December 2014

Articles from the December 2014 issue of BBC History Magazine

An 18th-century marble relief depicting Julius Caesar invading Britain by John Deare, a British neo-classical sculptor. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

General ancient history

Geoffrey of Monmouth: the lost voice of ancient Britain

British former field marshal Douglas Haig, inspects poppies before Armistice Day, October 1922. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

First World War

Remembering the First World War: blood, poppies and poetry

A Grand National Union Banner depicting president Abraham Lincoln and his running mate Andrew Johnson

Lincoln: The vote that saved America

Michael Wood on Alexander the Great

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

The year when fear of Napoleon stalked the land

Cover of the Voyages Extraordinaires series by the French science fiction writer Jules Verne.

The phantom menace: 10 milestones in science fiction

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Sam’s historical recipe corner: Wassail punch

British statesman and writer Winston Churchill, aged 26. Photograph by Elliott & Fry. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

Books interview with Boris Johnson: “Churchill was a tremendous bully in some ways, but we needed a bully”

One of the statues of Ramesses II at Luxor temple, which is

My favourite place: Luxor, Egypt

A portrait of Charles II, by 17th-century painter John Michael Wright

History explorer: The Restoration

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 hero Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79)

Malcolm X chats with Eric Abrahams – the Oxford Union president who vowed to “fill the room with blacks” – before giving his famous address on 3 December 1964. (Getty)

Malcolm X in Oxford: Black power amid dreaming spires

Elizabeth Cromwell, from an engraving published in 1800 by W Richardson. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Library Oliver Cromwell’s shadowy queen