Painting of a European marketplace

Europe

York Minster's rose window features 16th-century Tudor Roses white on red (left) and Lancastrian Roses, red

A brief history of the English rose

Left: Hungarian Jews arrive at Auschwitz-Birkenau, in German-occupied Poland, in June 1944. Between May and July that year, more than 430,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to the camp complex. Right: Prisoners at Dachau celebrate the liberation of the camp by US soldiers on 29 April 1945. The camp was used again after the war to house SS personnel awaiting trial, and then German refugees. (Photos by Getty Images and Alamy)

Aftermath of the Holocaust: how Europe dealt with the crimes of the Third Reich. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait head of Roman Emperor Nero circa AD 59-64. (Photo by Alamy)

Nero: Rome’s Antichrist?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The death of a dream: why Europe's great year of revolution in 1848 failed

A miniature from the Codex Justinianus

Plague, famine and sudden death: 10 dangers of the medieval period

German Heinkel HE-111 bombers fly over Britain during a mission in September 1940

8 reasons why the Luftwaffe didn’t stand a chance of beating the RAF in the Battle of Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Winston Churchill gives his famous v-sign. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

From Winston Churchill to the Bengal famine: are we in denial about our role in WW2?

Freedom fighters: the enslaved people who fought for the abolition of slavery. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Adolf Hitler photographed with Nazi war generals

Second World War

What was Operation Sealion, Hitler’s planned invasion of Britain? And why was it cancelled?

The ship ‘Jesus of Lübeck’ was used in John Hawkins’ infamous early slaving voyages, some of which were sponsored by Elizabeth I. (Image by Alamy)

Were there slaves in Elizabethan England?

Taking of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Painting by Emile Signol (1804–1892), (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters 11: Did women fight in the crusades? And why did people follow a goose to the Holy Land?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth I arrives in Tilbury

The Spanish Armada: one of history’s biggest fibs?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

World War Two: the challenge of commemoration. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration from Dante's ‘Inferno', depicting thieves tormented in hell by serpents.

General ancient history

A brief history of the afterlife

A bust of Ludwig van Beethoven before the original handwritten score for his Piano Sonata no. 28 in A major, Op. 101. The composer stood at the vanguard of a new artistic movement that celebrated emotion and nature. (Getty Images/Alamy/Dreamstime)

The soundtrack of Beethoven’s life. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France meet (in marquee, top) at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, June 1520. “For all their expressions of friendship,” writes Glenn Richardson, “the two kings spent most of the summit attempting to outshine one another”. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Fields of the Cloth of Gold: the greatest show on earth. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Thomas Becket murder

7 controversial saints in history

Queen Emma and her sons, miniature in 'Encomium Emmae reginae', mid 11th century, British Library (Photo by Getty Images)

Are women at the heart of the action in the Norman Conquest?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Pompeii,Italy

What was life like in ancient Pompeii? Mary Beard shares an A-Z guide

Newgrange Passage Tombs, Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland. (Photo by Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #9: Do early medieval Irish texts shed light on prehistoric incest?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Simo Häyhä, said to be the deadliest sniper in history

Second World War

The world’s deadliest sniper: Simo Häyhä

How much do you know about the Vikings? Test your knowledge with our quiz. This mid-19th century painting shows Viking ships on the River Thames. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

QuizHow much do you know about the Vikings?

A mushroom cloud produced by the explosion of a hydrogen bomb during Operation Ivy, an American nuclear test that took place in 1952. (SSPL/Getty Images)

How have nuclear weapons shaped global politics? 10 key moments in the post-war atomic world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

c1962: Military personnel in a car pass through the US Army's Checkpoint Charlie on the Berlin Wall. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

A brief history of Checkpoint Charlie

Two lovers rest after a hunt, Codex Manesse

Saturday lecture: Medieval love and marriage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Lancaster. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Despite popular misconception, Gladiatorial fighting was not the most popular entertainment in Ancient Rome. (Photo by Alamy)

A brief guide to ancient Rome and the Romans, plus 9 fascinating facts

Bronze effigy of King Henry III on his tomb, Westminster Abbey, London (Photo by Alamy)

Henry III: inside the mind of a medieval king. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The ruined monastery walls of Lindisfarne priory on Holy Island, on 27th June 2019, on Lindisfarne Island, Northumberland, England. The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded by Irish monk Saint Aidan, and the priory was founded before the end of 634 and Aidan remained there until his death in 651. The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, also known simply as Holy Island, is an island off the northeast coast of England. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important centre of Celtic and Anglo-saxon Christianity. After the Viking invasions and the Norman conquest of England, a priory was re-established. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #8: Did medieval people care about the time? And did they get bored?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Francis Drake portrait

Francis Drake’s forgotten role in the English slave trade