Indian Leaders

India

Imperialism on the oceans

Chess players in the 14th century

Ancient board games: which ones did people play for fun in the past?

A new take on India’s history

The rise and fall of the Sikh empire

Young girl putting garland around Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. (Photo by Dinodia Photos/Getty Images)

History heroFergal Keane chooses Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964)

Empire builder Maharajah Ranjit Singh sits astride a horse as an attendant holds a parasol over him. Singh is historically credited with growing his ancestral warrior-clan, the Sukerchakia misl, into a grand imperial dynasty. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

A Sikh tragedy: the Indian kingdom that fell foul of the British empire

An official of the British East India Company riding on an elephant with an escort of foot soldiers and mounted Indian retainers, India, end of 18th century (Photo by Getty Images)

The East India Company: everything you wanted to know

Exclusive podcastAnita Anand on an orphan radicalised by the Amritsar massacre

Winston Churchill gives his famous v-sign. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

From Winston Churchill to the Bengal famine: are we in denial about our role in WW2?

A mushroom cloud produced by the explosion of a hydrogen bomb during Operation Ivy, an American nuclear test that took place in 1952. (SSPL/Getty Images)

How have nuclear weapons shaped global politics? 10 key moments in the post-war atomic world

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: what might we learn from pandemics in the past?

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: a historical perspective

A 19th-century depiction of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Who was Maharaja Ranjit Singh?

Colour painting showing Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi on a horse.

Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi: the heroic queen dubbed India’s 'Joan of Arc'

A replica of the Koh-i-Noor in Bangalore in 2002

Desired, stolen, cursed: the history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond

Indian soldiers during WWI

Indians in the trenches

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector

Royalists, beards and cowardice: are these the strangest taxes in history?

The Mountbattens: success and scandal

A British officer stands alongside two of his Japanese counterparts in 1914 in Tsingtao (now Qingdao). Japanese troops played a key role in the capture of that strategic German concession in north-east China. (Photo by Getty Images)

First World War: beyond the western front

The humble G&T truly sustained the troops of the British Empire. (Photo by ahirao_photo/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Q&AWhen did people start drinking gin and tonic?

Four soliders of the 36th Sikhs, various ranks, 1896. The regiment was led in January 1897 to occupy the Samana posts, says Captain Jay Singh-Sohal. (Reproduced with permission from australiansikhheritage.com)

The battle of Saragarhi: when 21 Sikh soldiers stood against 10,000 men

Dornier 217 bombers of the Luftwaffe bomb London during the Battle of Britain. "The crucial role of the RAF in denying the Germans control of the air in 1940 and therefore persuading Hitler to abandon his invasion plans is so well known that it might seem almost sacrilegious to question it, " says Sean Lang. "But was it solely responsible for saving Britain from invasion? Not quite." (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

9 of the most overrated battles in history (and one underrated one)

Amritsar massacre. (Photo by Alamy)

The Amritsar assassin

Anita Anand, photographed in London. "My grandfather was in Amritsar on the day of the massacre. This story has been woven into my DNA," she says. (Photography by Alastair Levy)

Books interview with Anita Anand: “Singh hoped that he would be the catalyst for a revolution”

A young visitor looks at a painting depicting the Amritsar Massacre

Amritsar: day of shame

A painting of the Amritsar massacre. While Churchill described the killings as "without precedent", MP Benjamin Spoor said: "Amritsar is not an isolated event, any more than General Dyer is an isolated officer." (Photo by AKG Images)

The Amritsar massacre: the British empire's darkest day

Indian troops cooking in their camp kitchen in Marseilles. (Photo by Mirrorpix)

Indians in World War One

"Queen Victoria was more than just a token ruler of India. Passionately interested in its people and culture, she intervened frequently in Indian politics," says Miles Taylor. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

The LibraryQueen Victoria’s Indians

A still from the 2017 film Viceroy's House

Raj nostalgia: reconsidering the stories through which we view empire

Mahatma Gandhi in Britain

Gandhi in Britain