Painting of a European marketplace

Europe

A painting showing the defeat of the Spanish Armada

The Spanish Armada: all at sea.

A portrait of greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy

Books interview with Steven Weinberg: "The history of science can prevent us from making the mistakes of the past".

Plovdiv's old town

My favourite place: Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Women wearing unrationed shoe soles during the war

Dressed for war: fashions of the Second World War.

Banquet at a wealthy home in ancient Rome. (Photo by North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy)

Dormice, ostrich meat and fresh fish: the surprising foods eaten in ancient Rome.

The tombs of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in Fontevraud Abbey, France. (Dreamstime)

The duchy of Aquitaine: an English ‘colony’ in deepest France.

My favourite place: Dominic Sandbrook

The medieval city of Carcassonne

My favourite place: Languedoc, France

A British major pictured in German captivity

"How I fell captive to the Germans": the experience of First World War PoWs.

A statue of Aphrodite

Christianity’s rocky relationship with sex.

Living through the Crusades: 3 poems and songs that reveal how medieval people felt about the holy war.

Photo of Champagne

General Early Modern

Q&AWho invented champagne?

An engraving of Admiral Lord Nelson

Q&AWhy do we say ‘turn a blind eye’?

My favourite place: Sean McGlynn

(Photo by naphtalina/Getty Images)

Q&AWhy do we say ‘resting on your laurels’?

My favourite place: Miles Russell

Photo of marble relief depicting Hippocrates

Why did Hippocrates eat earwax?

Roman wallpainting of a dinner party, Pompeii, Italy. (Photo by Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy)

What did people eat in Ancient Rome?

Hitler and his general staff

1945: The race for Berlin.

Sicily

My favourite place: Sicily

Stalin’s early years and Mein Kampf.

View of a sham fight on the Serpentine, Hyde Park, London, 1814

The year when fear of Napoleon stalked the land.

Pliny the Elder depicted in a mid-12th century miniature, writing and giving his book to Roman emperor Vespasian. (Photo by Photo12/UIG/Getty Images)

My history heroPliny the Elder (AD 23–79).

First World War

In WW1, what did the Allies want to achieve?

Q&AWhy were people of noble birth said to be ‘blue blooded’?

In focus: Aesop and his fables

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

The battle of the Bulge: Hitler’s final gamble.

Photo of a remembrance poppy

First World War

Q&AWhere do the red poppies come from?

Berlin Wall in November 1989

The story of Germany.

A 19th-century illustration depicting the battle of Agincourt.

Books interview with Ranulph Fiennes: "The Hundred Years' War was caused by my ancestor's advice being ignored".