Great Britain

A Message from 'Queen Elizabeth' to the Shah Played Role in CIA 1953 Coup in Iran, Documentary Says

Historians who uncovered a message from "Queen Elizabeth" believe its misinterpretation helped persuade the shah not to flee Iran at a pivotal moment.

We’re Still Living in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain

Ewan Gibbs reviews Dominick Sandbrook's popular history of the Thatcher era

Great Britain’s Secret Role in Prodding a Reluctant U.S. to Superpower Status

by James Thornton Harris

America’s rapid emergence as a global superpower after 1945 is the subject of Grand Improvisation: America Confronts the British Superpower 1945-1957. Author Derek Leebaert challenges the conventional wisdom that an exhausted Great Britain voluntarily “handed the baton” of world leadership to the U.S. after World War II. 

History Museum Explores Germans’ View of Britain

by The Associated Press

As Brexit looms, one of Germany’s main history museums is examining Germans’ views of the British, complete with a countdown clock that may be reset if Britain’s departure from the European Union is delayed.

When Gandhi’s Salt March Rattled British Colonial Rule

by Evan Andrews

In March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi and his followers set off on a brisk 241-mile march to the Arabian Sea town of Dandi to lay Indian claim to the nation's own salt.

Expecting Ireland to be servile is part of a long British tradition

by Richard McMahon

The Brexit crisis is another example of how the UK so often ignores the consequences of its conduct on its neighbour.

All the world’s a stage when you’re Boris Johnson basking in the no-deal-Brexit spotlight

by Esau Williams

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, the boy who once said he wanted to be ‘world king,’ has finally realized his life-long ambition of becoming British Prime Minister.

How the failure of popular politics triggered the rise of Boris Johnson

by Jesse Tumblin

Instead of solving intractable problems, public referendums simply exacerbate them.

Trump’s Love Affair With the Royal Family Dates Back to His Mother

One of President Trump’s earliest memories, one he routinely recounts to journalists and biographers, is of watching his mother watch television, so enthralled that she barely moved for hours, on the day in 1953 that Queen Elizabeth was crowned.

Working-class women also made suffragette history

A century after some UK women won the vote, most of the suffragette stories we hear still focus on the elite. But this was a diverse movement.

How Nations Recover

by David Brooks

Lessons from British history show that with inspired leadership a country can overcome polarization and economic challenges.

20 Years Ago the British Handed over Hong Kong

by Tom Clifford

But it didn’t go as planned, thanks to the British governor, who insisted on establishing democracy before he left.

Is Great Britain a Christian Nation?

by Brantley Gasaway

How Do We Recognize a "Christian Nation"?

Volunteer army set up to examine archaeological sites uncovered by floods

Museum of London Archaeology wants to record items washed up in thousands of sites around the UK.

British forces' century of unbroken warfare set to end with Afghanistan exit

War-weariness among the public and wariness among politicians mean next year could be the first since at least 1914 that British soldiers, sailors and air crews are not engaged in fighting.

George Africanus: Work to uncover former slave's life

Research will be done to find out more about the life of a west African slave who became a successful entrepreneur in England.

Charles Dickens statue: Why was his dying wish ignored?

Dickens stipulated there was to be no statue of him in his native land, but Portsmouth unveiled a bronze statue for the author's 202nd birthday. Should they have?

Kamikaze aircraft to go on display for first time

The Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka, which would have been flown by Japanese suicide bombers, is to form part of an exhibition at the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

U.S.-China: Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Rivalry Redux?

by Tim Roberts

Despite all the recent WWI analogies, Sino-American relations may more closely resemble an earlier time.

Britain admits role in 1984 India temple raid

The Golden Temple massacre was one of India's bloodiest episodes in recent history.