Australia's War in the Mediterranean

What exactly is the Holy Grail – and why has its meaning eluded us for centuries?

What exactly is the Holy Grail – and why has its meaning eluded us for centuries?

Apr 14, 2025

Reading time: 6 minutes
Type “Holy Grail” into Google and … well, you probably don’t need me to finish that sentence. The sheer multiplicity of what any search engine throws up demonstrates that there is no clear consensus as to what the Grail is or was. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of people out there claiming to know its history, true meaning and even where to find it.

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Does the Roman road network influence European prosperity even today?

Does the Roman road network influence European prosperity even today?

Apr 7, 2025

Reading time: 5 minutes
If there’s one thing the ancient Romans are famous for, its their roads. The empire was criss-crossed with them, mainly to quickly shuttle the legions about, but they also facilitated trade. We know this network survived the collapse of the empire, but could it influence the European economy to this day?

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Military History

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The Strangest Battle of World War II? Uncovering the Battle of Castle Itter

The Strangest Battle of World War II? Uncovering the Battle of Castle Itter

Apr 3, 2025

Reading time: 6 minutes In the waning hours of the war, exactly five days after Hitler shot himself in his bunker, a bizarre battle would commence in a small Austrian town, just south of the German border. Seven hundred years after its construction in the 1200s, Castle Itter would host a battle between the Waffen-SS (the Nazi party’s specialist paramilitary) and a combined force of defecting German Wehrmacht troops, American soldiers, Austrian resistance fighters, and various French political prisoners.

Political and Economic History

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The Partition of British India: Timeline

The Partition of British India: Timeline

Mar 24, 2025

Reading time: 6 minutes Track the key events during British colonial rule leading to the emergence of the independent nation-states of India and Pakistan in 1947.

Social and Cultural History

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Hidden in plain sight: Finding working-class women in The National Archives

Hidden in plain sight: Finding working-class women in The National Archives

Mar 31, 2025

Reading time: 10 minutes This article will make use of a particularly interesting case study of pit brow women in Lancashire, to explore the complexities and opportunities associated with archival work. The women’s lives can be revealed through analysis of documents from sources in the Copyright Office, and the Ministry of Power collections. By identifying strengths and weaknesses of records, they can be analysed with greater depth and nuance, so that they are used most effectively during an exploration of the past.

History Audiobooks

A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World – Audiobook

A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World – Audiobook

On his first journey Cook mapped the east coast of Australia, on his second the British Admiralty sent him into the vast Southern Ocean. Equipped with one of the first accurate chronometers, Cook pushed his small vessel not merely into the Roaring Forties or the Furious Fifties but become the first explorer to penetrate the Antarctic Circle, reaching an incredible Latitude 71 degrees South, just failing to discover Antarctica.

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History Guild would like to acknowledge the Boonwurrung people, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are based, and pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.