Painting of a European marketplace

Europe

A late 18th-century painting depicting the execution of Marie Antoinette in 1793. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The smile revolution against the Reign of Terror. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of the head of Louis XVI

Guillotined in the French Revolution: the bloody story through 7 severed heads

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain waves to the crowd at Heston Airport and declaims "Peace in our Time" after returning from signing the Munich Agreement. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Second World War

Did appeasement cause the Second World War?

Camille and Lucile Desmoulins

How the architects of the 'Terror' after the French Revolution ended up among its victims. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Antony and Cleopatra meet for the first time

What if...Antony and Cleopatra had won the battle of Actium?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The vanquishers of the Bastille before the Hôtel de Ville, 14 July 1789. Found in the Collection of Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

What triggered the French Revolution?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The decapitation machine now known as the guillotine was not a French invention and wasn't invented by Joseph Guillotin. (Image by Getty Images)

Q&ADid the French invent the guillotine?

A bust of Marcus Aurelius and a detail on Marcus Aurelius’s column in Rome

Marcus Aurelius: Rome’s reluctant killer. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Second Battle of Copenhagen (or the Bombardment of Copenhagen) in 1807, the spire of the Church of Our Lady on fire, watercolour by Christofer Willem Eckersberg (1783-1853). Napoleonic Wars, Denmark, 19th century. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Britain’s illegal war: the story of the battle of Copenhagen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Medici: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A contemporary illustration of the Storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789 – an event that helped create the idea of 'revolution' as we know it today. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Fighting for freedom: the storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution

The Cold War battle for Berlin. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

From left to right: Queen Isabella of Castile; French regent Anne de Beaujeu; and Catherine of Aragon. (Photos by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/DeAgostini/Imagno/Getty Images)

Game of Queens: when women ruled Renaissance Europe

A portrait of Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England, by Michiel Sittow. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Medieval monarchy timeline: from the Norman Conquest to the Tudors

Eleanor of Woodstock, eldest daughter of Edward II, whom you can read more about in the April 2019 issue of BBC History Magazine. Medieval princesses had more agency than we might think says historian Kelcey Wilson-Lee. (Image by Alamy)

7 things you didn’t know a medieval princess could do

5 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Plantagenets

Eleanor of Aquitaine depicted in a 12th-century prayer book

The real Eleanor of Aquitaine: 5 myths about the medieval queen

How to be a medieval queen: the realities of being a royal woman in the Middle Ages

Brothers in arms Louis IX on his way to the Seventh Crusade, 1248. The French king kept his three brothers onside – preventing any potential family infighting – by providing them with huge lordships. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

How to run a medieval dynasty: survival secrets of ruling royal families. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Margaret of Anjou married Henry VI of England in 1445

Margaret of Anjou: a brief guide to the 'She-Wolf of France'

The Enlightenment: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

African Europeans. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of athletes in the torch race, ancient Olympics

What were the ancient Olympics like? Take a visit to the Games of 436 BC

French cuirassiers charging a British infantry square at the battle of Waterloo, 1815 (1906). From Cassell's Illustrated History of England, Vol. V. (Cassell and Company Limited, London, Paris, New York, Melbourne). Artist P Jazet. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

How the French won the battle of Waterloo (or think they did)

A man digs a grave in Sarajevo for victims of the war in Bosnia, 1992

Yugoslavia: why shared Slavic identity couldn’t save an idealised nation from fracture and bloodshed. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Henry V’s greatest victory (and it wasn't at the battle of Agincourt). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Women reporters of WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The battle of Sandwich: England’s medieval Trafalgar. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A scene from Perceval, one of the Arthurian romances attributed to Chretien De Troyes

Who was Chrétien de Troyes, and why are his Arthurian romances important?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy (Photo by Alamy)

Ravenna: from Roman powerhouse to artistic hub. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.