Period

Brazilian peacekeepers under UN command in Haiti during general election 2006

When should countries intervene in others’ affairs?

Concerned that Russia was expanding its influence in the region, Britain invaded Afghanistan in 1839, ousting ruler Dost Mohammad and replacing him with Shah Shuja, who had been king from 1803–10. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Britain's first war in Afghanistan: what happened and why?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Monarchs, fascists & communists: Romania’s modern history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration representing various empires across history

General ancient history

Have empires ever been a force for good?

Early Medieval Britain: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Walter Scott: an engraving after a painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence of the Scottish poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott: the man who invented Scotland. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bewitched cars & mail-order charms: witchcraft in modern France. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Witnesses to the Berlin Wall. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Scandalous BoleynsWhy Do They Continue To Fascinate Us?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

VJ Day: turning the tide in the east. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The British Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the day of George VI's coronation

Britain’s May Queen: your guide to Queen Mary of Teck

A portrait of King Charles I

Your guide to King Charles I, the deposed monarch who lost his head

An architectural grotesque of a woman displaying her vulva

How naughty was the past? The hidden depths of the medieval church

Robespierre’s brutal downfall. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Black and white image of a group of five men sat on the floor in a room in Fiji. One of them is pointing at another with a serious expression on his face.

Cakobau: the first (and last) king of Fiji. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Alice Roberts, author of Ancestors: A Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials

Alice Roberts“Graves are like time capsules – little microcosms of prehistoric culture". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Anne of Denmark, wife of James I of England

Anne of Denmark: a killer queen?

Mary, Queen of Scots during her trial at Fotheringhay Castle – where she was also executed for her alleged role in the Babington Plot (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

What if...The Babington Plot to assassinate Elizabeth I had succeeded?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How should we teach the slave trade?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mary Wortley Montagu: the scourge of smallpox

A bas relief fragment portraying Cleopatra

The female 'kings' of ancient Egypt

History heroSteven Berkoff chooses Laurence Olivier (1907–89)

Building utopia after WW1. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Saladin (1560) by Cristofano Dell Altissimo.

Why does Saladin have such an enduring reputation?

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

Portraits, power and royal wigs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Scientists Frederic Joliot-Curie and his wife, Irene, at work in their Paris laboratory in December 1932. The couple were among a wide-ranging group of scientists whose work paved the way for the atomic bomb. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Hiroshima: the race to the atomic bomb. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Wartime Britain’s mixed-race babies. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Meeting in Tenochtitlan between Hernan Cortes

Two worlds collide: Spanish conquistadors and Aztecs

A portrait of Katherine Parr in a jewelled head dress and finery

Q&AWhat happened to Katherine Parr’s daughter, Mary Seymour, after her mother’s death?