Buzz Aldrin Poses next To The U.S. flag On Moon

American history

WW2 surrender signed, 2 September 1945

Second World War

How and when did WW2 end?

Illustration for BBC History Magazine.

How potatoes conquered the world

US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference. (Photo by Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Donald Trump: a president without precedent?

The Pilgrim fathers arrive at Plymouth, Massachusetts on board the Mayflower. (Photo by Harold M. Lambert/Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

"They decided that God must be leading them to North America": the Puritans journey to the Mayflower. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

As seen in this early 19th-century depiction of an initiation, Masons have long used secrecy to "create a sense of awe and specialness around their rituals". (Image by Alamy)

A history of Freemasonry: from Enlightenment ideals to satanic conspiracy stories

The pilgrim fathers

Your guide to the Pilgrim Fathers, plus 6 interesting facts

The then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump taking part in the final presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, 19 October 2016. Trump repeatedly claimed that the election was “rigged” against him. (Photo by Joe Raedle/AFP/Getty Images)

A brief history of election “rigging” in the United States

A 19th-century painting of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

What if…Abraham Lincoln hadn't been assassinated?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

History’s greatest mysteriesThe lost colony of Roanoke Island. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The arrival of Sir Walter Raleigh in Virginia

What happened to the lost colony of Roanoke Island?

National guardsmen confront confront citizens during Chicago's race riots

Red summer of 1919: the history of Chicago's race riots

Why was there a backlash against face masks during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918?

Four Murder, Inc hitmen are questioned by detectives

Murder, Inc: the rise and fall of New York City's mafia hitmen

American abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass, c 1866. (Photo by Shutterstock)

African American abolitionists in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1806. (Photo by IanDagnall Computing/Alamy Stock Photo)

The dark side of Alexander Hamilton

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

Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry and Jasmine Cephas Jones as the Schuyler sisters in 'Hamilton'. (Image: Disney+)

The women of Hamilton: Angelica, Eliza and… Maria Reynolds

Tom Hanks in 'Greyhound' (2020)

Second World War

The real history that inspired WW2 film Greyhound

Phyllis Schlafly

The woman who opposed equality with men: Phyllis Schlafly and the real history behind Mrs. America

Freedom fighters: the enslaved people who fought for the abolition of slavery

Huge sun setting over power lines and palm trees in California. (Photo by Getty Images)

California’s century of change. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The bikini was showcased to the world for the first time in July 1946. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

8 historical events that happened in July

Pyongyang wreckage, Korean War

The Korean War “created a blood debt that is crucial to understanding North Korean behaviour ever since”

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

Prospectors pan for gold in Siberia during the 19th century.

Where did the major gold rushes of the 19th century happen? And why were people so keen to join the gold rush?

Prospecting towns like Dawson boomed during the gold rush.

The dark side of the 19th-century gold rush

American jazz singer Helen Forrest performing with trumpeter Harry James (1916-1983), c1945. (Photo by Metronome/Getty Images)

History heroDame Vera Lynn chooses Helen Forrest (1917–99). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

American spotlight: how today’s protests echo historical outrage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Violence erupted in New Orleans, and white southerners killed and injured more than 100 freed slaves during a riot against reconstruction plans. (Image by Alamy)

Rebuilding America after the Civil War: what was the Reconstruction era and why did it fail?