HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2025-04-10T14:02:45.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Who were the Illuminati – and how can you join them?
items: "An enlightened turn": how medicine (and the vaccination) developed in Victorian Britain
items: Your guide to the Pankhursts, the pioneering family who fought for Votes for Women
items: National Service: here's what you need to know about the history of Brits being conscripted into the Armed Forces
items: The Evil May Day Riots of 1517: what happened?
items: The founding and fall of the USSR
items: The Great Tea Race of 1866
items: What was the Peace People movement in Northern Ireland?
items: What was the Children’s Crusade, and did it actually happen?
items: From the home front to the front line: what were the roles of women in the Civil War?

Who were the Illuminati – and how can you join them?
type: item
date: 2025-04-10T11:26:52.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: Georgian
subject: Period
subject: Evergreen
description: Who were the Illuminati, and do they really control the world? Here's what we know about one of history's most alluring secret societies, including how you became a member...
encoded: What is the Illuminati? The Illuminati is a name given to both a real secret society and a fictitious one. The latter has fuelled conspiracy theories for years, described as a secretive and mysterious worldwide organisation intent on world domination – as well as being behind some of history’s greatest revolutions and assassinations. The original Illuminati was a secret society formed in Bavaria (now part of modern-day Germany) that existed from 1776 to 1785. Its members originally referred to themselves as Perfectibilists. The group was inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment and founded by professor of canon law Adam Weishaupt, who wanted to promote the education of reason and philanthropy and oppose superstition and religious influence in society. Weishaupt sought to change the way states in Europe were run, removing the influence of religion from government and giving people a new source of ‘illumination’. It’s believed that the Bavarian Illuminati’s first meeting was held in a forest near Ingolstadt on 1 May 1776. Here, five men set out the rules that would govern the secret order. Eventually the group’s aims focused on influencing political decisions and disrupting institutions like the monarchy and the Church. How could you join the Illuminati? To join the Illuminati, you had to have full consent from the other members, possess wealth, and have a good reputation within a suitable family. There was also a hierarchical system to Illuminati membership. After entering as a ‘novice’, you graduated to a ‘minerval’ and then an ‘illuminated minerval’, although this structure later became more complicated, with 13 degrees of initiation required in order to become a member. The term minerval was linked to the ‘owl of Minerva’ (Minerva being the ancient Roman goddess of wisdom), and the bird eventually became the group's main symbol. Illuminati members didn't use their real names – pseudonyms were used to keep their identities of members a secret. <img src="https://…

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"An enlightened turn": how medicine (and the vaccination) developed in Victorian Britain
type: item
date: 2024-11-25T09:00:41.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: Georgian
subject: Industrial revolution
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Historical people
description: With industrialisation making living conditions worse in the cities, the improvements to hospital provision, surgery and the care of the poor needed to gain apace. Emma Slattery Williams explores how healthcare in 18th-century Britain changed, and the pioneering preventative treatments that helped combat a killer disease
encoded: By the late 18th century, Britain was seeing the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, a process that eventually led to a huge migration of people to industrial cities, with widespread overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions. Drinking water was often contaminated with raw sewage, rubbish rotted in the streets, and crowded living conditions meant disease could easily spread. As many as one in five children died before their second birthday. There was, however, growing institutional provision for curing the sick and the number of hospitals grew in Britain – some of these were run by local parishes, while others were founded by philanthropists wishing to help the poor and perhaps improve their own social position in the process. In return for an annual contribution, a benefactor could recommend a sick person for admission to hospital. “The notion was that you could intervene and save working class people who might otherwise die for lack of healthcare,” explains Mary Fissell, professor of the history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. “It was part of a larger, almost mercantilist, view of the health of the population being a significant variable for government.” Read more | The history of vaccination: from Edward Jenner to anti-vaxxers The 18th century also saw improvements in surgery. Surgeons such as William Cheselden, Percival Pott, and John Hunter delved into anatomical studies, diagnosing new diseases, and inventing new procedures. In 1745, the Company of Barber Surgeons was divided into two separate bodies by an act of Parliament, thus forming the Company of Surgeons, a body that formalised the training and licensing of surgeons and which today is known as the Royal College of Surgeons. Dispensaries began to be established – these provided what we might today class as outpatient medical treatment and advice, solely for the poor and free of charge. By 1800, about 40 dispensaries had been founded across Britain. Professor Fissell explains: “In 18th-ce…

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Your guide to the Pankhursts, the pioneering family who fought for Votes for Women
type: item
date: 2024-07-16T11:10:36.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: Edwardian
subject: Period
subject: Evergreen
subject: The Suffragettes
description: One family, led by Emmeline Pankhurst, would lead the charge towards equality and votes for women. Find out more about the accomplishments of the founder and leader of the WSPU, and her pioneering daughters
encoded: Who was Emmeline Pankhurst? Emmeline Goulden was born in 1858 to parents who fiercely supported reform and activism. She accompanied her mother to suffrage meetings and her grandfather had witnessed the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. Emmeline attended schools in both Manchester and Paris and soon noticed the stark differences between her education and that of her brothers – they studied business, the sciences and mathematics, while she was taught how to cook and look after the home. This would light a fire within her; a burning desire to one day see women treated as equal to men. Emmeline married likeminded lawyer Dr Richard Pankhurst in 1879 – he was a radical and a supporter of women’s rights, free speech and educational reform. Together they had five children: Christabel, Sylvia, Adela, Henry Francis Robert (Frank) and Henry Francis (Harry). The younger brother was named after the elder, who died of diphtheria at the age of four. The Pankhursts moved from Manchester to London in 1886, and it was while there that Emmeline became interested in the experiences of working-class women. She followed with great interest the Match Girls’ strike of 1888. Girls and women worked up to 14 hours a day in match factories for low pay, suffered ill health caused by the chemicals they used, and were threatened with fines for talking or going to the toilet without permission. More than a thousand women walked out on a strike that lasted for three weeks – the protest was one of several that inspired Emmeline. By 1889, Emmeline had helped to form the Women’s Franchise League in London – its main goal was to secure married women’s right to vote in local elections. The Pankhursts returned to Manchester in 1893 and it was then that Emmeline began establishing herself as an activist. Deeds not Words: the suffragette story Member exclusive | With their radical demands for votes for women, the suffragettes shook up Edwardian Britain. Their campaign for equal rights would see them not just ral…

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National Service: here's what you need to know about the history of Brits being conscripted into the Armed Forces
type: item
date: 2024-05-28T11:52:19.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: 20th Century
subject: Period
subject: Trends-News
description: When and why were Britons conscripted into the Armed Forces, and what were national servicemen expected to do? Find out more about the system that saw more than two million men were conscripted into the British Armed forces…
encoded: What was National Service, and when was it in effect in Britain? National Service was the peacetime conscription of British men into the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. During the years National Service was active – between 1949 and 1963 – more than two million men were conscripted into the British Armed forces. Why was National Service introduced? During the Second World War, the British Armed Forces needed to use conscription in order to fill its ranks – but after the war had ended, the government decided to continue conscription in peacetime. The idea was to ensure that Britain’s overseas military commitments were fulfilled, and to maintain the dwindling British empire. Men were needed for the ongoing miltary occupations of Germany and Japan, which began with the end of the Second World War. Tensions between the US and Russia during the Cold War also put pressure on Britain’s military, while Indian independence in 1947 had removed a large source of previously relied-upon manpower. Who was exempt from National Service? All able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 30 were liable to be called up, but there were exceptions: the blind and mentally ill clergymen men who worked in government positions overseas. Black and Asian British men were also unofficially excluded – in 1946 there were concerns that commissions given to non-white officers could affect the well-being and discipline of the army. Due to the tensions in Northern Ireland, Northern Irish men were also excluded. Students could defer the call-up until their studies had been completed, while conscientious objectors had to undergo a tribunal test to prove their beliefs. What was National Service like? New recruits were given six weeks’ basic military training and had to undertake a regime of cleaning equipment and drills. For some this was boring, but for others it gave stability, discipline and the chance to bond with their comrades, as well as an opportunity to learn new skills and language…

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The Evil May Day Riots of 1517: what happened?
type: item
date: 2024-05-01T09:36:05.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: Period
subject: Tudor
subject: Tudor life
description: In 1517, a mob terrorised the streets of London and took up arms against foreigners. Why did they turn to violence? And what happened in the so-called Evil May Day Riots?
encoded: What were the Evil May Day Riots? The Evil May Day Riots (also known as the Ill May Day Riots) were violent disturbances that took place in London during the evening of 30 April 1517 and early hours of 1 May against foreigners living in the city. It is considered to be one of the earliest race riots in the world and early modern London’s largest outbreak of violence against immigrants. What were relations like between immigrants and the English residents of London beforehand? As a thriving port and international city, London was home to people from many nations, including Italy, the Netherlands and France. The capital’s thriving economy attracted merchants and artisans from all over Europe. It’s thought that around two per cent of early 16th-century London’s population came from overseas. While relations were cordial on the whole, some Londoners complained of being cheated by ‘foreigners’, people they claimed received protection from their nations’ ambassadors, instead of facing the punishments that English citizens would receive. London was also suffering from an economic downturn. The previous winter had been tough, with prices rising and wages decreasing after a difficult harvest, and some blamed foreigners for their troubles. What caused the riots? According to Edward Hall, a lawyer and historian who chronicled English life during these years, a preacher called Dr Bell (or Beal) gave a xenophobic speech in mid-April 1517. Bell, who had been persuaded to give his speech by a broker, John Lincoln, accused immigrants of taking jobs from English workers. Read more | The Gordon Riots: how an anti-Catholic petition escalated into the most destructive riots in London’s history “The aliens and strangers eat the bread from the poor fatherless children, and take the living from all the artificers, and the intercourse from all merchants, whereby poverty is so much increased that every man bewaileth the misery,” said Bell. He declared the land they were on was given by God …

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The founding and fall of the USSR
type: item
date: 2024-01-18T10:17:29.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: 20th Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: The Russian Revolution was one of the most dramatic and explosive periods of the 20th century, a series of events that paved the way for the world's first constitutionally communist state. But, as Emma Slattery-Williams explains, the new regime would not survive the 20th century...
encoded: In 1922, under Lenin’s rule, Russia became the dominant constituent part of a new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) – the world’s first constitutionally socialist state. It was comprised of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. The civil war had greatly damaged the Russian economy, and this – combined with severe droughts, failed harvests, economic blockades, the requisition of grain and seed-grain from peasants and a disrupted transport system – culminated in a terrible famine between 1921 and 1922. Although Lenin did eventually accept international aid, more than five million people are thought to have died, either through starvation or associated diseases. Millions also fled the new USSR, in particular those who had supported the Whites during the civil war. Known as ‘White émigrés’, they included members of the imperial government, businessmen, monarchists and officers, as well as poets and writers. Read more | Your guide to the USSR No political parties other than the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union were allowed within the USSR, and soon Lenin held power at least as great as any tsar. With complete control over government and the media, the USSR was in effect a totalitarian dictatorship. The Bolshevik secret police that Lenin had established in 1917 was replaced by the State Political Directorate (known as the GPU) and the Gulag system of forced labour camps was introduced. Around 18 million people – including dissenters, criminals and prosperous peasants, known as ‘kulaks’ – are thought to have been incarcerated in the camps between their introduction in 1919 and Stalin’s death in 1953. Hundreds of thousands of these prisoners died of starvation, disease, exhaustion or execution. Exit Lenin, enter Stalin Lenin, who had been increasingly unwell since 1921, suffered his first stroke in M…

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The Great Tea Race of 1866
type: item
date: 2023-09-06T07:12:01.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
description: After 99 days at sea and nearly 16,000 nautical miles, the winner of the Great Tea Race was to be determined by mere minutes. Emma Slattery Williams explores its thrilling end on 6 September 1866...
encoded: Captain John Keay desperately waited for a tugboat to take his ship, the high-speed clipper Ariel, up the Thames and into dock at London. Victory in that year’s tea race, and the prize money that went with it, was within his grasp, but a rival had been in sight not far behind for hours now. Even after 99 days at sea and nearly 16,000 nautical miles, the winner was going to be determined by mere minutes, and good luck, on 6 September 1866. For just over a decade, clipper captains like Keay had competed in an unofficial annual race: to load the first crop of tea in China and sail as quickly as possible to be the first to unload it in Britain, where thirsty tea drinkers were waiting to have their cups filled with the freshest leaves. Originally introduced to the British en masse in the mid-17th century, tea had grown into one of the nation’s biggest imports by the 1800s. The hot drink was beloved at all levels of society and tea houses had proliferated, partly thanks to members of the temperance movement who encouraged the beverage as a healthy alternative to alcohol. Read more | What was the Boston Tea Party and why did it happen? Such was the demand for tea that once the East India Company’s monopoly on the trade ended in the 1830s, competition among merchants got heated. They developed and refined designs for faster ships able to handle the conditions on the voyage between Britain and China. Clippers were the elegant result. Slim, streamlined and with a huge number of sails across their three masts to catch every gust of wind, they could reach high speeds even when laden with goods, making them ideal for transporting tea (as well as the opium being sold to China). Merchants began racing their clippers to ensure their cargo would be first on the market in Britain each year. To up the ante, a financial incentive was introduced so that by the mid-1850s, the winner received a premium price of 10 shillings per tonne. There was also prestige to be won as the ‘tea races’ w…

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What was the Peace People movement in Northern Ireland?
type: item
date: 2023-08-10T11:17:42.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: 20th Century
subject: Period
description: The Peace People began in 1976 as a grassroots movement to protest the ongoing violence in Northern Ireland…
encoded: On a bright and sunny summer day in Belfast in 1976, a large crowd of women and children are making their way through the suburb of Andersonstown. People have been basking in a heatwave for the last few months, but the women in this 10,000-strong gathering are not out to make the most of the sun, and, despite their number, they move in near silence. The mood is sombre, only occasionally punctuated by an outburst of singing from the group of nuns that join the throng. Most striking – in a religiously divided Northern Ireland – is the presence of both Protestants and Catholics; marching side-by-side and carrying banners calling for peace. The crowd moves down Finaghy Road North, a location that now holds a deep and tragic significance, on their way to Milltown Cemetery. There, they will mourn three newly buried children: the latest victims of sectarian violence. The 1970s were a dangerous time in Northern Ireland, when the tensions that had divided the people for decades spilled over into a bloody period of unrest called the Troubles. Protestants and Catholics lived side-by-side in disharmony. Politically and economically, Northern Ireland was dominated by Protestant loyalists who wished to remain part of the UK. The state police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, was overwhelmingly Protestant too. But Catholic nationalists wanted to end British rule and see Ireland unified. Protests, rioting and attacks, including bombings, were common on both sides. Read about the battle of the Bogside In August 1969, after days of fighting across a number of towns and cities, the British government took the decision to send in troops to restore law and order. Instead, this emboldened the Irish Republican Army (IRA), especially a splinter faction called the Provisional IRA (or Provos), who were willing to use violence in their guerrilla campaign to get rid of the British. Over the years, innocent people were constantly caught in the crossfire, such as the victims on Finaghy Road North …

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What was the Children’s Crusade, and did it actually happen?
type: item
date: 2023-07-04T07:30:18.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Children
subject: Crusades
description: Inspired by the crusaders heading to the Holy Land, children and young adults rose up in early 13th-century France and Germany and launched their own bid to recapture Jerusalem. Or did they? Emma Slattery Williams explains the story behind the Children's Crusade and its leaders – and what it has to do with the Pied Piper...
encoded: What was the Children’s Crusade? The Children’s Crusade is said to have been a failed popular (meaning not sanctioned by the Pope) crusade of 1212, mainly made up of children, with the intent of taking back Jerusalem. It is said to have been inspired by the crusades of Western European Christians to reclaim the Holy Land between the 11th and 13th centuries. The tale of the Children’s Crusade is one that is caught between fact and fiction, though. There are few first-hand sources to attest to this particular crusade, and those we do have may have been written well after the event or embellished. What were the Crusades? Between 1096 and 1291, there were a number of Crusades by European Christians to reclaim the city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim control, and solidify and expand their control of the region. A holy city for Christians, Jews and Muslims alike, Jerusalem would be visited by Christian pilgrims wishing to worship at the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. As various Muslim groups struggled for power, it became harder for Christians to visit Jerusalem, and, in 1095, Pope Urban II urged Christians to launch an expedition to free Jerusalem by force – resulting in the First Crusade. After three years of intense fighting, Jerusalem was captured, and several Crusader states established. In 1147, another crusade began in response to the fall of the first crusader kingdom of Edessa, followed by a third expedition to retake Jerusalem, which had been captured by Muslim leader Saladin in 1187 – many more crusades followed over the next century. Past historians have estimated that anywhere between one and nine million people, on both sides, lost their lives in these holy wars. How did the Children’s Crusade start? Inspired by the faith-filled warriors of earlier crusades, spontaneous outbursts of piety are said to have occurred in children and young adults in France and Germany. They believed that, in supporting the crusader spirit, God would aid …

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From the home front to the front line: what were the roles of women in the Civil War?
type: item
date: 2023-06-14T06:06:57.000Z
creator: Emma Slattery Williams
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
description: The Civil Wars were not an exclusively male domain, as women from all social spheres became embroiled in the clashes or voluntarily threw themselves into the conflict. Emma Slattery Williams explores the warrior women committed to doing their bit, if even in disguise...
encoded: Arguably the most important woman of the Civil War was the wife of King Charles I, Henrietta Maria. Although the French-born queen has sometimes been overlooked, Professor Mark Stoyle argues that she was a far more pivotal figure in the conflict than is usually recognised. He even suggests that the king’s declaration of war may have been partly prompted out of concern for her: “Charles’s attempt to arrest five MPs in January 1642 was, I think, partly prompted by rumours beginning to circulate that MPs were about to impeach Henrietta Maria and even, perhaps, to execute her.” Browse | Expert articles, podcasts and video on the Civil War Sent to the continent for her safety, the queen continued to support the royalists from across the Channel, sending supplies and money, and later gathering an army to join her husband. Aside from Henrietta Maria, women from all classes of society played a role during the Civil War. “There were some great noblewomen who defended their houses against the other side,” says Professor Stoyle. “The most famous of these were Lady Brilliana Harley, who defended her castle on the Welsh Marches, and Lady Banks, who defended her castle in Dorset." Bankes famously held Corfe Castle for the king, withstanding two sieges. When the Parliamentarians tried to climb the walls, Lady Mary, her daughters and her female servants helped drive them off by raining hot coals and stones down upon their heads. “But women all over Britain fought to protect their homes against the rampaging armies. During the eight-week siege of Lyme Regis in 1644, women helped to dig fortifications and bring out supplies to the men in the trenches. Some even fired muskets and cannons”. When the Royalists temporarily withdrew, the women ran out with picks and shovels and levelled the enemy earthworks. Did women fight in the Civil War? Some women took desperate measures to be near their loved ones or to get a slice of the action For those women for whom becoming a camp follower wasn…

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