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18 August 1819: British soldiers charging the crowd at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, during a meeting called in support of political reform. (Photo by Spencer Arnold Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A “more shocking” massacre? How we might have overestimated the Peterloo crowds

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Brendan Sims, professor of the history of international relations at the University of Cambridge

Books interview with Brendan Simms: “Hitler didn’t see Germany’s main enemy as Soviet communism, but Anglo-American capitalism” . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Dire straits: Beggars are depicted in a woodcut. In the 16th century, waves of crop failures persuaded the government to place poor relief on the statute book. (Image by Bridgeman)

Taxing the rich to feed the poor in the 17th century: the world’s first welfare state

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Native American leader Sitting Bull

History hero Steven Knight chooses Sitting Bull (1831–90) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 16th-century map showing Magellan's ship

A voyage from hell: how Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world changed history

US soldiers in Vietnam

From the Napoleonic Wars to Vietnam and Iraq: a history of war trauma

Families in a London slum, c1900

From slums to suburbs: Britain’s council house revolution

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Cavalry charge into a crowd of protesters at St Peter's Field, Manchester, as depicted in an 1819 engraving. What followed was the worst violence ever to occur at a political meeting in Britain. (Picture by Alamy)

The Peterloo Massacre: what did it achieve? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Margaretha Geertruida Zelle called Mata Hari (Photo by Apic/Getty Images)

First World War

Mata Hari: exotic dancer, femme fatale, traitor and spy

(© Public Domain)

General Early Modern

Everything you need to know about the Holy Roman Empire

Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico's left-wing president who in 1940 legalised drugs. (Photo by Henry Guttmann/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The year Mexico legalised drugs

An 1824 cartoon depicting the drinking escapades of Oxford students. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The history of student life: 7 things you didn’t know

One of the earliest and most famous examples of extremism comes from ancient Rome. Starting in 264 BC and continuing for more than a century, Rome engaged in a series of wars with neighbouring Carthage. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of extremism – from ancient Rome to al Qaeda

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Winchester Cathedral

From King Alfred to Jane Austen: a historical tour of Winchester . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

Have nuclear weapons helped to maintain global peace?