From the Guardian by William Dalrymple author of Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-1842: One of the very first Indian words to enter the English language was the Hindustani slang for plunder: “loot”. According to the… Read More ›
British History
How historically accurate is Braveheart?
Braveheart was a popular movie released in 1995 that won 5 Oscars and featured Mel Gibson as William Wallace. Wallace was a Scottish knight who became a hero in the Scottish rebellions against the English in the late 13th and early… Read More ›
Why Did American Colonists Become United Against England?
Colonial Americans enjoyed relative independence from England until 1763, which marked the cessation of the Seven Years’ War. Prior to that time, the British government had paid little attention to the domestic affairs conducted by their American colonists. The war… Read More ›
Why did the Gallipoli Landings fail in WWI?
The Gallipoli campaign was an amphibious landing in the Dardanelles Strait in modern Turkey, that sought to knock the Ottoman Empire out of WW I. The landings were exceptionally daring for the time, but they failed to achieve their objectives…. Read More ›
Why did the Battle of the Somme fail to achieve its objectives?
The Battle of the Somme or the Somme Offensive was a series of battles that occurred during the Summer and Autumn of 1916. It involved British and French forces launching a massive assault on the German lines in an effort… Read More ›
The Conspiracy of Free Trade: Interview with Marc-William Palen
Marc-William Palen’s new book The “Conspiracy” of Free Trade: The Anglo-American Struggle over Empire and Economic Globalisation, 1846-1896 is relevant not only to historians of imperialism, capitalism, and economics, but to the 2016 American presidential primary election. Once again, free… Read More ›
Was Elizabeth I Justified in having her Cousin Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland Executed?
Elizabeth I executed her cousin Mary Stuart on February 8th, 1587. Was this necessary? When studying the lives of Elizabeth I and her rival cousin Mary Stuart, modern interpretations paint a fairly definitive picture of their perceived personalities. Elizabeth’s character… Read More ›