American history

German prisoners of war

Second World War

What would you have done? 6 terrible choices people had to make during the Second World War

New York City police watching agents pour liquor into a sewer

Wet vs Dry: how prohibition fractured America

Portrait of founding father Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, c1806. (Photo by National Gallery Of Art/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Alexander Hamilton

American socialite Wallis Simpson

The vilification of Wallis Simpson: how Edward VIII’s mistress was savaged by society

New issue World 20 800x530

Issue 20 of BBC World Histories is out now

B-17 bombers make their way to England to aid the British in WW2, April 1942. (Photo by Getty Images)

Second World War

From Allies to enemies

American actresses Frances Dee, Jean Parker, Katharine Hepburn, and Joan Bennett playing the March girls in George Cukor's film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Women', 1933. (Photo by RKO Pictures/Courtesy of Getty Images)

“Fresh and full of soul”: the history of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women

Crowds protest in Tehran

Opinion: is Iran a nation at war with itself?

Prohibition protesters parade in a car emblazoned with signs and flags calling for the repeal of the 18th Amendment, which outlawed the production and consumption of alcohol in the United States. (Archive Photos/Getty Images)

“A great social experiment”: a brief guide to prohibition

Rosa Parks rides on a Montgomery bus

From Sutton Hoo to Rosa Parks: 50 giant leaps in history

Richard Nixon resigns

A brief history of presidential impeachment

The first controlled, powered and sustained human flight on 17 December 1903 by the Wright Brothers. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

17 December 1903: the day the Wright Brothers flew into history

A family celebrates a Victorian Christmas

Christmas history quiz 2019

(Illustration by Davide Bonazzi for BBC World Histories Magazine)

How the American Revolution created a global storm

Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. When Edward became king in January 1936, he was the darling of the nation. Yet when he abdicated in December 1936, few believed he was making the wrong decision. (Photo by Getty Images)

Love before duty: the story of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson