Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2025 i History Extra

“My kingdom for a horse!” So cried Shakespeare’s Richard III as he battled for his crown in Bosworth Field. As far as we know, the real king uttered no such words, but kingdoms were indeed won and lost by the steeds that formed such a crucial part of medieval warfare. In this month’s cover feature, on page 63, Oliver Creighton and Robert Liddiard pick out five key episodes where horsepower changed the course of history. From the battlefield to the boxing ring, this month we’re also telling the stories of some of the pugilists who became sensations of the Victorian age. The recent historical drama A Thousand Blows vividly captured the lives of 19th-century boxers and in Sarah Elizabeth Cox’s piece (page 37) she introduces a cast of characters every…

"A UK museum that tells the long, rich history of migration is long overdue" IF YOU GAZE UP AT THE SKYLINE IN ROTTERDAM, in the Netherlands, you might spot a new addition. Made from stainless-steel panels and shaped like a rollercoaster, the Tornado sits on top of the city’s newly opened Fenix, a museum that tells the story of human migration. Visitors climb to the distinctive Tornado up a sweeping staircase at the museum’s entrance, along a meandering route that represents the many different journeys people take to reach their destinations. On arriving at the viewing platform, you can take in a panoramic view of the city and its waterways where millions of Europeans once boarded ships in Europe’s largest port, many of them leaving for a new life in…

The BBC didn’t want a charity telethon at Live Aid, so the on-screen appeals began with the quaint device of an address to which you could send your postal order. Hence the famous moment where I introduced those captions – and Bob Geldof (below) interjected with: “No, fuck the address,” making me instrumental in the biggest swear in the history of broadcasting. At one point, the voice in my ear instructed me to: “Link to this film put together by CBC” – and the next thing I knew, I was looking at harrowing footage of emaciated children to a soundtrack of ‘Drive’ by The Cars. Billy Connolly and Pamela Stephenson, sitting alongside me, were weeping. Donations soon peaked. I remember thinking that Queen triumphed that day because, whereas other groups…

1 The lion-taming lightweight How a West Indian warrior became a knock-out success in London’s East End Picture the scene. Two boxers walk out before an uproarious crowd at the Sebright Music Hall in the London district of Hackney and “received a welcome of extraordinary character” “The house rose en masse when the men appeared on the stage,” declared the Sporting Life of 3 January 1888, “and before they were allowed to place themselves into position, had to bow their acknowledgements over and over again. The place was crammed to suffocation.” The late Victorian era was a boom-time for British boxing. Across London in the 1880s, audiences could watch gloved exhibitions, tournaments and matches every night of the week. And few pugilists drew crowds quite as large as one of the…

Over the course of four days in July 1995, Bosnian-Serb forces murdered more than 8,000 men and boys – in a United Nations-protected ‘safe area’. Legally recognised as an act of genocide, the Srebrenica massacre is the worst act of mass killing committed on European soil since the Second World War. What drove the perpetrators to carry out such a terrible crime? And how did the international community allow it to happen? Before the Bosnian War broke out, Srebrenica was just a small secluded town in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina. Very few people outside of the Balkans had even heard of it. But all that changed over the course of a few short days in July 1995 – and for the most terrible of reasons. Srebrenica had been changing fast in the…

Listen ad-free at historyextra.com/podcast or with ads wherever you get your podcasts SECOND WORLD WAR Stranger than fiction Bogus sex parties, fake corpses, exploding tin cans and belligerent pigs. The escapades of James Bond may defy belief, but as Edward Abel Smith reveals, some of the wartime adventures of his creator, Ian Fleming, were even more madcap. ANCIENT Ancient influencers Today the internet is full of hacks on how to maximise your health and happiness through diet, workouts and lifestyle -and the ancient world was no different. Claire Bubb runs listeners through some of the key advice on food and exercise from the Greco-Roman world. ANGLO-SAXON Make Mercia great again Why do we hear so much about the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Wessex and Northumbria, but so little about their neighbour…

Ellie Cawthorne Why was the winter of 1641–42 such a pivotal time in British and Irish history? Jonathan Healey In the heart of that winter came one of the most iconic moments in English political history. On 4 January 1642, angry at dissent from parliament, King Charles I marched down to the House of Commons and tried to arrest five MPs. I wanted to tell the backstory of that dramatic, divisive moment. The lead-up had been a really intense period of political strife, popular protest and gradually growing disorder, all of which fed into a very frightening political crisis. Afterwards, the country descended into civil war. Often when we read books about great revolutions or political events, we look at the deep, long-term causes. However, though that’s important, we also…

Indira Gandhi looms large in the history of postcolonial India. The story of her oversized impact on Indian politics is familiar from the previous writings of biographers, journalists, political scientists and historians. Unlike previous biographies, though, this new study is based solidly on extensive consultation of primary sources. Although Indira Gandhi’s papers remain inaccessible, Srinath Raghavan draws on numerous private papers of her advisers and adversaries, correspondence, and archival records both in India and beyond to offer an account grounded in historical evidence. From these, he argues that the period of Indira Gandhi’s political dominance constitutes a distinctive era – “the long 1970s”. A superb work of political history, this book places the crisis and transformation of that period in the global context of the youth revolts of the 1960s…

This impressive book -based on an astonishingly wide-ranging reading, and written with adamantine clarity – deals far more with the critics than with capitalism. These critics fall roughly into three categories. Reactionaries (such as Thomas Carlyle) hark back to a pre-industrial age in which money, trade, commerce and other despicable activities were not so all-important. Revolutionaries (such as Marx, Engels and Rosa Luxemburg) wish to abolish capitalism in favour of a new social system in which the ownership of capital would no longer dominate. The majority, meanwhile, are those who think that capitalism needs reforming in order to improve it or to save it from its self-destructive tendencies – people ranging from Adam Smith (quite rightly not described, as he often is, as an uncritical exponent of laissez-faire capitalism) all…

Across 1 Bourgeois banking family that ruled Florence for several centuries (6) 4 For example, a colonist who learned the skill of catching animals from Native Americans (7) 9 That of 1832 gave large industrial towns more electoral power at the expense of small boroughs (6,3) 10 US president, once a prominent member of the House Un-American Activities Committee (5) 11 Rosa Miller ____, 19th-century US abolitionist, suffragist and political writer (5) 12 Arizona city, site of the famous gunfight at the OK Corral in 1881 (9) 13 Emily ____, renowned 19th-century English singer, actress, theatre manager and, later, journalist (7) 15 The United States’ first space station, launched in 1973 (6) 17 Shah of Persia (1588–1629) who secured and strengthened the Safavid dynasty (5,1) 19 The battle of Tippecanoe was fought in this present-day US state on 7…

IN PROFILE Lorenzo Da Ponte was an opera librettist, poet and Catholic priest. He wrote the libretti for a string of operas by various composers, including three of Mozart’s best-known works: The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787) and Così fan tutte (1790). After a spell living in England, he became a professor at Columbia University in New York City. "Librettists get overlooked, but Mozart’s great operas wouldn’t be what they are were it not for Da Ponte, who was immensely gifted" When did you first hear about Ponte? I discovered Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro when I was 18, and instantly fell in love with it. When I got to know the libretto in English, I realised just how funny and clever it was, and thought: “I…

1. Salad days In this month’s recipe column, I was surprised to discover that in the early Tudor era salads were considered to be dangerous to the health. Watery vegetables could apparently cause “an excess of phlegm” in anyone who ate them (page 85). 2. Art for the masses Reading our piece on the centenary of Art Deco, I learned that a staggering 16 million people visited the 1925 Paris exhibition that is widely regarded as the beginning of the movement (page 57). 3. Group labour Royal births have always been momentous events but I was still taken aback to read that 70 people crowded round Maria of Modena to watch her son being born in 1688 (page 33).…

The heroic everyday July’s magazine featured a review of Max Hastings’s book Sword: D-Day Trial by Battle, alongside an iconic photograph of British troops. That image has featured so many times in articles and TV shows that I almost feel I know that soldier, looking wistful, perhaps wondering if he’s going to survive. The great events of history are made up of ordinary people doing amazing things, so my question is: do we know anything about that particular soldier, whether that’s his name, place of birth, family or regiment? I so hope he survived the war to live a long and happy life. Historical studies cannot be just dry academic exercises, because it’s essentially the actions of many individual human beings that give us the history that we care about…

Is it true that newly elected popes once had to undergo a highly sensitive physical ‘inspection’? Few objects in the long history of the Catholic church stir the imagination quite like the fabled sedia stercoraria. With a name that roughly translates as ‘dung chair’, the myth of the socalled papal ‘toilet chair’ is just as curious as it sounds. The legend goes like this: during medieval papal elections, each popeelect was made to sit on a throne with a hole in the seat while a cardinal reached underneath to confirm the candidate’s biological sex. Only after the cry “Duos habet et bene pendentes!” (“He has two [testicles] and they hang well!”) rang out could the new papal reign begin. Bizarre? Definitely. But is it true? That’s murkier. The legend became…

28 March 1992 Open war breaks out in Bosnia. Serb paramilitaries supported by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army begin to ethnically cleanse Bosnian territory. January 1993 A humanitarian disaster unfolds. The Bosnian Serb army attacks the eastern Bosniak-held enclaves. 12 March 1993 The UN Protection Force commander in Bosnia, French general Philippe Morillon (pictured), places the enclave under UN protection. 17 April 1993 A contingent of 143 Canadian UN troops arrives in Srebrenica. The following March, they are replaced by Dutch UN troops. 26 June 1995 Bosniak forces from Srebrenica attack the Serb hamlet of Višnjica, 3 miles west of the enclave. In retrospect, it becomes clear that the Bosnian Serbs tried to exploit this raid to legitimise their attack. 6 July 1995 At 03:15, Bosnian Serb forces open fire on…

1 1066 and all that Horses were involved in King Harold’s defeat at Hastings -but also in the demise of his Norman conqueror It’s one of the most famous of all medieval images. Harold II stands upon the battlefield at Hastings, desperately grasping at an arrow lodged in his eye. This incident -depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry – is credited with ending the English king’s life and extinguishing centuries of Anglo-Saxon rule. Yet look to the right of Harold and you’ll find an image that arguably goes even further in explaining his defeat: it depicts a sword-wielding warrior mounted upon a horse. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 was an era-defining event – and its centrepiece was the battle of Hastings. That clash is graphically represented on the Bayeux…

When the south Italian town of Pompeii was destroyed during the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, it had been under Roman control for some 160 years, and Roman military veterans had been settled there. However, the town dates back to the sixth century BC, possibly even the eighth, having been occupied earlier by Oscans, Etruscans, Samnites and maybe even Greeks – coastal southern Italy having been largely inhabited by Greek colonists before this region was taken over by the Romans. Since the first official excavations of Pompeii in 1748, the writings of scholars such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the novelist Lord Bulwer-Lytton have inspired visitors to flock to see ancient life reportedly frozen in time. Today, daily visitors to Pompeii can be numbered in their…

What is a dandy? We would usually define him as a young man dressed in splendid attire and engaged in fashionable pursuits with others of a similar ilk. The first modern dandy was Beau Brummell, a junior cavalry officer who became a gentleman of leisure in Regency society, where he was celebrated for his striking dress. Subsequent generations have seen similar subcultures, some of which harked back to this period: in the 1980s, post-punk pop singer Adam Ant styled himself as a ‘dandy highwayman’. Peter K Andersson’s new book challenges this familiar story in significant ways. He takes issue with the view that the dandy is drawn exclusively from the upper classes (such as Maurice de Rothschild) or the elite world of the arts (such as Oscar Wilde). He makes…

Thirst: In Search of Freshwater Wellcome Collection, London / Until 1 February 2026 / wellcomecollection.org Featuring more than 125 objects from places and times ranging from ancient Mesopotamia to modern Nepal, including a Sumerian tablet and cutting-edge installations, this exhibition explores our relationship with freshwater. Through art, history and innovation, uncover stories of conflict, climate, healing and hope in a powerful journey through the world’s most precious resource, roaming across five immersive sections: Aridity, Rain, Glaciers, Surface Water and Groundwater. Myth and Reality: Military Art in the Age of Queen Victoria National Army Museum, London / Until 1 November 2026 / nam.ac.uk This vivid exhibition reveals how Victorian military art shaped public opinion, challenged perceptions and mirrored a changing society. Through more than 140 striking works (including Study of a…

Sarah Elizabeth Cox “I research boxers and wrestlers usually long-forgotten by history, focusing on men recently arrived from the US and Caribbean, who lived on the margins in the melting pot of late Victorian London.” Sarah tells the story of Victorian Britain’s boxing sensations on page 37 David Hepworth “The road to today’s special-effects-packed, big-ticket concert experience was laid at Live Aid, four decades ago. The Age of Spectacle started here.” David looks back at Live Aid’s extraordinary legacy on page 22 Shrabani Basu “Far too little is known about South Asian history. One problem is that we as South Asian people know very little ourselves, so we need to start by tackling that and then by opening these stories out to others." Shrabani discusses South Asian Heritage Month on…

"When justice is sovereign, the wicked are stripped of all power" SIENA IS ONE OF THE GREAT HISTORIC CITIES -a living vision of the medieval world found now in very few places. Here is the architecture and street plan of a medieval city-state, the oldest bank in the world, and one of the oldest universities. Siena was even the first place to ban the car, in 1966! In its centre, the great square called the Campo hosts the famous Palio horse race twice a year. It’s a place to relish the continuance of the past into the present. In the Middle Ages, Siena was run by the Nine, who rotated every two months as a bulwark against tyranny. They met in the council hall in the Palazzo Pubblico (Public Palace)…

1658 Maria is born on 5 October at the Ducal Palace in Modena (right) to Duke Alfonso IV d’Este and Laura Martinozzi. 1662 Maria’s father dies and her two-year-old brother, Francesco, becomes Duke of Modena. Laura is appointed regent until he comes of age. 1673 On her 15th birthday, Maria begins the journey to England to take her place as Duchess of York, escorted by her mother. 1675 Maria’s first child, Catherine Laura, is born in January but dies in October. Racked with grief, Maria suffers the first of multiple miscarriages. 1678 Titus Oates comes forward with tales of a Catholic conspiracy against Charles II, and in 1679 Maria and James are sent into exile. While she is away, Maria’s four-year-old daughter, Isabella, dies in London. 1682 The court of…

Lip service On 31 December 1952, the English tenor Walter Midgley was playing the Duke of Mantua in a performance of Verdi’s Rigoletto when he accidentally swallowed half of his false moustache – yet somehow completed the performance. Though the incident had its comic side, and Midgley gamely posed for press photographs wearing the half that survived, the singer was nonetheless obliged to endure a New Year’s Day operation to remove the half he’d swallowed, and suffered discomfort for months afterwards. Animal tragic In November 1874, the New York Herald ran a front-page story about animals escaping from Central Park Zoo and rampaging through the streets. A lion and a tiger were reported to be fighting on 59th Street, while a panther attacked a church congregation. Dozens had already been…

Trench warfare The First World War is synonymous with the horrors of fighting in trenches and the barbed wire of no man’s land. In this episode, Peter Hart answers listeners’ questions about life in the trenches: everything from how soldiers boosted morale, the contents of parcels from home and their chances of surviving mechanised warfare. historyextra.com/trenches-pod Conflict in colour In 2018, director Peter Jackson spoke about They Shall Not Grow Old, his groundbreaking documentary breathing colour and voice into First World War footage. Jackson explains how he transformed silent reels into vivid testimonies using cutting-edge restoration technology, and shares the emotional, technical and personal journey behind this cinematic coup. historyextra.com/peter-jackson-pod Forgotten front? There is a tendency to think of the First World War being fought and won exclusively on the…

In 1375, after falling out of favour with political authorities, Ibn Khaldun – a Muslim of Andalusian heritage raised in Tunis – retreated to the desert in what’s now Algeria. He emerged four years later, having penned his Muqaddimah, or Introduction to history. It’s a work that contemplates, rationalises and philosophises how history is studied and recorded. “The art of history,” writes Ibn Khaldun, shouldn’t concern itself with convincing (like rhetoric) or instructing (like politics). Historians have a responsibility to fact-check and think about sources logically. This includes questioning the excessive praise of individuals and the likelihood of unusual events – even scriptural miracles. During a period when many writers attempted to appease their political and religious leaders, Ibn Khaldun was ahead of his time. His failure to praise the…

This is a welcome Soviet perspective from a person who observed the Cold War and its scholarship and archives in both east and west over many decades. As the conflict takes on new meaning in an era of international uncertainty, the author shows how post-First World War global politics influenced decision makers as the Cold War took shape. The west discerned the need to contain the Soviets with nuclear weapons and an international capitalist liberal order, while Moscow undertook to contain western imperialists – by force, if necessary – and to help those around the world struggling against them. In his new book, Zubok describes the conflict’s origins, escalation and key drivers beyond mere ideology. His elegant study foregrounds Soviet and non-western actors, as well as explaining how unintended consequences…

In 1925, New York ousted London as the world’s most populous city. It also came of age culturally. This was the year of The Great Gatsby, the launch of The New Yorker, the first reports on what would go on to be known as the Harlem Renaissance, and the creation of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart‘s song ‘Manhattan’. In New York 1925 (BBC Radio 4, Thursday 10 July), saxophonist Soweto Kinch looks back on an extraordinary year. Highlights of BBC Radio 4’s Archive on 4 include Pétain on Trial: From Hero to Traitor (Saturday 26 July), which focuses on the 1945 trial of Marshal Philippe Pétain, the commander of the French army in the First World War who latterly led the collaborationist regime in Vichy France. In the same strand, listen…

With its graceful columns and sweeping courtyard, the Piece Hall in Halifax could, if you squint, be mistaken for a grand Venetian piazza. The surrounding green hills (and not-so-Italian weather) provide a hint, though, that this one-of-a-kind historic site is firmly rooted in West Yorkshire. A Grade I listed building standing just a short walk from Halifax train station, the world’s last surviving Georgian cloth hall is a dazzling reminder of the region’s rich textile history. Yet, in the 1970s, this cultural gem was almost lost – and was saved from demolition by just one council vote. The Piece Hall’s story begins in 1779 when it was opened as a centre for the sale of ‘pieces’ of hand-woven woollen fabric (a ‘piece’ was a 30-yard length). For two hours every…

The road to Hiroshima Iain MacGregor examines the quest to build the world’s first atomic bomb Pepys in private Guy de la Bédoyère reveals some of the scandalous behaviour hidden inside Samuel Pepys’ famous diary The Christian revolution Alice Roberts describes how the faith emerged from the fall of the Roman empire What the Etruscans did for us Lucy Shipley on the remarkable legacy of the ancient Italian people September issue on sale 7 August 2025 The first king of England On the 1,100th anniversary of Æthelstan’s coronation, David Woodman explains how he was able to unify the English kingdoms War is over On the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, Kavita Puri looks back at the final moments of the war in the far east…