20th Century - Getty Images

20th Century

Arnhem: the Battle for the Bridges, 1944. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Author Kate Summerscale (Photo by Fran Monks)

A 1930s ghost hunt. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of slaves picking cotton on a plantation. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

David Olusoga"Black history affects all of us – it is British history". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Young girl putting garland around Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. (Photo by Dinodia Photos/Getty Images)

History heroFergal Keane chooses Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Grigory Yefimovich Novykh, also known as Rasputin

Rasputin: the 'mad monk' who became a friend to the Romanovs

Emma Corrin as Princess Diana in season 4 of 'The Crown'. (Photo by Netflix)

The Crown S4 news: Netflix releases first images of Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher

Enola Holmes (left to right): Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes, Millie Bobby Brown as Enola Holmes, Sam Caflin as Mycroft Holmes. (Photo by Robert Viglaski/Legendary)

From Enola Holmes to Fanny Dickens: recognising 5 historical women ‘overshadowed’ by their more famous brothers

JFK: the path to power. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Winston Churchill pictured in July 1964, a few months before his 90th birthday – a milestone that he marked with tears. The prime minister would cry at everything from suffering pets and march-pasts to dying friends and poetry recitals. (Picture by PA Images)

Churchill: the ‘cry-baby’ war hero

Prinsesstårta. (Photo by Samantha Nott)

Historical recipePrinsesstårta (Princess cake)

Ben Macintyre on Agent Sonya – the greatest female spy in history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ada Blackjack: how the 'female Robinson Crusoe' escaped death in the Arctic

Krystyna Skarbeck, also called Christine Granville

History heroMichael Morpurgo chooses Krystyna Skarbek (1908–1952). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

London burns behind Tower Bridge on 7 September 1940

Second World War

Days of destiny: 5 key dates in the Battle of Britain

Queen Victoria with her children and grandchildren

The marriages of Queen Victoria’s grandchildren: how the dynasty shaped Europe

A suffragette march

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

Dag Hammarskjöld

The mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjöld: a Cold War killing?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration by Joey Guidone

The big question: has terrorism ever achieved its aims?

London during the Blitz - the systematic night-time bombing of the British by the Luftwaffe in 1940 - 1941. (Photo by Getty Images)

Rationing, school closures and 'Blitz spirit': how did people cope in WW2?

Exclusive podcastAnita Anand on an orphan radicalised by the Amritsar massacre. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Britain goes to war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Crown S4 cast: which real historical figures feature in season four of Netflix’s royal drama – and what did they really look like?

Rjukan Hydro Plant

Spying in WW2: how wartime espionage was just as dramatic as fiction

Ernest Bevin

Ernest Bevin: working-class warrior. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victoria, Albert and their children admire the royal Christmas tree

ExploreThe history of Christmas

A portrait of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler

Second World War

Why did WW2 happen?

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

Donald Trump: a president without precedent?

Floral tributes to Diana, Princess of Wales, outside Kensington Palace. (Photo by Liba Taylor/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Princess Diana's death: when grief gripped a nation

King George VI and his eldest daughter, Elizabeth

The death of King George VI: what happened?

Queen In New Zealand, 1970

In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II on tour