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Catholics massacre Protestants in Ulster in a contemporary illustration

10 great misconceptions of the Civil War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

US soldiers man a machine gun post in the Argonne Forest, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, 1918. (Photo by US Army Signal Corps/American Stock/Getty Images)

'Foch's Grand Offensive': the biggest battle you've never heard of. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A statue of Robert the Bruce at Stirling Castle in Scotland. The castle "is in many ways like a bottleneck – so much of Scottish and British history passes through it and goes off to its eventual destination,” says Neil Oliver. (Photo by Iain Masterton via Getty Images)

BBC presenter Neil Oliver on his top 5 must-visit places in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of HMS Endeavour off the coast of New Holland, by Samuel Atkins c1794. (Photo by UtCon Collection / Alamy Stock Photo)

5 facts about Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour

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

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

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

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?

Professor Kathleen Burk and Simon Jenkins discuss Jenkins's new book, 'A Short History of Europe'. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC World Histories magazine)

Simon Jenkins and Kathleen Burk on the history of Europe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

So, you want to study history? Top tips from a graduate

Great wars were started by young men with “jangling hormones”, argues Simon Jenkins

An illustration showing the last moments of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the explorer, soldier and half-brother of Sir Walter Ralegh. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

The Tudor guide to colonising the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A battle of Flodden memorial statue of one of the Hawick Callants on horseback, raising the captured banner aloft in triumph. Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland. (Getty Images)

History explorer: the battle of Flodden. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Studying in Venice was a course highlight for our deputy editor, Charlotte Hodgkin. (Image by Getty Images)

Study history: Lessons from abroad

Brazil's oldest museum was gutted by a fire that destroyed most of the 20 million artefacts it housed. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Brazil's National Museum fire in context

A fourth to fifth-century AD Roman mosaic shows a woman spinning. The household was considered a woman's natural environment; the political arena certainly was not. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

6 women who changed the course of Roman history

The Shah Jahan Mosque was saved from developers and renovated from 1913 by Kashmiri lawyer Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, who also founded the Woking Muslim Mission. (Photo by Alamy)

Muslim worship in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

William Beveridge was determined to fight the five "giant evils" of "want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness." (Photo by Hans Wild/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

My history hero: William Beverage (1879–1963). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Top ( l-r) Agrippina the Elder, Julia, and Livia. Bottom (l-r) Messalina and Agrippina the Younger

The women who built the Roman Empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historians Sam Willis (left) and James Daybell. "We challenged ourselves to write the histories of things we weren't necessarily even sure had a history," says Willis. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC History Magazine)

Books interview with Sam Willis and James Daybell: "Everything has a history. And we mean absolutely everything". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An elevated view of Cairo's Old City, which is home to a Roman tower, a Greek Orthodox church and an array of historical mosques and madrasas. (Photo by Getty Images)

Battleground of empires: Cairo in 5 cultures. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The LibraryIan Kershaw on the trials of writing modern history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the closing bell on 29 September 2008. A record 778 points were wiped off the Dow Jones that day, as the 2008 financial crisis pushed the world's banking system to the edge of collapse. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The credit crunch: "It's a story of hubris followed by a fall". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

When we conduct historical research, we encounter terms and concepts that are familiar to us in the present. Yet we should not assume that these concepts possessed the same meaning in the past as they do now, says Dean Blackburn. (Image by Shawshots / Alamy Stock Photo)

5 tips for historical research: from uncovering local history to plotting your family tree. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Student support is key to making your time at university as positive as possible. (Image by Getty Images)

10 tips to choosing a history degree course. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The 14th-century Bodiam Castle, Sussex. “All historians and students of history have to think about how the society they are studying functions,” says Dr Alice Taylor. (Picture by Getty Images)

Study history: How looking at the past can equip you for the future

Notre Dame de la Major church, Arles

ExploreArles, France: 'Little Rome' of Provence. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An engraving from 'The Illustrated Police News', c1889, imagines Jack the Ripper

Your guide to Jack the Ripper

A big day in history: Mary Ann Nichols becomes the first victim of ‘Jack the Ripper’ (31 August 1888). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

General prehistory

12 historical places to visit on the August bank holiday weekend

August Friedrich Kellner, pictured in 1923. (Photo from Kellner family archive)

Opposing the Nazis: the secret diary of a German against the Third Reich. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.