May 2013

Articles from the May 2013 issue of BBC History Magazine

Newark Castle flanked by the river Trent. To say that King John's death here in 1216 was little-lamented is something of an understatement. "With John's foul deeds all England is stinking, as does hell, to which he is now sinking," wrote the chronicler Matthew Paris. (Getty Images)

Where history happened: King John and the French invasion

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Aerial view of the Roman fort of Vercovicium

10 places where history was made

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Roman civilization, Relief portraying gladiators and lions fighting in circus

Gladiators in Ancient Rome: how did they live and die?

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German soldiers with a horse-drawn cart during the retreat from Ukraine in 1943. The idea of Teutonic efficiency was a triumph of Nazi spin, says James Holland. (Keystone/Getty Images)

Second World War

The great misconceptions of the Second World War

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"Britain’s handling of the Malayan Emergency has often been cited as a textbook example of how an army should win over the ‘hearts and minds’ of civilians," says Michael Burleigh. (Photo by Charles Hewitt/Picture Post/Getty Images)

Britain’s brutal battles for hearts and minds

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Elizabeth Woodville, the queen consort of the Yorkist king Edward IV, was a character in the BBC historical drama 'The White Queen'. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Truth, lies and historical fiction: an interview with ‘The White Queen’ writer Philippa Gregory

Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Even after her death in 2013, her record continued to be fiercely contested. (Tom Stoddart/Getty Images)

How should history remember Margaret Thatcher?

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A crew of Dambusters pictured together in c1943. The famed Dambusters raid, Operation Chastise, was an RAF attempt to breach German dams and so "deprive Ruhr industry, and the Mittelland Canal of water, over the longest period of time possible". (Royal Air Force Official Photographer/ IWM via Getty Images)

Second World War

The legacy of the Dambusters

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Dinosaur dung became a valuable commodity in 19th century Cambridgeshire. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Victorian dinosaur dung billionaires

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A cartoonist's depiction of the Ely and Littleport riots. For the Tory government at the time, the riots were a "frightening warning of the revolutionary anarchy beneath the surface of British life", says Dominic Sandbrook. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A big day in history: Rioters give East Anglia’s rich and respectable a fright

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Illustration by Jonty Clark.

Ye olde travel guide: Madrid 1621

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Horatio Nelson (1758-1805). I think it's safe to say that not everyone in the establishment was devastated by his death at Trafalgar, says Johnny Vaughan. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

My history hero: Horatio Nelson (1758-1805)

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Q&A: Why did news of Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar take so long to reach England?

Illustration by Jonty Clark.

Ye olde travel guide: Florence 1380

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