RealClearHistory - Opinion, News, Analysis, Video and Polls

Kim Philby's defection to the Soviet Union was made public on 30 July 1963. In 2016, the BBC broadcast previously unseen footage of a lecture... Read More

The Dead Sea Scrolls are widely considered one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. Unearthed between 1947... Read More

The Battle of Fort Sumter (12-13 April 1861), also known as the Attack on Fort Sumter and the Fall of Fort Sumter, was the opening... Read More

The Humane Society and later the U.S. Life-Saving Service rescued thousands of shipwreck victims operating from lifesaving stations... Read More

The legendary philosopher's stone was alchemy's ultimate prize—even Isaac Newton devoted years searching for it. Read More

It’s known as the Tombstone Edition, a lightning-strike newspaper image that presages the American Revolution — and 261 years... Read More

How the 1930s built America’s economic might Read More

Editor’s note: This is the sixth article in a limited series celebrating American defense technologies born from wartime and their... Read More

Most people have only heard of the plague as the disease that ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages. But it's still around today, such as in... Read More

The use of oaths of office in the United States is widespread. At the federal level, oaths are required of the President, Vice President,... Read More

The Civil War has never been a particularly fruitful subject for American moviemakers. The real-life characters are too vivid to be... Read More

New research suggests that a shipwreck discovered off the coast of Sweden in 2024 may have been transporting gifts from the German Duchy of... Read More

Where did rice come from? And how did it spread to become the foundation of global food security? Read More

Who should claim Scotland’s royal jewels? After the forced abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, the answer was not clear cut. Read More

The highs and the lows on the way to modern America. Read More

Join Greg and his guests in ancient Greece to learn all about the Iliad and Odyssey. Read More

Robbing from the rich to give to the poor and downtrodden - this is the legend of Joaquin Murrieta.But how true was it? Murder rates in 1850s... Read More

From impoverishment to global superpower, China’s supremacy happened at a breakneck speed thanks to the visionary strategy of the man... Read More

The political movement during the English Civil War committed to a new idea of equality. Read More

A new book by the journalist Lauren Collins chronicles the ongoing effects of the violent takeover of Wilmington, N.C., on those living in... Read More

A sweeping narrative of the two incredibly powerful neighboring empires, Adrian Goldsworthy takes his readers behind the scenes as Rome and... Read More

From Band of Brothers and Roots to Boardwalk Empire, these are the best TV shows about American history, ranked. Read More

Those who whine about the multicultural casting and Americanisms of Christopher Nolan's blockbuster 'The Odyssey' are missing the point. But... Read More

The climax of Gettysburg is immortalized at a low stone wall on Cemetery Ridge. Read More

Shoved by the Germans into the English Channel in 1940, British survivors tell their story of heartbreak and heroism. Read More

The Doolittle Raid saw 16 US B-25 bombers hit Tokyo and other targets in Japan on 18 April 1942. This was the first time that... Read More

Congress forbade living persons from appearing on paper currency in 1866, after an unpopular Treasury Department official put himself on the... Read More

How the 1930s built America’s economic might Read More

Editor’s note: This is the fifth article in a limited series celebrating American defense technologies born from wartime and their effects... Read More

Troops and military supplies traversed the Mother Road throughout the early 1940s. Read More

No 10 North is historic – but not unprecedented. Medieval York shows England has governed from more than one centre before. Read More

After a fragment was found in 1943 and dated to 500 B.C., the Nok terra-cotta sculptures shook up the Eurocentric academic consensus that no... Read More

Would St Augustine have considered the US attack on Iran a just war? The pope and the vice president are split on the matter. Read More

Amid mounting tensions between white settlers and the Shoshone, Union soldiers killed an estimated 250 to 500 Shoshone. Today, the Indigenous... Read More

Lost crowns, funeral scepters, and medieval coins from the 1200s and 1400s resurfaced in Poland and Lithuania, rewriting what we know about... Read More

Long before "vanilla" meant bland, the bean's fandom spanned Mesoamerican elites to European courts. But it owes its ubiquity to a... Read More

The Wright brothers changed the world in 1903, when they successfully took to the skies and achieved the first powered, sustained and... Read More

The highs and the lows on the way to modern America. Read More