Period

Shining new light on medieval Europe.

Alfred the Great “managed to ensure history’s enduring affection by making sure that he wrote it himself,” argues Max Adams. (Photo by Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

Alfred the Great: "He was an excellent king, but that's not the whole story".

A portrait of Elizabeth Stuart, painted during the reign of Charles I

Elizabeth Stuart: the treasonous portrait that touted Charles I's sister for the throne.

Nineteenth century engraving depicting raining cats and dogs

General Early Modern

Q&AWhy do we say 'raining cats and dogs'?

British army soldiers face off against a group of Irish civilians

Why we should remember…Bloody Sunday

A murder mystery in 19th-century Dublin.

Plan of the island of Utopia, from Thomas More's work of the same name depicting an ideal state

Thomas More's Utopia – what lessons did it have for Tudor England?.

King George II of Great Britain

George II: 8 facts about the British king and German elector

Trading and crusading in the Middle Ages.

Photo of tall ship

Q&AWho do we say 'shot across the bows'?

Coronation chicken recipe

Historical recipeCoronation chicken.

The Demerara slave uprising.

Vienna Plague Hospital, 1679. (Getty Images)

What were women's lives like during the 17th-century plague?.

When were punctuation marks first used? Illustration by Glen McBeth for BBC History Magazine.

General History

Q&AWhen were punctuation marks first used?

The Age of Sail: everything you wanted to know.

Admiral Lord Nelson: 10 days that created a legend.

Ancient Greek scientific thinking.

Hells, heavens and afterworlds: a traveller’s guide.

School photo showing rows of children from a Manchester school

Did Britain really roar in the 1920s?.

Neville Chamberlain holds aloft the famous piece of paper at Heston aerodrome on 30 September 1938. (Picture by Alamy)

Second World War

The Munich agreement: a battle with Hitler that almost brought down the government

Neville Chamberlain shows off the Anglo-German Declaration at Heston Aerodrome

Second World War

Q&APeace for our time: what was written on Neville Chamberlain's piece of paper?

Illustration of enemies shaking hands

What makes for a good peace?.

Outbreak of dance mania

The medieval dancing plague: what caused people to dance themselves to death?

A depiction of the French and Indian War, with George Washington on horseback

A guide to the Seven Years’ War

Residents of Palermo, Sicily, line the streets to greet the American Sherman tanks after the town had surrendered to the Allies

The battle for Sicily: breaking into Fortress Europe.

Women who served in WW2.

Emma Dabiri"The Harder They Fall doesn’t engage with one of the main drivers behind the violence".

Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton, the great Antarctic explorer of the Heroic Age

A group of BBC staff surround a large piece of broadcasting equipment

BBC at 100The BBC begins: how a group of radio pioneers launched one of Britain's most famous institutions.

Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in mounted combat

Richard the Lionheart: king of war.