Middle East

A homemade Ouija board helped two World War I prisoners of war escape

First World War

A homemade ouija board, a treasure hunt and fake madness: the great escape of World War I

An illustration from The Travels of Marco Polo, showing a teenage Marco on the deck of a ship sailing away from Venice

Why are Marco Polo’s travels so famous?

Neil Faulkner reveals how the Anglo-Arab Wars of 1870-1920 helped give rise to the first modern jihad

Jihad and the British empire

An illustration showing a woman 'Arib al-Ma’muniyya, playing an instrument while four men listen. A chess board is in the foreground

‘Arib al-Ma’muniyya: the enslaved medieval woman who sang her way to wealth

An Israeli pilot after the raid on Entebbe

Operation Thunderbolt: Was the 1976 ‘raid on Entebbe’ a brilliant rescue?

Brazilian peacekeepers under UN command in Haiti during general election 2006

When should countries intervene in others’ affairs?

Concerned that Russia was expanding its influence in the region, Britain invaded Afghanistan in 1839, ousting ruler Dost Mohammad and replacing him with Shah Shuja, who had been king from 1803–10. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Britain’s first war in Afghanistan: what happened and why?

Eugene Rogan answers listener questions on one of history’s most powerful and long lasting empires. (Image from Getty Images)

First World War

The Ottoman empire: everything you wanted to know

Representations of digits from the ninth century, 11th century and the present day

Digital revolution: the evolution of Hindu-Arabic numerals

Kurdish fighters in north-west Iran, 1918

The history of the Kurds in Iraq: “the largest people never to have achieved statehood”

Richard I on a Chertsey tile

Does Richard I deserve his reputation as a martial genius?

Melisende of Jerusalem

Melisende of Jerusalem: the queen of a crusader kingdom

Men from Bethlehem in Jerusalem in 1894, when the territory identified as Palestine was part of the Ottoman empire. At the start of the 19th century Palestine's population was mostly Arab, with a small Jewish minority, but from the 1880s waves of settlers rapidly augmented the Jewish population (Culture Club/Getty Images)

Israel and the Palestinians: a history of conflict in 8 key episodes

The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II reaches an accord with the Muslim sultan al-Kamil in 1229 that saw Jerusalem handed to the crusaders. This is just one instance of cooperation between east and west in the era (though the two men never actually met in person). (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Muslim-Crusader interactions: a clash of civilisations?

Alex von Tunzelmann responds to your questions on the 1956 Suez Crisis: a diplomatic debacle that dealt a serious blow to Britain’s standing in the postwar world. (Image by Getty Images)

The Suez Crisis: everything you wanted to know