The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Roman Andalusia: The Rise and Fall of Empires Andalusia, the large Autonomous Community in the Iberian Peninsular has plenty of Roman history. Writer Alistair Tosh has examined the 3rd century BC and the personalities who fought there including Scipio and the great...
Putin's War in Ukraine The area that we now know as Ukraine has rarely been an independent entity. We first hear of it as part of Kievan Rus, a state established by Vikings who went east and, centred on Kiev (now Kyiv), gave their name to Russia. Kievan Rus was...
A couple of years ago at the Chalke History Festival, General Sir Simon Mayall, a popular member of the red trouser brigade, Balliol man, and retired military top brass strode onto stage to rapturous applause. Introducing his recently published memoirs he delivered a...
Seizing Eichmann He was walking down the street clutching a large bouquet of flowers, a smiling family man by the name of Ricardo Klement. He was looking forward to celebrating his silver wedding anniversary that evening. When he reached his house on Garibaldi Street...
How did the Ordinary German Soldier Behave During the War and the Holocaust? In 1997, I unearthed the war diaries of two Luftwaffe security battalions from the years 1942 to 1944. These diaries meticulously chronicled the battalion, company, platoon, and squad level...
It is more than thirty years since I first heard of a small group of German army officers rising up against Hitler in the dying days of the Nazi regime. I was a foreign correspondent sent to Berlin within days of the Wall being torn down, and had been tracking the...
A Fun Night at the Opera Their voices reached to the back of the auditorium - and probably into other theatres. One wonders if plastic cups are given out because glass might shatter. Opera Locos is a blast - full of sound and fast and furious comedy. It's a romp...
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the charismatic and hugely attractive Nancy Wake was an Australian living with her French businessman husband in Marseilles. Immediately, she plunged into resistance work which resulted in her having to flee from France,...
Earthquake at Antioch Six months following the devastating earthquake of February 6th 2023, the dust has finally settled across Southern Turkey and Northern Syria. Rescue efforts are over and the attention of the Turkish government and international aid community is...
Are we in a new Cold War? If not, how is it best to describe the struggle between China and Western democracies? Some have suggested “hot peace”— but such wordplay doesn’t get us far. In fact, as far as intelligence and national security are concerned, the West is...
