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Napoleon’s Brush With ‘Black Spartacus’

Napoleon’s Brush With ‘Black Spartacus’

Napoleon Bonaparte and Toussaint Louverture, the great Haitian freedom fighter, were initially allies. Sudhir Hazareesingh, who has written a celebrated biography of Louverture, describes how the two men’s relationship subsequently soured.
Sudhir Hazareesingh

Napoleon’s Brush With ‘Black Spartacus’ The Haitian revolution was one of the defining episodes in modern global history. It began in 1791 with a mass uprising of the enslaved people of Saint-Domingue, France’s richest and most profitable colony. Drawing upon local...

How Far is Modern Russia a Prisoner of its Past?

How Far is Modern Russia a Prisoner of its Past?

The author of a new book on Russia’s military past provides the historical echoes that we’ve seen played out on the battlefields of Ukraine.
Mark Galeotti

Vladimir Putin clearly fancies himself something of a historian – even if, as a professional historian, I feel much of his ‘work’ would struggle to get a passing grade, laden as it is with factual inaccuracies and the careful cherry picking of evidence to fit his...

A Leap in the Dark, by Justin Kerr-Smiley

A Leap in the Dark, by Justin Kerr-Smiley

A Leap in the Dark is a fast-moving crime adventure based in Edinburgh in 1798.
Michael Ward

David Stoddart is a well-respected town councillor with a troubling thrill addiction. By day, he’s a successful businessman and pillar of local society. But as darkness falls, Stoddart slips out of his house to prowl the streets of The Old Town, committing burglaries...

Books of 2024 From Aspects of History

Books of 2024 From Aspects of History

Our authors and contributors recommend books they've enjoyed this year

Books of 2023 from Aspects of HistoryAlan Bardos Author of The Dardanelles ConspiracyIt’s been a great year for fiction and non-fiction, but these books are my first amongst equals. Every Spy a Traitor by Alex Gerlis follows Agent Archie, a Russian mole in MI6 across...

Justin Kerr-Smiley on A Leap in the Dark

Justin Kerr-Smiley on A Leap in the Dark

The journalist and author reflects on the creation and approach behind his new novel.
Justin Kerr-Smiley

Justin, A Leap in the Dark is a historical novel set in the criminal underworld of Edinburgh. Why did you want to write it? I grew up in Scotland and spent part of my youth in Edinburgh, which had and still has a strong hold on my imagination. A Leap In the Dark is...

The Age of Reason

The Age of Reason

The Age of Reason was a period of extraordinary advancement in all facets of European culture, but there was a price to be paid.

Between the end of the Renaissance and the start of the Enlightenment, Europe lived through an era known as the Age of Reason. This was a period which saw widespread advances in the arts and sciences. Artists such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Van Dyk flourished across...

Fairfax of Virginia, by Hugh Fairfax

Fairfax of Virginia, by Hugh Fairfax

Artist Hugh Fairfax researched his family history and discovered a cornucopia of fascinating figures.
Oliver Webb-Carter

In 1732 Thomas Fairfax, the sixth Lord Fairfax of Cameron, was reading the Gentleman’s Magazine obituary of the agent to his lands in Virginia, Robert Carter. To his astonishment he discovered Carter was worth, in those days, £10,000 and so Fairfax immediately began...

Hugh Fairfax on Fairfax Of Virginia

Hugh Fairfax on Fairfax Of Virginia

Author Hugh Fairfax traces the legacy of the Fairfax family’s journey from medieval England to colonial America and back.
Hugh Fairfax

Hugh, the Fairfax name is most well-known because of the 3rd Lord, Sir Thomas (1612 – 1671), but what are the origins of the family? The Fairfax family is first heard of in the 12th Century with Henry owning land at Askham near York. Like many people in the north of...

Nelson’s Pathfinders, by Michael Barritt

Nelson’s Pathfinders, by Michael Barritt

Barritt’s research is meticulous and observations are revealing.

Nelson’s Pathfinders is essential reading for Naval Historians. It is prescient that it is being published a year after the Admiralty announced it will be withdrawing paper charts and notices to mariners from 2026. For anyone unfamiliar with an Admiralty Chart it is a...

Michael Barritt

Michael Barritt

The naval historian discusses history, his influences and the books that have inspired him.

Michael Barritt, what first attracted you to naval history? My tutor at Oxford was Piers Mackesy, who was working on seminal books on the period 1793-1815, and this focussed my own interest. My subsequent career as a hydrographic specialist in the Royal Navy broadened...