Free French Bombers Over France
What happened to the French airmen in the Second World War who bombed France to help liberate it?
Military
The Great Fire of Smyrna
As the Ottoman Empire crumbled, the Greek and Armenian quarters of Smyrna were set ablaze on 13 September 1922 by the vengeful Turkish army.
Saving Southeast Asia’s Sunken Warships
Shipwrecks are an easily overlooked material legacy of the Second World War, but they are rising to the surface as diplomatic issues.
Edward VII’s Forgotten Colonial Conflicts
The Edwardian era is often seen as a peaceful interlude between the violence of Victorian expansion and the First World War. In reality, Edward’s reign bore witness to dozens of conflicts across the Empire.
‘Massacre in the Clouds’ by Kim A. Wagner review
In Massacre in the Clouds: An American Atrocity and the Erasure of History, Kim A. Wagner offers a blow-by-blow account of Bud Dajo. But is the devil truly in the detail?
50 Years of Cyprus Divided
Was the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 inevitable?
‘Habsburgs on the Rio Grande’ by Raymond Jonas review
Habsburgs on the Rio Grande: The Rise and Fall of the Second Mexican Empire by Raymond Jonas reveals the cynicism and hubris behind Napoleon III’s Mexican misadventure.
The Korean War of Prisoners
The Korean War began as a conflict over territory. It would become a fight for prisoners’ asylum.
Robert the Bruce: Born To Be King?
Remembered today as a national hero, Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, had an upbringing which spanned Essex to Ulster. He was a hybrid king to the last.
‘Deterring Armageddon’ by Peter Apps and ‘NATO’ by Sten Rynning review
As Deterring Armageddon: A Biography of NATO and NATO: From Cold War to Ukraine, a History of the World’s Most Powerful Alliance make clear, at almost every point in the last 75 years the alliance's future has looked uncertain.