Engelsberg Ideas

25/11/2025

France's rebuilding of its diplomatic credibility after the Franco-Prussian War offers enduring lessons in national resilience.

How France overcame defeat in the Franco-Prussian War | Paul Cormarie

France's rebuilding of its diplomatic credibility after the Franco-Prussian War offers enduring lessons in national resilience.

24/11/2025

The scale and diversity of her oeuvre, which includes portraits, allegorical series and still-lifes, was unmatched by any female painter of her era.

Michaelina Wautier’s great talent | Cath Pound

The scale and diversity of her oeuvre, which includes portraits, allegorical series and still-lifes, was unmatched by any female painter of her era.

24/11/2025

A peace settlement that divides the old Sudan into three new entities — one recognised state and two de facto polities — would merely extend a decades-long trajectory of geographic dissolution.

Sudan’s path to peace | Richard Cockett

A peace settlement that divides the old Sudan into three new entities — one recognised state and two de facto polities — would merely extend a decades-long trajectory of geographic dissolution.

21/11/2025

Horses were essential to the medieval world, shaping everything from warfare to cultural status.

Nicholas Morton on a little history of the medieval horse. Click the link in bio to read.

Image: A servant offering wine to his master in the 14th-century). Credit: Album / Alamy

21/11/2025

By turning his compositions into prayers, the Estonian composer revived classical music’s ability to touch the transcendent.

Guy Stagg on Arvo Pärt’s path from profane to sacred. Click the link in bio to read.

Image: An Orthodox Church in Estonia. Credit: Anatoly Knigin

21/11/2025

Horses were essential to the medieval world, shaping everything from warfare to cultural status.

A little history of the medieval horse | Nicholas Morton

Horses were essential to the medieval world, shaping everything from warfare to cultural status.

21/11/2025

President Zelensky’s stunning political rise promised to combat corruption and bring rapprochement with Russia. His administration is now mired in allegations of war-profiteering.

Owen Matthews on the tragedy of Zelensky’s Ukraine. Click the link in bio to read.

Image: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressing his country soon after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Credit: American Photo Archive

21/11/2025

By turning his compositions into prayers, the Estonian composer revived classical music’s ability to touch the transcendent.

Arvo Pärt’s path from profane to sacred | Guy Stagg

By turning his compositions into prayers, the Estonian composer revived classical music’s ability to touch the transcendent.

20/11/2025

President Zelensky's stunning political rise promised to combat corruption and bring rapprochement with Russia. His administration is now mired in allegations of war-profiteering.

The tragedy of Zelensky’s Ukraine | Owen Matthews

President Zelensky's stunning political rise promised to combat corruption and bring rapprochement with Russia. His administration is now mired in allegations of war-profiteering.

20/11/2025

The history of Argentina suggests that austerity is only politically viable under two conditions. Javier Milei has achieved both.

How Milei made austerity popular | Julieta Casas

The history of Argentina suggests that austerity is only politically viable under two conditions. Javier Milei has achieved both.

20/11/2025

Pier Paolo Pasolini's vision of the Eternal City was far from an aesthete's fantasy. His Rome was a real place, at once poetic and squalid, which he captured with a cartographer’s eye.

Pasolini’s Rome | Ian Thomson

Pier Paolo Pasolini's vision of the Eternal City was far from an aesthete's fantasy. His Rome was a real place, at once poetic and squalid, which he captured with a cartographer’s eye.

19/11/2025

The new historical epic, 'Palestine 36', offers a deeply flawed, disappointingly partial and waywardly remiss representation of British rule in the Holy Land.

Palestine 36’s distorted history | Christopher Silvester

The new historical epic, 'Palestine 36', offers a deeply flawed, disappointingly partial and waywardly remiss representation of British rule in the Holy Land.