American Archives

Little Ice Age

by History Guild | Feb 2, 2026 | Political and Economic History, Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 9 minutes
The Little Ice Age was a period of regionally cold conditions between roughly AD 1300 and 1850. The term “Little Ice Age” is somewhat questionable, because there was no single, well-defined period of prolonged cold. There were two phases of the Little Ice Age, the first beginning around 1290 and continuing until the late 1400s. There was a slightly warmer period in the 1500s, after which the climate deteriorated substantially, with the coldest period between 1645 and 1715 . During this coldest phase of the Little Ice Age there are indications that average winter temperatures in Europe and North America were as much as 2°C lower than at present.

The 1918 Meuse-Argonne campaign was a disaster for the US army, so journalists glamorised

by History Guild | Jan 12, 2026 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
The only extended campaign American soldiers fought as an independent force during the first world war was the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Launched in late September 1918 as part of the final allied offensive on the western front, it was the largest and most deadly campaign the US army had ever fought.

Request for compensation for the Boston Tea Party

by History Guild | Dec 22, 2025 | Political and Economic History, Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 3 minutes
On 16 December 1773, American colonists threw 340 chests of tea into Boston harbour in an event now known as the Boston Tea Party. This letter from the East India Company gives a breakdown of teas destroyed – and asks for reimbursement.

80 years after Benito Mussolini’s death, what can democracies today learn from his fascist rise?

by History Guild | Nov 26, 2025 | Military History, Political and Economic History | 0

Reading time: 9 minutes
Fascist “strongmen” like Mussolini accumulate power thanks to people’s inabilities to believe that the barbarisation of political life – including open violence against opponents – could happen in their societies. And there is a final, unsettling lesson of Mussolini’s career. Il Duce was a skilled propagandist who portrayed himself as leading a popular revolt to restore respectable values. He was able to win widespread popular support, including among the elites, even as he destroyed Italian democracy. Yet, if the monarchy, military, other political parties and the church had attempted a principled, united opposition to fascism early enough, most of Mussolini’s crimes would likely have been avoided.

Among the Stars: A History of Space Travel

by History Guild | Nov 4, 2025 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 8 minutes
From seeing shooting stars to picturing constellations, humans have long looked up at the night sky and imagined what might exist above us.
Yet, historically speaking, humans have only very recently discovered what exists in our very own solar system, let alone sent people and spacecraft up to explore it.
But how did we go from discovering our own continents to exploring the stars?
Here is everything you need to know about the history of space travel and exploration – from our earliest understanding of space to the events that led to rocketry, astronauts, and landing on the moon. And with fingers crossed, this story is only just the beginning.

Samhain, the Saints, and Spooky Season: The History of Halloween

by History Guild | Oct 31, 2025 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
Today, Halloween is largely celebrated as a lighthearted, secular holiday—a child-friendly carnival of candy corn and costumes. Historically, however, this has not always been the case. The traditions that have blended and morphed into what we call ‘Halloween’ were once held sacred, and to some, they continue to be.
Still, across this transformation, borne out over thousands of years, many ancient traditions endure. The tricks, treats, and trappings of our modern Halloween parties might seem eerily familiar to a Roman, a Celt, or a medieval Christian—even if the context has changed.

Tutmania: How Ancient Egypt Defined the Roaring Twenties

by History Guild | Oct 15, 2025 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes

As the year 1922 dragged to a close, a weary public feared that it was doomed to die in doldrums. On the harrowing heels of World War I and the Spanish Flu pandemic came a “summer journalistically so dull that an English farmer’s report of a gooseberry the size of a crabapple achieved the main news pages of the London metropolitan dailies.” One Lord Carnarvon remembered that “the public was in a state of boredom with news of reparations, conferences, and mandates, and craved for some new topic of conversation.”

Full Program Announced! Fighting to the Finish: Australia in 1945 – Strategy, Victory and Legacy Conference, Melbourne. Book Now.

by History Guild | Aug 17, 2025 | Military History | 0

Military History & Heritage Victoria is excited to announce that tickets are now on sale for...

Adventurous identities: intersex soldiers and cross-dressing women at war

by History Guild | Jul 7, 2025 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 4 minutes
Pulaski is a hero of the struggles for Polish and American independence. He is credited with saving George Washington’s life in battle and with establishing the first American cavalry force. According to the documentary, DNA testing has confirmed a female-appearing skeleton is indeed Pulaski’s. This new evidence is the first hint that Pulaski – who seems to have lived as male from childhood – was anything other than a cisgendered man.

Five Conspiracies that shaped our world

by History Guild | Jul 2, 2025 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
The world is a complicated place, and there are a lot of things out of our control. No wonder, then, that conspiracy theories abound, tales where shadowy forces control what happens, when it happens, and to whom. However, not all of these theories are all that theoretical, and there are plenty of examples of conspiracies that went far beyond the drawing board.

Menzies’ call on Vietnam changed Australia’s course

by History Guild | Jun 23, 2025 | Military History, Political and Economic History | 0

Reading time: 4 minutes
In 1965, Australia was involved in two crises in Southeast Asia, one in Vietnam and the other in Indonesia. The connection between the two was vital to Menzies’ decision to increase our involvement in Vietnam. Having already committed a battalion to Malaysia to support resistance to the Konfrontasi policy of Indonesia’s Sukarno government, the logical next step for Menzies was to look to Vietnam. He did this with the support of his Cold War warrior and minister for external affairs, Paul Hasluck. They decided to send an Australian battalion to South Vietnam, partly to ensure continued American interest in the region.

The Thucydides Trap: Vital lessons from ancient Greece for China and the US … or a load of old claptrap?

by History Guild | Jun 9, 2025 | Military History, Political and Economic History | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
The so-called Thucydides Trap has become a staple of foreign policy commentary over the past decade or so, regularly invoked to frame the escalating rivalry between the United States and China.

Coined by political scientist Graham Allison — first in a 2012 Financial Times article and later developed in his 2017 book “Destined for War” — the phrase refers to a line from the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, who wrote in his “History of the Peloponnesian War,” “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable.”

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