Robert's European History Blog

Games have been played, reviews have been read, friends have been consulted and most of the German army has been killed, all to produce these top picks: the best european ... Read More

What do monkeys, elephants, dogs, pigeons and glow-worms all have in common? They were all commemorated this week by a British war memorial devoted to the creatures that have assisted ... Read More

With the recent US presidential election now over, Iraq has returned to dominating the headlines. If you've ever wondered how the modern country of Iraq, a place with numerous ethnic ... Read More

I don't know about you, but I often find it hard to properly visualise large numbers of troops when reading about Napoleonic battles. What does a battalion of infantry look ... Read More

On 11:00 am, November 11th 1918 the final armistice between the warring armies of World War One began, bringing to an end to four years of unprecedented carnage. But, despite ... Read More

Manchester University Press are celebrating their centenary with a sale: 275 hardback titles reduced to £15 (around $30) each, or ten for £100. Given that most of their hardback history ... Read More

If you've seen any television footage from Britain this week, you may have noticed the red poppy being worn. This article explains what the symbol means and why it is ... Read More

Bookended by references to current US foreign policy, Michael Manville's article is an excellent look at the modern US view of WW2 when compared with the reality of 1939-1945 (or, ... Read More

Given that WW1's infamous Western Front trenches occupied mostly French soil, and given that a French generation was shattered during the conflict, you would expect the events of 1914-1918 to ... Read More

This touching article talks about the two generations of German prisoners of war who lived - and, in WW1, were made to work - on the island of Raasay, as ... Read More

Famed as the Lady with the Lamp, Florence Nightingale is assured of a position in nursing history forevermore and, as befits a woman of such reputation, she has a museum ... Read More

Marina Warner's review of The Annotated Brothers Grimm by Maria Tatar is, terrible subtitled pun aside, a good introduction to who the brothers were, what they did and why they ... Read More

A few weeks ago I reported on a new theory concerning the mysterious Amber Room. Now, in this new Profile, you can read all about the baroque masterpiece and and ... Read More