Japan, the West and the Treaty of Versailles
At the outset of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference Japan enjoyed a seat at the top table, but the vexed issue of racial equality set it and its notional Western allies on different paths.
First World War
Deeds Not Words: Slashing the Rokeby Venus
On 10 May 2024 the National Gallery reaches its 200th anniversary. From the suffragettes to Just Stop Oil, the gallery – specifically Diego Velásquez’s Rokeby Venus – has been a magnet for activists. Why?
The Scandalous Success of the Daily Mail
In January 1944 the Daily Mail became the first transoceanic newspaper, having transformed the relationship between politics, the press and the people. How powerful is it really?
‘The Life & Death of States’ and ‘Vienna’ reviews
New books by Natasha Wheatley and Richard Cockett explain how for all its apparent anachronism the Hapsburg empire, and its capital, shaped the modern world.
First World War: The Fight on the Home Front
Soldiers on the front line in France and Flanders saw their fight as the only legitimate one. But in Britain, the mobilisation of the domestic workforce was integral to winning the First World War.
The Menin Gate is Unveiled
The finished Menin Gate memorial, unveiled on 24 July 1927, recorded 54,896 British and imperial soldiers who died at Ypres between 1914 and 1918, and whose bodies were lost.
Kaiser Karl and the End of the Habsburgs
Fifth in line to the throne, Karl I was not expected to become the Habsburg emperor. By the time he did, in 1916, it was already too late for the crumbling empire.
The Abode of Madness
The long history of no man’s land, from lawlessness and desolation to hope and regrowth.
Book of Remembrance
A signature in a collection of autographs reveals a story of Indigenous service that extends from Australia to Canada and Trinidad.
Meeting an Urgent Need
The First World War threw widows and their brothers-in-law together, but their marriages were considered incestuous.