Painting of a European marketplace

Europe

Black and white image of island prison, taken from the sky

The battle of Alcatraz, 1946: the most violent escape attempt in the prison’s history

Triumph against the odds: the 1821 Greek Revolution.

Photo of members of the Versailles Conference

First World War

Your guide to the Treaty of Versailles

A 13th-century fresco showing Isabella of Angouleme, Eleanor of Aquitaine and two squires

Eleanor of Aquitaine: the worst royal mother-in-law?.

US heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis receives a medal during WW2

From Joe Lewis to Audrey Hepburn: 10 famous faces of WW2.

Soviet infantrymen charge in a counter offensive during the battle of Moscow, 1941.

The 1941 battle of Moscow: how successful was Operation Typhoon?.

Q&AWhy do some people call the Irish famine ‘the Great Hunger’?

Stuka dive bombers fly in formation over France in May 1940

Second World War

The making and breaking of the Luftwaffe

A statue in Kiev showing a Ukrainian player defeating a Third Reich eagle symbol at the Start stadium's entrance

Q&ADid Nazis guards really play a 'death match' against a Ukrainian football team?.

Unionist leader Edward Carson (centre) and colleagues visit Derry/Londonderry, September 1912 – the month when nearly half a million people signed a “Solemn League and Covenant” to resist home rule

Resolving the 'Irish Question': 5 key moments on the path to partition.

Wehrmacht soldiers on parade, 1937

Q&AHow was Germany able to afford the astronomical cost of rearmament in the 1930s?.

Searching for WW1’s fallen soldiers.

Josephine Baker lounges on a tiger skin around the time she starred in La Revue Nègre

Singer, siren, activist, spy: the incredible life of Josephine Baker.

The Irish famine: everything you wanted to know.

How the Greeks changed the world.

A portrait of Russian empress Catherine the Great

Hypocrite, reactionary, usurper, sex maniac: is Catherine the Great's reputation justified?

A 14th-century illustration of a farmer leading a pack animal through the ice and snow

The surprisingly modern Middle Ages.

Woman waving a union jack flag emblazoned with a swastika

In pictures: Interwar fascism.

A Viking ship is burned in a reproduction of a funeral

What do we know about Viking funerals?

A 12th century tapestry showing, on the left, one eyed Odin carrying an axe, with a representation of the tree from which he hung; in the centre, Thor, carrying his symbolic hammer in his right hand; and on the right the fertility god Frey holding an ear of corn

10 incredible Viking stories from Norse mythology

A carving of the Viking gods Odin, Thor and Freyr with a sacrifice above them. It was found on the Swedish island of Gotland (Photo by: PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Gods, myths and rituals: what we know about Viking religious beliefs

A French manuscript from c1100 shows Viking warriors sailing to Brittany. The Viking Age touched all areas of life and can still be felt today

What if...The Vikings had never left their homelands?.

Depiction of the battle of Stamford Bridge. Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, seen here wielding a battleaxe, was slain at the battle

Harald Hardrada: why there's more to the last great Viking than his death in 1066

Black and white drawing showing King George V using a broom to sweep away several crowns adorned with the words 'Made in Germany'.

Fake history: 3 historical untruths that shaped the world

An Etruscan scarab made of Carmelite featuring a winged Daidalos

The mythical genius of Daidalos, the first polymath.

A mother receives her newborn baby in a c1490 text written for Henry VII. Childbirth in the Middle Ages exposed both mother and child to great peril but, writes Elma Brenner, midwives had the expertise to intervene when complications arose. (Photo by Bridgeman)

The medieval childbirth guide: 6 tips for pregnant mothers in the Middle Ages

Black and white image of several African men pushing two French missionaries in a sort of chair with wheels.

Think pieceWhy history must take a stance.

Engraving showing flying fish leaping over a Spanish trade ship

Winds of change: how the discovery of trade winds powered Europe's empires.

Living through the fall of communism.

Johnny Hopper: a nerveless Nazi-killer.