France

A portrait of Marie Antoinette dated 1783 and painted by Vigée-Le Brun. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

In profile: the life and death of Marie Antoinette

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting a naked man with an erection reaching out towards a naked woman, who is covering both her face and her pudenda with her hands. (© Bayeux Museum)

The Bayeux Tapestry with knobs on: what do the tapestry’s 93 penises tell us?

Marie Curie in her laboratory. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

First World War

Marie Curie (1867–1934): her life, achievements and legacy

Adam Zamoyski, photographed in London. "We're brought up on a whole ant-heap of myths about Napoleon. The apocryphal stories that swirl around him are legion," he says. (Photography by Frank Monks for BBC History Magazine)

Books interview with Adam Zamoyski: “Napoleon was motivated by profound insecurity”

Want to read more?

Portrait of Marie Antoinette in deep mourning, while in prison. (Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

The final days of Marie Antoinette

The Ghent Altarpiece. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

Who were the real monuments men of the Second World War?

Want to read more?

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. The tapestry was most likely embroidered by women in Norman England in a workshop setting using four embroidery stitches – stem stitch; split stitch; chain stitch; and laid work, sometimes called ‘Bayeux Stitch’, says Dr Alexandra Lester-Makin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The making of the Bayeux Tapestry: who made it, how long did it take, and how has it survived?

British troops go over the top of the trenches during the Battle of the Somme, 1916. The Somme was one of the bloodiest clashes of the First World War, causing more than one million casualties over five months. (Photo by Paul Popper/Popperfoto/Getty Images)

First World War

The First World War: Was it worth it?

Want to read more?

Podcast Website large Julian Jackson

Charles de Gaulle reconsidered

Napoleon Bonaparte, published in London, 1909. (The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Napoleon Bonaparte: facts about his life, death and career

Allied soldiers with captured prisoners of war after the battle of Amiens during the First World War, 1918. (Photo by Authenticated News/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

First World War

Remembering the battle of Amiens

A 15th-century depiction of the battle of Agincourt

Agincourt: medieval England’s finest hour?

Want to read more?

Illustration by Glen McBeth

Did castle defenders pour boiling oil on their assailants during a medieval siege?

Two scenes from the Chronique de St Denis, late 14th century. The left-hand scene depicts the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII of France in 1137. The scene on the right shows Louis departing by ship to go on the Second Crusade in 1147. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Eleanor of Aquitaine: the medieval queen who took on Europe’s most powerful men

Want to read more?