Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix

France

Gilles de Rais, accused of murdering at least 140 children in 15th-century France

Was Gilles de Rais really history’s first recorded serial killer?

England’s forgotten medieval hero: how John, Duke of Bedford carried on Henry V's fight. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

“The reverberations lasted for generations” | Matthew Gabriele and David M Perry on the civil war of Charlemagne's grandsons. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

American athlete Alvin Kraenzlein pioneered the now-universal modern technique for hurdling – and claimed four golds. (Photo by Getty Images)

The madcap Paris Olympics: the chaos that nearly derailed the 1900 Games. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Laura Berlin as Emma of Normandy in season 3 of Vikings: Valhalla

Emma of Normandy: not just a two-time queen consort of England

Portrait of Catherine de Medici, also known as the Serpent Queen

Catherine de MediciThe life, death and legacy of the 'Serpent Queen'

Polish-born chemist Marie Curie

First World War

Marie Curie: a guide to the scientist's life, achievements and legacy

Photographs of some of the victims of the 1944 Nazi massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane

Second World War

Oradour-sur-Glane massacre: the brutal SS atrocity that still haunts France

Map showing departure points for British troops ahead of the Normandy Landings on D-Day

Second World War

D-Day beaches map: where were the D-Day landings?

From the USA's 'good war' to Britain's 'great hurrah': how is D-Day remembered around the world?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) approaches Omaha Beach, Normandy on D-Day (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images)

"Hitler slept through D-Day", plus four other facts about the Normandy Landings you might not know.... This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

French Resistance fighters sabotaging the Marseille-Paris railway in Romanèche (Saône-et-Loire), on August 30, 1944.

The French resistance during the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Simon Ward as the Duke of Buckingham and Faye Dunaway as Milady de Winter in the 1973 film 'The Three Musketeers', 1973

The mystery of the ‘real’ Milady de Winter of The Three Musketeers

Video podcastMarshal Pétain: Vichy France in the dock. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastThe dangerous road to the Bastille. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A painting of Napoleon.

The many faces of Napoleon. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte to Habsburg Archduchess Marie-Louise

Napoleon’s other wife: who was Habsburg Archduchess Marie-Louise?

This illustration depicts six of Calais’ richest citizens pleading for their lives.

Medieval Stalingrad: why the siege of Calais was so critical in the Hundred Years' War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An older man sitting against a desk, looking towards the camera.

Jonathan Sumpton on the Hundred Years’ War: “It was Joan of Arc who persuaded the French that they could win”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of the Duke of Wellington at the battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) during the Napoleonic Wars. Although Waterloo was "undeniably the most pivotal battle of this campaign", it was not the final battle against France, says Jem Duducu. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Napoleonic Wars

General History

The history of Paris: Romans, Renaissance and Revolution

Hitler and French Marshal Henri-Phillipe Petain

Second World War

Vichy France: your guide to the WW2 regime

A portrait of Chevalier d’Éon presenting as a woma

Chevalièr d’Éon: the tale of an 18th-century gender non-conforming spy

Why is Napoleon such a figure of ridicule in cinema?

Ridley’s Scott’s Napoleon trailer: a historian reacts

What should we make of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon?

Napoleon Bonaparte depicted as emperor of France in c1804. By now he had his sights set on establishing a dynasty (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

How Napoleon (almost) destroyed the French Revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Margaret of Anjou, seated besides King Henry VI of England, is presented a book in a contemporary illumination (Photo by Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty)

Margaret of Anjou: the 'she-wolf' queen who wouldn’t go quietly. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of the Children's Crusade of 1212, from the Story of the British Nation, Volume 1, by Walter Hutchinson, c1920 (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

What was the Children’s Crusade, and did it actually happen?

Athénaïs de Montespan, one of the official mistresses of Louis XIV, was a suspect in a scandalous plot to murder the French king (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The Affair of the Poisons: who plotted to kill King Louis XIV?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.