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Archduchess Ileana’s great grandmother, Queen Victoria, whose birth certificate Ileana desperately needed to get hold of (Getty)

Queen Victoria and the Nazis: the strange tale of the search for the royal family's Aryan origins

Jan Žižka, the general whose peasant army defied the Holy Roman Empire in the 1420s.

Christ’s communists: the radical religious sect that challenged the Holy Roman Empire

The battle of Agincourt, 1415

True-to-scale battle numbers and 15th-century life: look inside the revamped Agincourt museum

The portrait of Queen Elizabeth I known as the Ditchley portrait

What did Queen Elizabeth I really look like at 60?

Chancellor Adolf Hitler with President Paul von Hindenburg, Berlin, 1 May 1933

Second World War

Hitler's millionaire backers: how Germany's elite facilitated the rise of the Nazis

Sir Max Hastings: “While the Dambuster raid’s strategic impact was almost nil, its propaganda value was immense”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Henri III: Elizabeth I’s unlikely ally

Dan Jones by Steve Sayers and Helen Castor

The Crusades, with Dan Jones. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Crusaders defeat the Turks at Dorylaeum in 1097, as shown in a 14th-century illumination

Crusaders: did they fight for God or gold?

ExploreA masterpiece of Gothic grandeur: the Church of St Mary, Warwick. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Akershus Festning in Oslo, Norway

TravelExplore Oslo, Norway: Myths, Munch and fjord-side strolls. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

History heroJulia Bradbury chooses Amelia Earhart (1897–1937). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A young girl in an ancient Roman fresco

Q&AWere girls educated in ancient Rome?

The Popes Palace, or Palais des Papes, in Avignon, France.

Q&AWhy did the papacy move to Avignon in the 14th century?

Neil MacGregor photographed in London. “It seemed a good juncture, as Britain sets to leave the EU and operate alone on the world stage, to get a sense of how other countries view us,” he says. (Image by Chris McAndrew)

Neil MacGregor: “A consistent element of Britain’s image has been the lonely fighter standing against foreign tyranny”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Courtiers dancing La Volta in a scene from 1953 film The Sword And The Rose

Strictly shocking: the dances that shook the world

A 16th-century portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Mary, Queen of Scots: the real history behind the film

Poles watch the first of the German invasion planes over Warsaw, 1939. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Poland, 1939: World War Two begins. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Adolf Hitler watches German troops march in central Poland

Roger Moorhouse: How Hitler’s diplomatic miscalculation led to WW2

A photo which was believed to be of the Loch Ness Monster

The quest for the Loch Ness Monster

Brendan Simms photographed by Ian Farrell

Hitler’s war with Anglo-America. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Engraving depicting Chinese opium smokers in a saloon

What caused the First Opium War?

ExploreYangon, Myanmar: City of Golden Pagodas. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The siege of Sevastopol

Q&AWhy did Britain fight the Crimean War?

American business magnate JD Rockefeller sits at a desk

Q&AWho was the first billionaire?

Robin Hood statue outside Nottingham Castle (Photo by Getty)

The many faces of Robin Hood

Men play kemari ball game

Q&AWho played the sport of kemari?

The card game cribbage

General Early Modern

Q&AWhy do we say 'level pegging'?

The engine houses of Botallack mine in Cornwall

A visit to Botallack Mine, Cornwall. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Protester Blocking Tanks Approaching Tiananmen Square

Why China has forgotten ‘Tank Man’? Remembering the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations