The official website of Sir Martin Gilbert – 20th Century British Historian and the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill

It is for the historian either to Say what happened or to say that he cannot discover it.

To say, “Perhaps it was like this” is to mask a failure to get to the bottom of a problem: and failure in historical research is no crime. It is one of the hazards of the profession.

Sir Martin Gilbert

Welcome to Sir Martin Gilbert's website, a celebration of his life and his work, his passion, his philosophy, his favourite haunts, his humour and his humanity.

The official biographer of Winston Churchill and a leading historian on the Twentieth Century, Sir Martin is a scholar and an historian who, through his 88 books, has shown there is such a thing as “true history”.

  • “There is a lot of stuff going on – just FYI your shelter is open.”

    Photo: The Iron Dome intercepting rockets from Gaza 600 words / 3 minute read As I write this I am in Jerusalem.  The day this text came in from my daughter, I had just begun the intensive work of indexing the new edition of Martin’s Atlas of Jewish History.  I...

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    Iron Dome intercept
  • Mufti & Hitler

    The Farhud Baghdad, 1 June 1941

    Photo:  The Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin Al-Husaini and Hitler, the Reich Chancellery, Berlin, 28 November 1941 560 words / 3 minute read … the British forces allowed the defeated Iraqi troops to return to their barracks without surrendering their weapons.  Stung b...

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  • “Striking a blow for freedom” D-day minus One

    Photo: Martin’s map of the landing beaches 725 words / 4 minute read On the morning of June 5, Eisenhower wrote a message, in his own hand, to be published in the event of failure.  It read:  “Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a sat...

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    20. Allied Forces 6 June