List of History articles
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Black-and-white photo of a man in a suit speaking into multiple microphones at a press conference, with a large map of Southeast Asia and a Department of Defense seal visible in the background. Robert McNamara Chose Loyalty to the President
A new biography should be required reading for everyone currently working in silence in Washington.
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A reenactor dressed as Greek hoplite in a tunic and helmet sprawls on his back on a sandy beach, a shield resting on top of him. ‘Super-Sparta’ Is Bad History and Bad Strategy
The Spartan model didn’t work for Sparta. It will be even worse for Israel.
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A figure in a hat is seen from behind in silhouette as they walk down a tree-lined path toward a turreted church beneath a blue sky. Russia’s Troubling Church Takeover
The Kremlin is leveraging tsarist-era assets to expand its global influence.
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A Finnish defender is seen near the front during the Finnish-Soviet Winter War in early 1940. The Ghost of Finlandization Is Haunting the Ukraine Debate
A 1944 armistice that traded land for peace is a poor precedent for ending Russia’s war.
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A poster of a soldier holding up a rifle. How Russia Distorts the Past
Memory politics shape Putin’s influence at home and abroad.
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Two soldiers walk along a fence in front of the Berlin wall in a snowy winter scene. The East-West Contest With No End
The Cold War was tragic, comic, and epic—and it’s still playing out today.
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A person is silhouetted in front of a white high relief statue of Stalin with other figures around him. The Kremlin’s Factory of Resentment
A new history of the Cold War unwittingly exposes Russian distortions of the past.
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Xi and Putin sit in the center of a row of other officials and dignitaries, their heads turned to look at something in the same direction as the camera. Both men wear dark suits. Two other men sitting in the same row wear military dress uniforms and hats that are highly decorated with medals. China’s Military Parade Is a Powerful Diplomatic Display
Xi Jinping is trying to link past, present, and future.
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A man and child hold hands as they walk along rubble- and grass-covered railroad tracks. Palm trees and power lines frame the scene. From Berlin to Baghdad on the Ruins of a WWI Railway
The unfinished line traces a fractured region still beset by competing imperial projects.
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz departs after speaking to the media following a meeting of the federal security cabinet over the situation in Gaza on July 28, 2025 in Berlin, Germany. Germany’s Israeli Dogma Lives On
The German government has changed its tone on Israel policy—but not much else.
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (left) welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in front of the Federal Chancellery in Berlin on Aug. 13. Who Zelensky Is Bringing to Washington—and Why
Several European leaders will accompany the Ukrainian president as he makes his case to Trump.
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A screengrab from a video shows a man walking from a car into a building wearing a CCCP shirt under a black vest. Russia’s Lavrov Wears USSR Sweatshirt to Trump-Putin Summit
The foreign minister wasn’t subtle about his Soviet nostalgia.
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A person in a soldier's uniform carries the flag of imperial Japan outside of a shrine as people walk by in the background. When Will World War II End in Japan?
Silence on the official history of 1939 to 1945 has led to a flowering of creative interpretations.
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An illustrations shows people running in fear from a Martian invasion. Fears of a Fragile World
From the Habsburgs to modern Washington, anxiety underlies empire.
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Three men and a woman are seated outdoors. China Is Still Afraid of Losing World War II
In the long Asian wars, being the victor in 1945 meant little.
