50 Years of Cyprus Divided
Was the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 inevitable?
Cold War
Lessons from Attlee
A British general election rarely results in radical changes, no matter the colour of the rosettes. One exception was Labour’s landslide victory in 1945.
The Korean War of Prisoners
The Korean War began as a conflict over territory. It would become a fight for prisoners’ asylum.
‘Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans’ by Daniel Cowling review
In Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans: The British Occupation of Germany, 1945-49, Daniel Cowling brings lost stories to light – some of them, at least.
The Publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four
On 8 June 1949, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was published. His final novel, its themes had been present throughout his literary career.
Ronald Reagan’s European Tour
A tour of Europe cemented Ronald Reagan’s reputation as an international statesman and helped secure his re-election.
How the CCP is Closing China
Forty years of opening and reform persuaded a lot of people that the Chinese are not really communists. But modern China was modelled on the USSR, and its leaders want to revert to their Leninist roots.
Was Portugal’s Carnation Revolution Inevitable?
So called because it passed without a shot being fired, the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974 brought Portugal’s authoritarian Estado Novo to an end. Could the state have survived?
‘How Finland Survived Stalin’ by Kimmo Rentola review
How Finland Survived Stalin: From Winter War to Cold War by Kimmo Rentola argues that political guile as much as military might stopped the Soviets in their tracks.
‘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.