10 Downing Street, the residence of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. (Photo by Getty Images)

Politics

An illustration showing interior of the House of Commons

9 things you didn’t know about the history of parliament

Franklin D Roosevelt and Sir Winston Churchill

Secrets of Churchill’s War Rooms

Peterloo: the English uprising

Peterloo Massacre, Manchester, England, 16 August 1819. (Photo by Ann Ronan Picture Library / Heritage Images)

Peterloo: the story of a massacre. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

18 August 1819: British soldiers charging the crowd at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, during a meeting called in support of political reform. (Photo by Spencer Arnold Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A “more shocking” massacre? How we might have overestimated the Peterloo crowds

Taxing the rich to feed the poor in the 17th century: the world's first welfare state

Cavalry charge into a crowd of protesters at St Peter's Field, Manchester, as depicted in an 1819 engraving. What followed was the worst violence ever to occur at a political meeting in Britain. (Picture by Alamy)

The Peterloo Massacre: what did it achieve?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

One of the earliest and most famous examples of extremism comes from ancient Rome. Starting in 264 BC and continuing for more than a century, Rome engaged in a series of wars with neighbouring Carthage. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of extremism – from ancient Rome to al Qaeda

Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

Have nuclear weapons helped to maintain global peace?

(Photo by Westend61/Roman Märzinger/Getty Images)

The Zinoviev Letter conspiracy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Prime ministers Robert Walpole and Boris Johnson

From Walpole to Boris: a brief history of Eton College and the 20 prime ministers it has produced

9 notable ambassadors in history

10 Downing Street, the residence of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. (Photo by Getty Images)

Who was the best 20th-century prime minister?

Illustration by Kate Hazell for BBC History Magazine.

From Churchill and Roosevelt to May and Trump: 75 years of the 'special relationship' between the US and the UK

The Peterloo Massacre

The Peterloo Massacre: how a peaceful protest turned into bloody chaos

Appeasement and the road to World War Two. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, last Shah of Iran, pictured in 1967 with his third wife, Farah Diba, and their son Reza. His attempted reforms during his final years in power alienated many of his nation's people. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Iranian Revolution: why 1979's uprising still shapes the Middle East

A general view of 10 Downing Street, the residence of the British prime minister currently in office, in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The Prime Ministers we never quite had

Rachel Reeves on women who changed politics. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jacob Rees-Mogg. (Photo by Getty Images)

Jacob Rees-Mogg on the Victorians. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian and geographer Jared Diamond

Books interview with Jared Diamond: “With countries, as with people, crises attract attention”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Winston Churchill making the famed ‘V’ for Victory sign. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

Second World War

Winston Churchill facts: 9 things you might not know about the WW2 prime minister

The Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the second half of the 12th century. This military intervention had the backing of King Henry II of England and was authorised by Pope Adrian IV. Here you can see Henry II landing at Waterford in 1171. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland: 850 years on

Japanese troops celebrate the capture of a British artillery position, Hong Kong, December 1941 (Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

The lion and the rising sun: Britain and Japan's 400-year relationship

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784 - 1865), the British Liberal statesman who served almost continually as Prime Minister between 1855 and 1865, pictured circa 1860. (Photo by Herbert Fry/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Lord Palmerston: the people’s champion

Thatcher holds up two shopping bags to show how much less a pound would buy due to inflation under Labour. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Are we still living in Thatcher’s Britain?

Passengers reading a newspaper while waiting to disembark from the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury, having sailed from Jamaica, taken by an unknown photographer for the Daily Herald newspaper, 21 June 1948. "The Windrush scandal would have been inconceivable if we knew that those we are deporting not only helped to build the welfare state but were either born as, or to subjects of, the British state", says Professor Kehinde Andrews. (Photo by Daily Herald Archive/SSPL/Getty Images)

Do we need to decolonise history? And if so, how?

An illustration depicting the procession to the House of Commons to deliver People's Charter to government in 1842. (Photo by Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

A brief history of Chartism

Queen Victoria with her children and grandchildren. Kaiser Wilhelm II is pictured left in the front row. (Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images)

Friends, family and rivals: Queen Victoria and the European empires

A rocky relationship: Eleanor of Woodstock with her husband, Reginald II of Guelders. (Photo by Alamy)

The medieval rebel princesses