The Rest Is History

“Does the government run the country, or a powerful group of workers?” Britain in the early 1970’s was a state in crisis, and by 1974, things had never seemed bleaker. Held hostage by the Trade Unions, British industry was flailing. England’s sporting record was atrocious, the economy was tanking and the prospect of a miners’ strike loomed large...

Geoffrey Chaucer stands as a founding father of English literature, and ‘The Canterbury Tales’ is an enthralling account of his age, holding a mirror up to the traditional hierarchies of 14th century England. Chaucer’s own life was spent navigating the rapids of a particularly tumultuous period, from fighting in the Hundred Years’ War alongside Edward III, to working for the infamous John of Gaunt, becoming embroiled in London politics, and surviving the gruesome Black Death...

“For within the hollow crown that rounds the hollow temple of a king...” Richard II, son of the dashing Black Prince and grandson of Edward III, became King of England at only ten years old. By the age of fifteen he had overcome one of the most terrifying threats to the English Crown up to that point: the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. In the ensuing years, Richard’s rule became increasingly autocratic...

On the 13th of June 1381, the rebel army of English peasants, led by Wat Tyler, entered London and brought chaos, death and destruction upon some of the city’s most important buildings and figures, among them the Archbishop of Canterbury and his home at Lambeth Palace. Within the Tower of London, the 14 year-old Richard II and his government still cowered, with the rebels demanding that Richard’s treacherous advisors be handed over...

By the late 14th century, England was in decline. Already weakened by the Hundred Years’ War, both Edward III and his son, the Black Prince, had died, leaving the country in a perilous state. Richard II, the new king, was only a child. With the poor facing increasingly harsh poll taxes, and distrust of the nobility growing among them, an uprising broke out in southern England in 1381. It was led for the first time by peasants, a class of person invisible on the historical stage up to this point...

Extolling his love for democracy, the Senator took on autocratic powers, during a time of emergency, to save the Republic. The Republic was then abolished, and in its place rose an Empire… This is not the story of Julius Caesar or Augustus, but of ‘Star Wars’, the blockbuster movie series telling the story of a struggle between good and evil, a battle for the revival of the old Republic...

In the late 17th century, during the glorious reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, France was at its apogee, with royal absolutism at its zenith. But, beneath the gold and glamour of Louis’ reign, there lay a terrifying darkness: a prison system into which people could be disappeared without a trace...

By November 1938 the scene in Germany was at its darkest yet, as the full scale of Hitler’s intentions for the Jewish population of the German Reich was becoming evermore apparent. As the threat of another world war increased, so the Nazi anti-semitism machine went up a gear. Synagogues were destroyed, Jewish businessmen, bureaucrats, lawyers and doctors disbarred, plans were made for a mass expulsion of Jews from Europe...

As Hitler ramps up the German war machine, he remains obsessed with one idea: uprooting Jews from the Reich. The Nazis embark on a campaign of totalitarian oppression against them, persecuting Jewish people in every aspect of life. They are excluded from most professions, forbidden from intermarrying, Jewish children are bullied and excluded from schools, all Jews have a “J” stamped in their passport, to name but a few measures...

“We must have a healthy people to dominate in the world”. In July 1933, Hitler’s Nazi party passed a new law for the compulsory sterilisation of anyone with a physical disability, or “congenital feeble-mindedness”. They claimed this was scientifically sound, and for the moral and biological good of the Aryan race. The measure darkly foreshadowed the tragedies to come, as Nazi Germany ratcheted up its horrific program of racial sterilisation, euthanasia and extermination...