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SubscriptionsCategory: History
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What Does ‘De-Nazification’ Mean to Russians?
The rhetoric around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine serves to construct the other side as evil, helping to justify military aggression and human suffering, argue Dr Maren Rohe and Professor Sara Jones
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The Upside Down: Let Them Eat Nothing
John Mitchinson explores how the horrors of the Holodomor still underpin Ukrainian identity
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In Sending Weapons to Ukraine, We Must Not Forget the Lessons of History
Iain Overton provides a word of caution as the world exports tonnes of arms to the frontline of Putin’s war
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The Conservatives Have a Long History of Taking Money From Russia
TJ Coles explores the Conservative Party’s decades-long attempts to schmooze Russian oligarchs
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The Upside Down: Kissing Cousins – Why Learning About Neanderthals Teaches Us More About Ourselves
John Mitchinson explores why our closest cousins were wrongly defamed as boorish, rude stupid louts
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Opening Our Eyes to the Cost of Empire: Why We Must Demand the Return of Nigeria’s Benin Bronzes
Paddy Docherty explains how research for his book on the 1897 invasion of the Kingdom of Benin left him ashamed – an emotion he believes must be converted into action
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The Far-Right Attack on Education From Poland to the UK and US
The superintendent of Poland’s Małopolska province is seeking to ban anti-racist, pro-human rights groups from working with students – but the attack on progressive education goes beyond Polish borders
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Will the Government’s £12 Million Jubilee Book Be Another Exercise in Airbrushing British History?
A commemorative children’s book marking the Queen’s platinum jubilee year is likely to be an exercise in selective remembering, says Sam Bright
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The Upside Down: Glass Act – The Substance that Enabled the Scientific Revolution
John Mitchinson explains why gazing out of his window or at his computer screen brings him wonderment at an invention we spend little time observing
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The Colston Four: It is the Attorney General Who Seeks to Set a ‘Dangerous Precedent’
The four defendants were found not guilty of criminal damage for removing the statue of the slave trader in Bristol – the rule of law in Britain will be significantly eroded, says Gareth Roberts
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‘A Deeply Dangerous Power Grab by the Home Secretary’: Conservative Peer Calls for Plans to Strip Citizenship Without Warning to be Scrapped
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi told peers that immigrants’ fears that future generations would be treated like outsiders and second-class citizens are not unfounded
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Otto English’s 2021 Round-Up: Part Two
Euro 2020, a manufactured ‘culture war’, anti-vaxxers, a rare resignation and the fall of Kabul – the summer of 2021 was an eventful one
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‘Life Unworthy of Life’: The Lessons of T4
Stephen Unwin delves deep into the intellectual traditions and cultural mindset that produced the Nazis’ ‘wild euthanasia’ of people with disabilities, and finds we have not yet put those prejudices to rest
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From Conrad’s Kurtz to Enoch Powell: Conservatism Takes a Dark Turn to the Past
Under Boris Johnson’s leadership, the Conservative Party has reversed half a century of attempts at post-imperial reform and is now embarked on a campaign of ‘othering’ – targeting enemies within and without
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The Upside Down: Slow Company – The Shameful History of Humans and the Giant Tortoise
John Mitchinson explains why our relationship with these fascinating creatures is such a depressing one
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The Nationality and Borders Bill is a Legacy of Empire
We need to start calling British immigration policy and law for what it is: a form of post-colonial, racialised nation-building, says Dr Maria Norris
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Hope Soars Eternal: The Nebra Sky Disk
An ancient artefact due to go on display in the British Museum opens our eyes to a sophisticated and internationally-connected Bronze Age community
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The UK Must Act Urgently to Stop Conflict in Bosnia
Labour MP Fleur Anderson implores the Government to learn from history in its approach to rising tensions in Bosnia-Herzegovina
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The Upside Down: The Appeal of Hibernation
If humans can’t yet hibernate, could we approach something like the ‘torpor’ that bears and other larger mammals practice? asks John Mitchinson
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Colonial Amnesia: The Forgotten Victims of Transportation
Katharine Quarmby explores why Britain’s story of transportation – the biggest forced migration in its history – has largely been buried
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A War Christmas: What Exactly Are We Remembering?
Otto English explores how Remembrance Sunday has been commercialised and weaponised to feed hollow national myths
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The Today Programme and the War on the National Trust: An Episode in Shameful Journalism
A discussion about wokeness, colonialism and the National Trust on the BBC’s flagship radio show came across like a public school reunion dinner, says Brian Cathcart
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Playing With History Is Playing With Fire
The Coronavirus pandemic should have been the wake-up call to ‘Never-Gonna-Happenism’ and the lure of empty populism, says Otto English
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At the Crossroads of Freedom
Sian Norris speaks to Professor Lea Ypi and reflects on the threats to freedom and democracy hanging over Europe – and their historical roots
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Why Did Labour Lose the Military?
In 1945, the armed forces vote helped sweep Labour to power – but in modern politics the military vote is more likely to go to the right
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A Winter of Discontent? Maybe. A Frozen Government for Sure
Peter Jukes looks at the differences between the crises of the 1970s and the current state of Brexit Britain – and finds some surprising but chilling echoes
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Luftwaffle: Fantasy Nostalgia Betrays the Past, and the Present
Otto English explores the trend among Brexiters to summon myths about World War Two It’s a day of the week, so right-wingers are busy invoking World War Two again. In a country where virtually no-one goes to church any more, ‘The War’ has become a de-facto religion for many a Brexit-minded Conservative. And several have…
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Antisemitism and Misogyny in the Far-Right: A Toxic Combination
A new report reveals the overlap between antisemitism and misogyny in the far-right – a hatred with a long and ugly history
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The Upside Down: Wish You Were Here – The Persistence of the Postcard
With emails, text messages and WhatsApp groups now a dominant feature of all our lives, John Mitchinson considers the enduring qualities of a more humble form of social communication
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Rebalancing the History Books: Why Learning About Colonialism Matters
To mark the start of Black History Month 2021, Almaz Ohene meets inspirational leaders in the younger generation fighting back against the Government’s divisive ‘culture war’
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Metrified – or Petrified? The Return of Imperial Measures is the Ghost of a Dead Cat
Though it stands no chance of return, trading standards officer Pippa Musgrave explains why the nostalgia for imperial measures is a deflection from the problems of Brexit
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Reconsidering the Counterculture
An author of a new book about the Bath Arts Workshop explores the strength of the 1960s and 1970s counterculture – and asks what lessons it has for us today
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Fake History: The New Brexiter Great Crusade
In the second part of his look at Brexit ‘campaigning’ groups, Otto English explores the attempts of those trying to weaponise their versions of British history and turning it into an orthodoxy which cannot be challenged
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THE UPSIDE DOWN: Less Is More – What Buckminster Fuller Still has to Teach Us
John Mitchinson explores the lessons in the inventor, philosopher and mathematician’s ‘doing more with less’ philosophy
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A Royal Cover-Up: The Hidden Hand of Monarchy Blocking the Public’s Right to See Lord Mountbatten’s Diaries
David Hencke reports on the long-running battle of historian Andrew Lownie against the Government over the release of documents which were bought on behalf of the public for millions of pounds by Southampton University The hidden hand of the Royal Family is behind the Government’s determination to stop the publication of some of the diaries…
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The History Racket: Blowing the Whistle on the Official Versions and Perversions of the Past
Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu explore the real threats to history – emanating not from ‘wokeists’ intent on rewriting the past but an establishment elite regularly burying inconvenient truths to maintain Britain’s mythic narratives
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Past Imperfect: Astroturfing History
As the battles of Brexit morph into a culture war, Otto English detects a pattern among the ‘concerned citizens’ demanding Britain ‘takes back control’ of its past
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Why We Need New Statues Reflecting Britain’s Diverse History
MP Preet Kaur Gill explains why she is backing a new campaign for public artwork commemorating people who are under-represented and forgotten in the country’s narratives about its past
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The Angry Brigade, How All You Need is Love Became All You Need is Dynamite
Fifty years on from a Special Branch raid on Angry Brigade, Dave Haslam looks at the conditions that led the group to go beyond conventional politics and protests and bomb more than 100 buildings
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The Upside Down: Odd and Odder – The True Value of Eccentricity
John Mitchinson makes the case for those who have lived and died by their own rules, flying in the face of conventionality
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The Long 1980s
Writer and illustrator Joanna Walsh reflects on coming of age in the 1980s, the uneven distribution of progress, and the lasting impact of section 28, AIDs, queer iconography and silencing
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Persisting in the Ruins: A Walk Through Thessaloniki’s History
Mike Stuchbery returns with his tours through history – on this occasion through a city which has been an axis of trade, faith and conflict
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The National Trust and the Culture War: A Dissection of Dishonest Journalism as a Tool of the ‘War on Woke’
Again and again, newspapers hounding the heritage body refuse to let facts get in their way, reports Brian Cathcart
