Feature

The storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789, as depicted by artist Charles Thévenin

Napoleon’s chance: why the French Revolution was Bonaparte’s big break

Festival of Britain official programme. The event was held in 1951 on London's South Bank

The 1951 Festival of Britain: banishing the gloom of postwar Britain

The historical drama series Outlander, based on a series of novels by Diana Gabaldon, has become a TV phenomenon. (Image by Outlander/Starz)

Outlander: the real history that inspired the time-slip drama

Call the Midwife

History TV and radio in the UK: what’s on our screens in May 2021?

Young civil rights activists sit in defiance at a ‘whites only’ lunch counter in Oklahoma City, 1958

Your guide to… Jim Crow in the United States

Happier days: The tsar and his family pose for a portrait in c1910, years before he was swept from power and murdered. Maria, Olga and Tatiana (left to right) are at the back. Alexandra and Nicholas are seated with Alexey at their feet. Anastasia is far right. (Photo by Getty Images)

The last days of the Romanovs: could George V have saved the family?

The death of Wat Tyler', 1859. Tyler was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England, which saw a group of rebels march on London to oppose the institution of a poll tax and demand economic and social reforms. He was killed by officers loyal to King Richard II during negotiations at Smithfield, London. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

Your guide to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381

The Earth above the lunar horizon, seen from Apollo 11's command module before the successful landing (Photo by NASA/Newsmakers)

In their own words: the team behind Apollo 11 describe the 1969 mission to the Moon

Zdeněk Burian’s painting from 1952 offers a sympathetic portrayal of Neanderthals practising cannibalism. Self-assurance, even contentment, emanate from “It appears as a calm response to death, rather than murderous carnage,” writes Rebecca Wragg Sykes. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

General prehistory

Neanderthal in the mirror: our changing perceptions of these ancient humans

British troops guard a wall during the Irish War of Independence, which bears a nationalist message

The Irish Republican Army: a brief guide

A 12th-century Celtic round tower at Clonmacnoise, County Offaly

“The power of the Irish over the Britons is great”: Fergal Keane on Britain’s Irish roots

Explorer Ferdinand Magellan

Dire straits: the story of Ferdinand Magellan’s fatal voyage of discovery

Stanley Baldwin in the study at Chequers, the PM's official country residence, c1925

Stanley Baldwin: Britain’s greatest peacetime prime minister?

Portrait of King George V of England. (Photo by Getty Images)

Your guide to King George V: facts about his life, reign and death

At dinner, St Marylebone Workhouse, London, c1901 (1903)

The rise and fall of the workhouse