The History of Britain Magazine
Welcome to the History of Britain! The home nations share a varied and shared history unlike anywhere else, so we thought it only right to create a section dedicated to our mutual heritage.
The Lost Souls of World War One
In the blockbuster film, “Saving Private Ryan’ Captain John Miller takes his men behind enemy lines to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers were believed to have been killed in combat. This article tells the true story of the Souls family who tragically lost five sons in the First World War…
The Founding of New York
Previously known as New Amsterdam and formerly in the hands of the Dutch, in 1664 the settlement, now known as New York, found itself under British rule. How this came about can be traced back to a tiny island called Run, in modern-day Malaysia…
Adela Pankhurst
Adela Pankhurst: how a British suffragette became a pioneering Australian Fascist.
Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Daniel Wintle MC
The last British officer to be held in the Tower of London, the monocled Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Daniel Wintle MC was a decorated war veteran, and one of the most flamboyant and unconventional figures of the 20th century.
Dido Elizabeth Belle
The illegitimate daughter of Captain John Lindsay and Maria Belle, a slave of African origin, Dido Elizabeth Belle’s story is quite remarkable for its time, as she was brought up in an aristocratic English family…
Battles of Imphal and Kohima
In March 1944, the Imperial Japanese Army launched Operation U-Go across the border from Burma into north east India. Their ambitions were simple: capture the two strategic locations of Kohima and Imphal. It was imperative for the Allied forces to repel these attacks. At Imphal the 14th Army were forced to hold off repeated attacks for several months, meanwhile, further north at Kohima, a combined British and Indian garrison engaged in close-combat fighting, finding themselves outnumbered and encircled…
The 14th Army – The Forgotten Army
Why ‘The Forgotten Army’? Commanded by Lieutenant-General William Slim, the Fourteenth Army played a decisive role in defeating the Imperial Japanese Army in Burma. However the emphasis in the press and media was on the war in Europe and in 1944, the invasion of Normandy. Thus the events in the Far East were largely overlooked…
Burma Death Railway
The 1957 epic war film, ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ tells the story of a group of Allied prisoners of war during the building of the Burma Railway, otherwise known as the Death Railway. After the war, it was said that one man died for every railway sleeper laid along its 250 mile length, reflecting the high mortality rate among the POWs and civilian forced labour from the harsh conditions, brutality and disease.
The Asian Theatre of War
Singapore, Hong Kong, Imphal, Kohima, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Names that will forever evoke images of the brutal war fought by the Allies against the Imperial Japanese Army in South East Asia. We commemorate the surrender of Japan each year on Victory over Japan (VJ) Day, 15th August: this also marks the end of World War II.
