When Britain Saved the West: The Story of 1940
June 15, 2017
Robin Prior— The year 1940 could have been disastrous for Britain and for the West. Any number of events that occurred during that year might have seen Germany victorious over… READ MORE
Tag: european history
The Spanish Monarchy in the Mediterranean Theater
December 2, 2016
Christopher Storrs— Between the peace of Utrecht that marked the end of the War of Spanish Succession in 1713 and the close of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748, King… READ MORE
Writing Children’s Stories in Wartime
November 30, 2016
The following entries are excerpted from War Diaries, 1939-1945 (Yale University Press, 2016), a transcription of the personal diaries of Astrid Lindgren, author of the Pippi Longstocking books. Illustrated with family photographs, newspaper clippings,… READ MORE
Frederick Barbarossa’s Bittersweet Ending
July 28, 2016
John Freed— On 22 June 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa. Hitler’s personal decision to name the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union after Frederick Barbarossa (b. 1122, r. 1152-90) was… READ MORE
Extra, Extra, Read all about Jacques the Jacobin
July 19, 2016
Janet Polasky— Jacques the Jacobin did not actually exist. His was a fictional account published in the most widely read of the multitude of new French newspapers, Les Révolutions de… READ MORE
Happy Birthday, Louis Barthas!
July 14, 2016
Louis Barthas; Translated by Edward M. Strauss— Poilu author Louis Barthas was born on Bastille Day, July 14, 1879. In honor of his 137th birthday, here are two letters that… READ MORE
Accidental Circumnavigators
June 23, 2016
Harry Kelsey— The men who sailed for Spain in the sixteenth century were descended from a long line of veterans who had served in the armies of Leon and Castile… READ MORE
Personal Accounts of the French Revolution
May 24, 2016
Peter McPhee— The French Revolution is one of the great turning-points in history. Its achievements and triumphs—like its deceptions and atrocities—were of a scale that has made its stature unique…. READ MORE
Writing a History of Ignorance