Over a long career, John Hardman has specialised to great effect in teasing out, from speeches, decrees, minutes, memoranda, letters, diaries and unsent drafts, the varied moods of French political de

When General Francisco Franco died on 20 November 1975 – 39 years after the start of the brutal civil war that brought him to power – the prospect of a bloodless transition to democracy in Spain appea

In the 21st century, we have moved into an era of performative covert action. Leaders such as Vladimir Putin have used the shadow of death to coerce their enemies overseas and to reinforce their warri

The “Emperor of the Night”, as he has been grandly called,1 the Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys was the great pioneer of “lucid dreaming”: to be aware, while you are fully asleep, that you are dreamin

Our pick of the latest military history books

I enjoyed reading the interesting article by Caitlin Ellis on the rivals for the throne in 1066 (October). In particular, it was fascinating to read about Edgar Ætheling’s claim, which was surely the