Painting of a European marketplace

Europe

A painting depicting an experiment in an English school on a bird in an air pump, 1768. National Gallery, London. (Photo by Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

How Europe won the race to prosperity

Swiss psychiatrist Dr Carl Jung in his library at home. (Photo by Dmitri Kessel/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

My history hero: Carl Jung (1875–1961)

Albert Einstein, standing in front of the Einstein Tower in 1926. (Photo by ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Q&AWhy the Einstein Tower was renamed – twice

Portrait of Richard Wagner, 1883. (Photo By DEA/A Dagli Orti/De Agostini/Getty Images)

My History Hero: Richard Wagner (1813–83)

The Giralda tower and cathedral seen across the Plaza de la Alianza, Seville, Spain. (Getty Images)

My favourite place: Seville, Spain

Travelling Mass set, c1535, consisting of a silver-gilt chalice; a paten (Communion plate) and a glass bottle for wine, with a leather box in which to carry them. (Photo by Museum of London/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Henry VIII's savage Reformation

History quiz – Quakers and Kingmakers

Engraving of Henry VIII, king of England (Photo by Getty)

History quiz - holidays and Henry VIII

Scandal, conspiracy and the affair of the poisons: inside the court of Louis XIV

Verona skyline with river Adige, bridges, Santa Anastasia Church and Torre dei Lamberti or Lamberti Tower at dawn view from Castel San Pietro, Italy. (Getty Images)

My favourite place: Verona, Italy

Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev looking disappointed frustrated

The 1986 Reykjavík Summit: when hopes for nuclear peace were dashed

Two members of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps find another use for discarded helmets in France during the First World War. (Alamy)

Female Tommies: women in the First World War

An illustration of the novel ‘The War of the Worlds’ by HG Wells, made by Henri Lanos, 1905. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

In thrall to the red planet: 5 facts about our view of Mars through history

Martin Luther (centre) preaching. With one hand he points to popes, monks and cardinals going down the mouth of hell; with the other he points to the crucifix. (Getty Images)

Books interview with Eamon Duffy: "You could call the Reformation the original Brexit"

Irish national hero Hugh O'Neill, the 2nd Earl of Tyrone, makes a formal submission to the English following the suppression of his Irish rebellion, 1603. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The LibraryHugh O'Neill: Elizabeth I’s Irish nemesis

British reenforcement land on 'Gold Beach' for the big push into the Normandy town of Caen

An eyewitness account of the Normandy landings, France, 1944

Tom Holland in conversation with Pankaj Mishra about his book Age of Anger

Age of Anger: Pankaj Mishra in conversation with Tom Holland

Illustration of the capture of Jerusalem during the third crusade

Crusader, deserter and traitor: the life and legacy of Raymond III of Tripoli

Anonymous engraving, master of the garden of love, 15th century, France, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale. (Photo by: Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

7 ways to say “I love you” in medieval Europe

The Duke of Wellington and his ‘Dearest Georgy’

Parson's Lodge Battery in Rosia Bay, Gibraltar. (Getty Images)

My favourite place: Gibraltar

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

Giuseppe Garibaldi in Naples, Italy, 1861. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

God, gangs and Garibaldi

Bettany Hughes on the history of Istanbul

Roman ruins in Ancient Ostia with the tenements of Serapide

FeatureFive facts about Roman insulae

The siege of Orleans

Q&ADid castle defenders really pour boiling oil down on attackers?

Theodora was an Eastern Roman empress by marriage to emperor Justinian.(Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Theodora: from prostitution to empress of the eastern Roman empire

Section of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting a woman and child fleeing from a burning house. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Anglo-Saxons’ last stand

Illustration by Femke De Jong

The medieval longing for the good old days

Barcelona. (Getty Images)

My favourite place: Barcelona