20th Century - Getty Images

20th Century

Former US president Theodore Roosevelt stands on a boat with Cândido Rondon

History heroElla Al-Shamahi chooses Cândido Rondon (1865–1958). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles Sobhraj (centre) pictured in 2011, while trying to sue the Nepalese government for unlawful imprisonment

The real history of The Serpent: the true story of Charles Sobhraj

Vladimir Ilyich Ulianov

Vladimir Lenin and his lust for power

Stalin: the real victor of WW2. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sending the first man into space. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A flapper shows off her hidden bottles of alcohol

The morning after: the impact of prohibition

Traffickers on trial: the sensational case of Lydia Harvey. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

German troops and a Georgian ‘volunteer’ in action in 1942 or 43.

Texel: Europe's last battle of the Second World War

Tales of Irish emigration. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Kate VigursThe women of SOE in WW2 France. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The mystery of the vanishing lighthouse keepers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jayaben Desai salutes fellow pickets at the Grunwick film processing factory in 1977

The Grunwick protests: remembering the 1970s strike for migrant workers' rights

Virginia Woolf, writer and critic. (Image by Getty Images)

Virginia Woolf: a brief guide to the writer's life

Spy plane photos revealed that missile bases were being built on Cuba, prompting the crisis. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

What if...The Cuban Missile Crisis escalated?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Learning the hard way: soldiers struggle to move a field gun through the Flanders mud. The key to victory in the west was the Allies’ ability to effect one of the “most consequential technologies and tactical transformations in the history of war,” says Nick Lloyd. (Photo by Getty Images)

Revolution on the western front

The western front: a cauldron of innovation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Professor Stephen Hawking in his office at the University of Cambridge, 2003

History heroBobby Seagull chooses Stephen Hawking (1942–2018). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

A photograph of the battle of Moscow, 1942, first printed in Signal, a magazine published by the German Third Reich from 1940 to 1945. (Photo by Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Second World War

Operation Barbarossa: why Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union was his greatest mistake

A Red Cross worker in the United States, 1918

Spanish flu: the virus that changed the world

Women 'take the air' in an attempt to ward off the Spanish Flu

"Far too little, too late": what happened when Spanish Flu hit Britain?

Adventure and archaeology in the golden age of Egyptology. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The women who fought back against Hollywood. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Spitfires under construction at the Vickers Supermarine works in Southampton, around 1940

The difficult birth of the Spitfire – and how the WW2 fighter almost missed the battle of Britain

Rivalries and romances: couples that shook up history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The space race: everything you wanted to know

The space race: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The big questions of LGBTQ history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

US marines advance up Iwo Jima's beaches

Second World War

The battle for Iwo Jima: why did it happen and why was it so hard fought?

Chaos & communism: China’s 1949 revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An Athenian red-figure kylix (cup) dating from around 510–500 BC depicts a young pentathlete pulling his older lover towards him for a kiss. In many of the city-states of ancient Greece, sex between a man and a youth was an accepted – even idealised – form of love, its virtues extolled in works by writers including Plato. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Pride and prejudice: same-sex relations through history