Political leaders and leadership

April 14, 1865.

On 20 June 1998 Peter Temple-Morris, Conservative MP for Leominster, crossed the floor to join his rivals on the Labour party benches.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union a team of young economic reformers led by Yegor Gaidar worked to create a new economic future for Russia.

British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston has enjoyed a rakish reputation as a womanizer, a careless aristocrat and the apostle of big-stick diplomacy.

In 1961 a group of men arrived in Cambridge to join the Overseas Services Course before going on to work in the Provincial Administration of the Northern Rhodesia Government.

On 24 October 1964, the Republic of Zambia was formed, replacing the territory which had formerly been known as Northern Rhodesia.

England in the Age of Palmerston had two players of colossal influence on the world stage: Lord Palmerston himself - the dominant figure in foreign affairs in the mid-nineteenth century - and The Times - the first global newspaper, read avidly by statesmen around the world.

David Lloyd George is widely regarded as one of the most effective British prime ministers of the twentieth century.

Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Hitler's Germany has been widely condemned.

Michael Barr explores the complex and covert networks of power at work in one of the world's most prosperous countries - the city-state of Singapore.

The Reagan era is usually seen as an era of unheralded prosperity, and as a high-watermark of Republican success.

In a decade, between 1940 and 1950, the old world order collapsed, and a new one was created.

Number Ten Downing Street and the Cabinet Office are at the apex of power in British government, but relatively little is known about the day to day functioning of these great institutions of state.

Situated in the heart of London's Holland Park are the remains of Holland House the site of what was once England's most celebrated political salon.

Greece in the 1960s produced one of Europe's arguably most controversial politicians of the post-war era.

The presidency of Bill Clinton has an intrinsic historical significance: a marker of generational change, as he was the first 'baby boomer' to reach the White House; the first president whose personal life received no less attention than his policies; and the first elected Democrat President to win re-election since Franklin Roosevelt.

From the turmoil and tragedy of the French Revolution to the rise and fall of the enigmatic figure of Napoleon Bonaparte, the history of France between 1789 and 1815 is one of the most enduringly fascinating - and widely-studied - periods of history.

Nader Shah, ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, embodied ruthless ambition, energy, military brilliance, cynicism and cruelty.

China has become the powerhouse of the world economy, its incredible boom overseen by the elite members of the secretive and all-powerful communist party.

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum (1850-1916) is one of the most important figures in the history of the British Empire.

Before 1966, the idea of Reagan in politics provoked widespread scorn.

The dramatic story of the last fifty years of the Speyer banking dynasty, a Jewish family of German descent, is surprisingly little known today, yet at the turn of the 20th century, Speyer was the third largest investment banking firm in the United States, behind only Morgan and Kuhn, Loeb.

Stalinism, that particularly brutal phase of the Communist experience, came to an end in most of Europe with the death of Stalin in 1953.

Secret lunches, off-the-record briefings, the leaking of confidential information and tightly-organised media launches - the well-known world of modern political spin.

From Tunisia to Egypt and from Israel to Iran, the debates surrounding the concept of democracy in the Middle East are never straightforward.

Who is Hillary Clinton?

On 2nd May 1997, Tony Blair swept into Downing Street, ending almost twenty years of Conservative government and beginning a decade as Prime Minister.

Secret lunches, off-the-record briefings, the leaking of confidential information and tightly-organised media launches - the well-known world of modern political spin.

The Mughal Empire dominated India politically, culturally, socially, economically and environmentally, from its foundation by Babur, a Central Asian adventurer, in 1526 to the final trial and exile of the last emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar at the hands of the British in 1858.

In a decade, between 1940 and 1950, the old world order collapsed, and a new one was created.

Stalinism, that particularly brutal phase of the Communist experience, came to an end in most of Europe with the death of Stalin in 1953.

In the first half of the twentieth century, many writers and artists turnedto the art and received example of the Elizabethans as a means ofarticulating an emphatic (and anti-Victorian) modernity.

In the first half of the twentieth century, many writers and artists turnedto the art and received example of the Elizabethans as a means ofarticulating an emphatic (and anti-Victorian) modernity.

The beginnings of what we now call 'globalization' dates from the early sixteenth century, when Europeans, in particular the Iberian monarchies, began to connect 'the four parts of the world'.

The coast of East Africa was considered a strategically invaluable region for the establishment of trading ports, both for Arab and Persian merchants, long prior to invasion and conquest by Europeans.

Today Russia and human rights are both high on the international agenda.

Ante Pavelic was the leader of the fascist party of Croatia (the Ustaše), who, on Adolf Hitler's instruction, became the leader of Croatia after the Nazi invasion of 1941.

On 24 October 1964, the Republic of Zambia was formed, replacing the territory which had formerly been known as Northern Rhodesia.

Before 1966, the idea of Reagan in politics provoked widespread scorn.

England in the Age of Palmerston had two players of colossal influence on the world stage: Lord Palmerston himself - the dominant figure in foreign affairs in the mid-nineteenth century - and The Times - the first global newspaper, read avidly by statesmen around the world.

Michael Barr explores the complex and covert networks of power at work in one of the world's most prosperous countries - the city-state of Singapore.

Number Ten Downing Street and the Cabinet Office are at the apex of power in British government, but relatively little is known about the day to day functioning of these great institutions of state.

Nader Shah, ruler of Persia from 1736 to 1747, embodied ruthless ambition, energy, military brilliance, cynicism and cruelty.

Greece in the 1960s produced one of Europe's arguably most controversial politicians of the post-war era.

The presidency of Bill Clinton has an intrinsic historical significance: a marker of generational change, as he was the first 'baby boomer' to reach the White House; the first president whose personal life received no less attention than his policies; and the first elected Democrat President to win re-election since Franklin Roosevelt.

The change in the method of selecting the Labour Party leader, from an elite parliamentary ballot to a mass participatory Electoral College, which occurred in 1981 was ideologically motivated.

'The public owes a great debt to Martin Gilbert for producing this book.

Josef Stalin remains one of the greatest enigmas of modern history.

Why did the propaganda efforts that succeeded so thoroughly in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany fail so drastically in Greece?

To understand contemporary Iran's notoriously complex politics, it is essential first to grasp the monumental changes initiated by Mohammad Khatami.