General Modern

Napoleon is apprehended by French soldiers on his return from Elba. Rather than take him to Paris in chains, the soldiers joined him

Napoleon’s comeback: from exile on Elba to the Hundred Days

Portrait of King George V of England. (Photo by Getty Images)

Your guide to King George V: facts about his life, reign and death

Linda Colley explores how written constitutions, together with warfare, forged the modern world. (Image by Getty Images)

How constitutions changed the world

The 30th Annual Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 1958. (Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

13 remarkable moments in the history of the Oscars

Joanna Bourke explores what ideas about ‘evil women’ can tell us about societal values through history. (Image by Getty Images)

Why are we fascinated by ‘evil women’?

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Bloodied feet, outrageous breasts and the sinister power of a hair cut: a history of the body

The road to equality Protesters march in New York City, 1976. The gay rights movement in the US is one of LGBTQ history’s most famous stories. (Photo by Granger/Shutterstock)

What are the challenges of telling LGBTQ history?

A broker looks at his screens at Frankfurt's stock exchange on 15 September 2008. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images)

The 2008 financial crisis explained

A 1782 cartoon by James Gillray that depicts Buller as ‘Judge Thumb’. (Photo by Library of Congress)

Q&A Why do we say ‘rule of thumb’?

Young woman gets hair cut in to a bob

A brief history of changing hairstyles

No 10 Downing Street has been home to dozens of prime ministers (and numerous cats) since the iconic residence was first offered to Sir Robert Walpole

23 things you (probably) didn’t know about No 10 Downing Street, the official residence of Britain’s prime ministers

Jennifer Higgie charts the story of women’s self-portraits over the last 500 years of western art – uncovering tales of transgressive self-expression and overcoming oppression. (Image by Getty Images)

500 years of women’s self-portraits

Turtle Bunbury shares notable stories of Irish emigrants and charts their influence on global history. (Image by Getty Images)

Tales of Irish emigration

Virginia Woolf, writer and critic. (Image by Getty Images)

Virginia Woolf: a brief guide to the writer’s life

Simon Winchester explores how humans’ quest to own land – from enclosure and division to violent seizure – has wreaked irreparable changes through history. (Image by Getty Images)

How our hunger for land shaped history