Painting of a European marketplace

Europe

British gunners busily engaged in putting over a curtain barrage. Somme campaign, France, 1916. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The Somme soldiers’ stories. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The most popular historical figures you've (probably) never heard of

The LibraryThe Holocaust on stage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detail of the decorative carving on the side of the Oseberg cart c850 AD. A woman with streaming hair apparently restrains a man’s sword arm as he strikes at a horseman accompanied by a dog. Below is a frieze of intertwined serpentine beasts. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Viking women: raiders, traders and settlers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin. (Photo by Oliver Duerre/EyeEm/Getty Images)

Second World War

My favourite place: Berlin

A portrait of Anne Boleyn

Did Eustace Chapuys really despise Anne Boleyn?

A combo picture of two images taken 13 August 2002 at Cairo Museum shows a foot of a mummy missing its big toe and beside it a prosthetic toe of leather and wood to replace the amputated real one. (Photo by Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images)

Q&AHow long have people used prosthetic limbs?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Valletta skyline – in the centre is St Paul's Anglican Cathedral and Carmelite Church. (Photo by Getty Images)

My favourite place: Malta

A marble bust of the Emperor Hadrian who ruled from AD 117 to 138

Hadrian's travels. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A group of five marble busts of typical early Roman citizens. The empire expanded by absorbing the peoples it defeated, giving rights and obligations to former outsiders. (Photo by Gjon Mili/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Mary Beard on why Rome ruled the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Queen Elizabeth I painted by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

How Shakespeare rewrote history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Guillaume Apollinaire and his wife, Jacqueline Kolb, on the terrace of the boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris, France, in 1918. (Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images)

My history hero: Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Chateau d'Hougoutmont, Belgium, was the scene of one of the most important battles in British and European history – the battle of Waterloo. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Bravery at Waterloo: the button seller and the drummer boy

c1754: Siege of a town led by Godefroy de Bouillon (c1060-1100) 1st Crusade (1095-1099), showing Saracens firing arrows at Crusaders as they attempt to scale the walls. From manuscript of Roman de Godefroy de Bouillon. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

5 things you (probably) didn't know about the Crusades

A portrait of Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty which ruled over much of India from 1526 to 1858. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

How people make the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Borris, County Carlow, Ireland. (Photo by Timothy Seren/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

The wild man of County Carlow. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. (Photo by Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

Q&AHow much did it cost to build Versailles?

Q&AWhy did the Germans never convince the Japanese to start a serious invasion of the Soviet Union during the Second World War?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

French troops under shellfire during the battle of Verdun. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

The LibraryVerdun - hell on Earth. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Roman women on a fresco from Pompeii

Q&ACould women in Ancient Rome hold any power?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Photo of a Canadian postage stamp

Q&AWhen was the first Christmas stamp issued?

A canal in Venice, Italy

My favourite place: Venice, Italy

Statue of Napoleon I toppled

La débâcle! The aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A view over Munich, Germany

My Favourite Place: Munich, Germany

A vintage photograph showing an unknown man standing behind a stall selling lemonade, root beer and ice cream – among other things.

Q&AWho invented lemonade?

A section of the Seikilos epitaph, the oldest surviving complete musical composition in the world

Q&AWhat is the oldest-known song?

First World War

Life of the Week: Kaiser Wilhelm II

An undated portrait of Hypatia

My history hero: Hypatia (cAD 370–415). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

White horse of Uffington

Who were the Celts?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Books interview with Mary Beard. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.