Major occurrences documented by contemporary accounts.
Drawing on declassified UN records, British Foreign Office documents, and Hungarian archival materials, this article reconstructs how the United Nations and the Western powers responded to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 — and how Hungarians who placed their hopes in the international community experienced a profound disillusionment.
In the early hours of April 28, 1944, German E-boats torpedoed three American LSTs during a top-secret rehearsal for D-Day. Drawing on the testimony of survivors Douglas Harlander and Richard Ferguson, this article reconstructs the disaster, the military’s cover-up, and the decades of silence that followed.
Drawing on oral histories, diaries, and contemporary reports, this article reconstructs the human catastrophe of the 1947 Partition as experienced by the millions who fled by train, revealing fear, loss, and resilience.
Drawing on the USIA’s official report to President Nixon, TIME magazine’s coverage, and eyewitness accounts, this article reconstructs how the Apollo 11 Moon landing was reported, experienced, and understood by 650 million people around the world in July 1969.
Drawing on letters, diaries, newspapers, and oral histories, this article reconstructs the Vietnam War as it was experienced and reported at the time—by soldiers, journalists, protesters, and Vietnamese civilians—and traces how memory has shifted since.
Drawing on the millions of letters exchanged between soldiers and civilians during World War I, this article explores how correspondence sustained morale, circumvented censorship, and now offers historians an intimate window into the emotions and realities of wartime life.
Drawing on contemporary reports and archival records, this article reconstructs the Katanga secession of 1960–63, when a mineral-rich province broke away from the newly independent Congo under Moïse Tshombe, backed by Belgian advisers and mercenaries.
Drawing on contemporary newspapers, letters, and official reports, this article reconstructs how Americans experienced the Red Scare of 1919–1920, when fears of a Bolshevik revolution swept the nation and the press both fueled and reflected the panic.
In 1945, nearly four million British servicemen and women returned from war to a homeland transformed by bombing, rationing, and social change. Drawing on contemporary accounts, this article explores the hopes, fears, and upheavals of demobilisation—the journey from khaki to ‘civvy street.’
Based on official records and contemporary accounts, this article reconstructs the Potsdam Conference of July-August 1945, where the Allied leaders set the terms for Germany’s occupation and the postwar order, revealing the hopes, tensions, and fears of the era.