minutes read

Sandrine @Sandrine - 9 days ago

Protest, Power, Play | History Today

To continue reading this article you will need to purchase access to the online archive.Buy Online Access Buy Print & Archive SubscriptionIf you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are logged in.Please email digit...continued

1 minute read

Felicita @Felicita - 10 days ago

1771: The Year Britain Lost America?

1 minute read

Garnet @Garnet - 11 days ago

On the Road Again | History Today

There is growing opinion that, in the global car industry, now facing a period of extraordinary change, history will repeat itself. The electric revolution appears poised on the brink of transforming the world of mobility. Yet, while companies such as Elon Musk’s US-based...continued

8 minutes read

Joe @Joe - 14 days ago

Publication of the Futurist Manifesto

‘In my own village’, the film-maker Luis Buñuel said of his birthplace in rural Spain, ‘the Middle Ages lasted until the First World War.’ Buñuel would escape the dead hand of the past through surrealism. But the Italian writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti went one better: h...continued

2 minutes read

Alvah @Alvah - 14 days ago

All By Myself | History Today

In modern western society, time for oneself, alone and in private, is taken for granted. Since the late 19th century, access to solitude has been central to understandings of privacy, which was defined in an influential article from the 1890 Harvard Law Review as ‘the rig...continued

5 minutes read

Jessika @Jessika - 15 days ago

The Venner Rebellion | History Today

1 minute read

Jimmy @Jimmy - 16 days ago

Madam Butterfly and the Forging of Japanese Identity

Rosina Storchio in the first production of Madam Butterfly at La Scala, Milan, 1904 © Lebrecht Music & Arts/Bridgeman Images.The broad outlines of Japan’s historical encounters with western culture are well known. They began with the arrival of Jesuit priests from Por...continued

1 minute read

Kari @Kari - 17 days ago

Litigious Lives | History Today

1 minute read

George @George - 18 days ago

On the Defensive | History Today

We all know, or think we do, that Russians have ‘empire’ lodged deep in their genes. The Russian Empire is said to have expanded faster and further than any other in history. Russia today may occupy an area smaller than at any time since the 17th century, but many believe...continued

4 minutes read

Rose @Rose - 21 days ago

The Politics of Pancakes | History Today

On Shrove Tuesday 1270, the monks of Beaulieu Abbey in the New Forest rewarded their lay manorial workers with pancakes, with the youngest employees also receiving a feast of beef, cheese and ale in the great hall of the abbey’s infirmary. This is the earliest known evide...continued

5 minutes read

Jarod @Jarod - 23 days ago

The Romantic Reputation of John Keats

Two hundred years ago, on 23 February 1821, John Keats died. He had suffered from tuberculosis since early 1820 and, after months of distress and pain, finally succumbed to the disease at the age of just 25. Keats was a failed medical student, who had swapped operations f...continued

6 minutes read

Maureen @Maureen - 23 days ago

Dead Ends | History Today

London’s terminus stations were to be the final, crowning, pieces in the capital’s railway system. But they took their time to arrive. In 1836, passengers coming into Spa Road from Deptford on the London and Greenwich line, clambered down a rickety stair off the viaduct, ...continued

4 minutes read

Marlon @Marlon - 24 days ago

Tutankhamun’s Ostriches | History Today

The ostrich feather fan (c.1370-52 BC) found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Alamy.It was not until several months after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 that Howard Carter spotted it. By then, the antechamber had been largely cleared, the burial chamber had been o...continued

10 minutes read

Mariano @Mariano - 25 days ago

On the Spot: Priya Satia

Why are you a historian of the British Empire?It shaped my family’s history and so much of the world, and I felt I could contribute – and correct influential myths – from the United States.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That struggles matter in a...continued

2 minutes read

Colin @Colin - 28 days ago

Venus and Mars | History Today

Sir William Boxall, Director of the National Gallery in London, was accompanied by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli, to a sale at Christie’s auction house in June 1874. The collection of the dealer Alexander Barker was up for sale and Disraeli wanted to ...continued

3 minutes read

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