20th Century - Getty Images

20th Century

Illustration by Kate Hazell for BBC History Magazine.

From Churchill and Roosevelt to May and Trump: 75 years of the 'special relationship' between the US and the UK

Dornier 217 bombers of the Luftwaffe bomb London during the Battle of Britain. "The crucial role of the RAF in denying the Germans control of the air in 1940 and therefore persuading Hitler to abandon his invasion plans is so well known that it might seem almost sacrilegious to question it, " says Sean Lang. "But was it solely responsible for saving Britain from invasion? Not quite." (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

9 of the most overrated battles in history (and one underrated one)

Back on Planet Earth: what world did Neil Armstrong leave behind in 1969?

c1916: British soldiers sitting around a lamp in their trench. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

First World War

10 First World War slang words we still use today

St Fagans Castle and gardens

A visit to St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff

The 'Afghan Elvis': the extraordinary life of Ahmad Zahir

England Women's World Cup squad, Mexico, 1971

The 1971 Women's World Cup: game changers?

Out of the closets and into the streets: the legacy of the Stonewall Riots

Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin, seated from left to right, in Yalta for the 'Big Three' Conference. In February 1945, British diplomats were already joking that it was actually a conference of the ‘Big Two-and-a-Half’. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images)

WW2: When Britain stood (not quite) alone

Winston Churchill gives his famous 'V for Victory' sign while addressing crowds from the balcony of City Hall in Sheffield, November 1941. Churchill's "inspirational" wartime speeches "galvanised the country and became part of our national lexicon", says historian Dr Nick Lloyd. (Photo by Capt. Horton/ Imperial War Museums via Getty Images)

Debate: Is British history too fixated with the story of the world wars?

The women of Bletchley Park

Women in traditional Welsh dress, c1896. (Past Pix/SSPL/Getty Images)

Wales: In search of a history

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, last Shah of Iran, pictured in 1967 with his third wife, Farah Diba, and their son Reza. His attempted reforms during his final years in power alienated many of his nation's people. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Iranian Revolution: why 1979's uprising still shapes the Middle East

How is the image of revolutionary Che Guevara commodified? Alex von Tunzelmann explores. (Photo by Francois ANCELLET/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Che Guevara: face of the revolution

Books interview with AC Grayling: “A great philosophical mind is one that belongs to a childish heart – always curious, always open”

My history heroTracy Austin chooses Arthur Ashe

Mary Fulbrook and Richard J Evans. (Photo by Fran Monks)

"Many of the Holocaust's perpetrators got away with it": why Nazi crimes went unpunished

A general view of 10 Downing Street, the residence of the British prime minister currently in office, in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The Prime Ministers we never quite had

A history of women’s football in Scotland

Troops from the 48th Royal Marines at Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer on Juno Beach, Normandy, France, during the D-Day landings, 6 June 1944. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

Your guide to D-Day: what happened, how many casualties were there, and what did it accomplish?

10 photographs that made history

MK Ultra: the secrets of the CIA's mind-control programme

Live Aid stage at Wembley, London, in 1985

When Live Aid rocked the world

Charlton Hetson races a chariot in Ben-Hur

Wacky races: 10 weird and wonderful contests through history

The first state visit by American President George W Bush in 2003 was highly controversial, attracting protesters opposed to the involvement of the United States and Britain in the Iraq War. Here the president is pictured with the Queen in 2008. (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

From pageantry to controversy: a brief history of state visits

Rachel Reeves on women who changed politics

Troops of the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade (Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry Highlanders) going ashore, Normandy, France, 6 June 1944. (Credit: Gilbert Alexander Milne/Canada. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada/PA-122765)

Second World War

“Free people everywhere should remember them”: the Canadians’ role in D-Day

Sergeant Stubby, an American dog who served as the mascot of America's 102nd Infantry Regiment during the First World War. (Photo by Bettmann via Getty Images)

First World War

Sergeant Stubby of the First World War: the heroic story of America’s most decorated war dog

1960s model. (Photo by Alamy)

Women in the 1960s

In 1937, Amelia Earhart, one of the world’s most famous aviators, apparently disappeared without a trace during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

From Jack the Ripper to Amelia Earhart: 17 unsolved historical mysteries