Issue 6

Articles from Issue 6 (October/November 2017) of BBC World Histories Magazine

An 18th Century cartoon satirises reactions to Louis XVI's attempt tp flee France. The french Revolution shows what can happen when the state fails on a catastrophic scale

Are revolutions doomed to failure?

An Athenian red-figure kylix (cup) dating from around 510–500 BC depicts a young pentathlete pulling his older lover towards him for a kiss. In many of the city-states of ancient Greece, sex between a man and a youth was an accepted – even idealised – form of love, its virtues extolled in works by writers including Plato. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

General ancient history

Pride and prejudice: same-sex relations through history

Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

Have nuclear weapons helped to maintain global peace?

A soldier and workers are depicted gazing in admiration at North Korea’s first premier, Kim Il-sung, in a propaganda poster. The Kims’ dynastic personality cult shows no signs of diminishing. (Photo by Eric Lafforgue/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Why North Korea went nuclear

(Image by the British Museum)

Scythians: the art of war

Judi Dench and Ali Fazal in Victoria and Abdul. (Image by Movie Stills DB)

Who was Abdul Karim? Shrabani Basu introduces Queen Victoria’s Indian confidant