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D-Day is one of the best known invasions in history, but it did not happen without a high cost
Once the Allies decided to land in Normandy, they identified the need to practice.
Foreign Office Historians
What’s the context? 4 April 1949: signature of the North Atlantic Treaty
NATO remains the cornerstone of Western security. But as it celebrates its 70th birthday, it is worth remembering the part played in the negotiations by other regions such as Latin America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific.
What’s the context? 31 March 1939: the British guarantee to Poland
On 31 March 1939 Neville Chamberlain committed Britain to defending Polish independence. After years of trying to preserve peace and buy time for rearmament, he recognised that international developments and domestic opinion meant this guarantee was necessary, though it was to mean war with Germany 6 months later.
What was happening between the armistice and the opening of the Paris peace talks?
The armistice agreement with Germany was signed on 11 November 1918, but the Peace Conference did not start proceedings until 18 January 1919. With so much at stake, why did it take 2 months for discussions to start?
The woman in green who won the Khaki election
In what has been termed the khaki election (1918), the first election in which (some) women could vote, a woman in green was elected to be the first woman member of parliament.
History at the heart of diplomacy
On 15 November, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Historians gathered in the Locarno Suite of the Foreign Office to mark our centenary. Joining us were former and current members of staff.
The war that did not end at 11am on 11 November
On 11 November we remember the guns ceasing firing. We imagine universal relief that the carnage of war was finally over, at least in the victorious countries. There is just one problem: that is not the complete truth.
1968 and all that: the creation of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office
On this day in 1968 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was created. But how did it come about, and what changes has the organisation seen in the last 50 years? The hole in the wall Back in 1963, a confrontation …
The flu that wasn’t Spanish
In 1918, the death rate in Britain exceeded the birth rate for the first year since Government started maintaining records in 1837. Yet this was not due to the First World War, but to so-called ‘Spanish Flu’. At the time, …
Soviet forces invade Czechoslovakia, 20-21 August 1968
This is not the action of strong ‘expansionist’ leaders, but of frightened men reacting indecisively to a situation which they judged to be crucially dangerous, but with which they did not know how to deal.[i] On the night of Tuesday, …