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A Red Cross worker in the United States wears a mask to reduce the risk of contracting or spreading the disease in 1918. Though doctors didn’t initially understand the nature of the infectious agent, ‘social distancing’ helped slow the propagation of the flu. (Photo by Paul Thompson/FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Spanish flu: the virus that changed the world

Second World War

Bletchley Park: Britain’s wartime intelligence factory

History Weekends 2018: 5 minutes with Nicola Tallis

In 1945 there were two million more ‘potential’ households than actual homes, in part exacerbated by the wartime damage to housing stock (Coventry, for example, lost one third of its homes in the Blitz). Here, displaced people in east London wait on the street. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A history of homelessness

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In pictures: Stonehenge tourism

Spanish flu

First World War

When Spanish Flu hit Britain

From The Library

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts scenes of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. To characterise the English response in 1066 as "deliberately acquiescing" is a little hard on our 11th-century compatriots, says Professor George Garnett. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Did English leaders “deliberately acquiesce” to foreign rule in 1066?

'The Young Princes in the Tower', 1831. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Anne Boleyn, Guy Fawkes and the princes: a brief history of the Tower of London

The Second World War

Everything you need to know...

Hurricane fighter planes taking off from Gravesend after being refuelled and rearmed, during the Battle of Britain. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

Second World War

The Battle of Britain: a brilliant triumph that involved far more than just the chosen few

From The Library

Ruins of Hiroshima shortly after the dropping of the atomic bomb. (US Air Force/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Second World War

The countdown to Hiroshima

Soldiers of the 77th Infantry Division in Okinawa listen to news of Nazi Germany's surrender. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Second World War

The battle for Okinawa: one Marine’s story

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Second World War

Beevor on Arnhem

Firemen tackle a blitz fire amidst the rubble surrounding St Paul's Cathedral, London. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Second World War

Second World War: a timeline

Members of 617 squadron, known as the Dambusters

Second World War

How successful was the Dambusters raid?

Read more on the Second World War

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Jubilant miners display a large gold nugget during the Klondike Gold Rush, c1897. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The deadly gold rush

From The Library

A section of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting Harold Godwinson being crowned king of England. Harold was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England and was killed by William, Duke of Normandy at the battle of Hastings in 1066. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

1066: eight days that rocked England

From The Library

American forces advance through the Ardennes forest during the battle of the Bulge. (Photo by George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Second World War

The battle of the Bulge: Hitler’s final gamble

From The Library

Lettice Knollys

Lettice Knollys: Elizabeth I’s nemesis

From The Library

More from The Library

The Bayeux Tapestry

How much do you know about the medieval embroidery?

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting a naked man with an erection reaching out towards a naked woman, who is covering both her face and her pudenda with her hands. (© Bayeux Museum)

The Bayeux Tapestry with knobs on: what do the tapestry’s 93 penises tell us?

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman conquest of England in 1066. (Photo by DEA/M. SEEMULLER via Getty Images)

The Bayeux Tapestry now and in the future

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The story of the Bayeux Tapestry

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. The majority of historians now agree that the tapestry was probably commissioned by Odo of Bayeux, the half-brother of Duke William. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

5 Bayeux Tapestry facts: what is it, why was it made and what story does it tell?

The charging Norman cavalry shown in glorious technicolour at the battle of Hastings in this masterpiece of storytelling. (Art Archive)

How English is the Bayeux Tapestry?

Norman cavalry on the charge in the Bayeux Tapestry. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

Second World War

Why the Nazis fell in love with the Bayeux Tapestry

From The Library

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A Battle of Britain type 'scramble', circa 1940. An improved Spitfire is pushed onto the runway by a group of pilots from the squadron. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

The good war?

The entrance to Bodiam Castle. "If any castle conjures up the ‘romance’ of the mediaeval world, this is it," says Michael Smith. (Photo by Getty Images)

From magnificent ruins to imposing forts: 10 must-visit British castles

Members of the Ku Klux Klan march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC in 1925. The Klan of this era was a terrorist group in the precise meaning of that term, says Linda Gordon. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

When the Ku Klux Klan was a mass movement

Henry III (1207-72), king from 1216 until his death. Image c1250. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Henry III

History Extra Podcast

The latest episodes from the History Extra podcast

Equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee, Richmond (Photo by Library of Congress)

Who should we commemorate?

Sam Willis and James Daybell. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC History Magazine)

The extraordinary history of ordinary things

(Photo by David Hampton)

A half-hour history of Europe

Ian Hislop (Photo by J.Fernandes/D.Hubbard © Trustees of the British Museum)

Dissent through the centuries

The march for Catalan Independence held in Barcelona, 11 September 2014 (Photo by Jordi Elias Grassot/Alamy)

Scots and Catalans

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100 women who changed the world

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History Quizzes

How much do you know about history? Test out your knowledge with our quizzes:

The results of the poll: 100 women who changed the world. (Photos by Getty Images/Alamy)

Quiz: 100 Women Who Changed The World

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Great Fire of London quiz – how much do you know?

Second World War soldiers

Second World War

Second World War quiz

In this painting from c1650, a witch wields a broomstick as demons and 'familiars' (helpers of witches) congregate before her. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

History quiz – witchcraft and superstition

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