To aid its global rise, China is reconstructing its history to show itself as peace-loving

Facts show that imperial China was neither more violent nor more benevolent that others.

Suisheng Zhao

· 2 hours ago

How the illegitimate heir became a ‘bastard’ in medieval Europe

The French called William the Conqueror ‘bastard’ because of his mixed parentage – he bore both noble and ignoble blood.

Sara McDougall

· Jun 14, 2017 · 11:30 pm

Were Nazis occult masters? It’s a good story but not history

Claims about Hitler’s supposed connections to occultism circulated before he even came to power.

Peter Staudenmaier

· Jun 12, 2017 · 09:30 pm

Europe’s aristocrats once celebrated (even forged) foreign ancestry

From the Roman Empire to the Renaissance, noble families across Europe insisted that they were not related to the populations they ruled.

Blake Smith

· Jun 10, 2017 · 11:30 pm

Why the story of Gandhi's nervous breakdown in 1918 (and goat milk) is relevant for today’s India

Had Gandhi misunderstood the people whom he wished to lead in the search, and battle, for truth?

Ajaz Ashraf

· May 30, 2017 · 06:30 pm

Royal companions and warriors: How elephants have been depicted in Asia’s history and mythology

From India to Thailand and Vietnam, the pachyderm has played a key role in history and mythology

Sud Chonchirdsin

· May 29, 2017 · 09:30 pm

A century before Kulbhushan Jadhav, the debate at The Hague was over VD Savarkar

His arrest in France had gone all the way to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Danish Khan

· May 28, 2017 · 08:00 am

‘Some of the hate mail is chilling’: Historian Audrey Truschke on the backlash to her Aurangzeb book

The Mughal emperor is controversial not so much because of India’s past but rather because of India’s present.

Audrey Truschke

· May 25, 2017 · 08:00 am

From the Vedic age to the Mughals and the Raj: The colourful history of alcohol consumption in India

The alcoholic beverages that the neo Puritans heading various state governments seem intent on banning have been around forever.

Mrinal Pande

· May 22, 2017 · 12:30 pm

The little-known history of how Zoroastrian merchants helped create the old Silk Route

The Zoroastrian-Chinese connection is at least 1,200 years older than we think. Probably even more.

Anvar Alikhan

· May 18, 2017 · 11:30 am

‘My soul is in a corset’: In letters from Stalin’s labour camps, glimpses of Soviet oppression

The recently translated letters of Latvian poet and journalist Arsenii Formakov depict everyday life – and suffering – in the Gulag.

Emily Johnson, The Conversation

· May 16, 2017 · 11:30 pm

May 16, 1857: How a massacre by rebel sepoys at the Red Fort felled Bahadur Shah Zafar

The Mughal king was tried and convicted for the murder of 56 Europeans taken prisoner by the soldiers.

Rana Safvi

· May 16, 2017 · 06:30 am