Period

The opening ceremony of London’s Tower Bridge on 30 June 1894. The bridge became a symbol of London’s importance as a global maritime hub (Photo by Francis Frith/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Britain's imperial landmarks: The empire on our doorsteps

Singer Paul Robeson rehearses at a piano in 1958. He had a unifying outlook, observing that "neither suffering nor compassion is confined to one face." (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images)

My history hero: Paul Robeson (1898–1976). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British troops go over the top of the trenches during the Battle of the Somme, 1916. The Somme was one of the bloodiest clashes of the First World War, causing more than one million casualties over five months. (Photo by Paul Popper/Popperfoto/Getty Images)

First World War

The First World War: Was it worth it?

Actors dressed as Tommies mark the centenary of the start of the battle of the Somme at Manchester Piccadilly station, July 2016. (Photo by Alamy)

First World War

Opinion: “The First World War centenary has been a lost opportunity”

Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall. (BBC Pictures)

Does historical accuracy really matter in period dramas like Wolf Hall?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

St Basil's Cathdral, Moscow. (Photo by Dreamstime)

The spy who changed the Cold War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Plaza de Armas in historic center of Cusco, Peru

ExploreCusco, Peru: Navel of the Incan world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Crowds march through the streets of Chicago to hear Martin Luther King speak at the Illinois Rally for Civil Right on 21 June 1964

Seymour Hersh on the US civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The remains of a 1940 naval battle in Narvik, Norway – several battles between German and Norwegian forces took place in the Ofotfjord in the spring of 1940. (Photo by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images)

The Navy and the battle for Britain in 1940. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Men sealing cases of Rowntree’s Elect Cocoa, York, Yorkshire, 1893. (Photo by Borthwick Institute/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Chocolate and empire: from the land where the cocoa grows. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria by Lucy Worsley. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Catholics massacre Protestants in Ulster in a contemporary illustration

10 great misconceptions of the Civil War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

US soldiers man a machine gun post in the Argonne Forest, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, 1918. (Photo by US Army Signal Corps/American Stock/Getty Images)

'Foch's Grand Offensive': the biggest battle you've never heard of. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A statue of Robert the Bruce at Stirling Castle in Scotland. The castle "is in many ways like a bottleneck – so much of Scottish and British history passes through it and goes off to its eventual destination,” says Neil Oliver. (Photo by Iain Masterton via Getty Images)

BBC presenter Neil Oliver on his top 5 must-visit places in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Neil Oliver. (Photo by Bill Osment)

Neil Oliver’s history of the British Isles. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A counting of goats and rams in cuneiform script, ancient Ngirsu, Iraq, 2360 BC. (DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

Cuneiform: 6 things you (probably) didn’t know about the world’s oldest writing system

A depiction of HMS Endeavour off the coast of New Holland, by Samuel Atkins c1794. (Photo by UtCon Collection / Alamy Stock Photo)

5 facts about Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour

A Battle of Britain type 'scramble', circa 1940. An improved Spitfire is pushed onto the runway by a group of pilots from the squadron. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The good war?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The entrance to Bodiam Castle. "If any castle conjures up the ‘romance’ of the mediaeval world, this is it," says Michael Smith. (Photo by Andrew Ray/LOOP IMAGES via Getty Images)

From magnificent ruins to imposing forts: 10 must-visit British castles

Henry III (1207-72), king from 1216 until his death. Image c1250. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Henry III

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts scenes of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. To characterise the English response in 1066 as "deliberately acquiescing" is a little hard on our 11th-century compatriots, says Professor George Garnett. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Did English leaders “deliberately acquiesce” to foreign rule in 1066?

Sam Willis and James Daybell. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC History Magazine)

The extraordinary history of ordinary things. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Professor Kathleen Burk and Simon Jenkins discuss Jenkins's new book, 'A Short History of Europe'. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC World Histories magazine)

Simon Jenkins and Kathleen Burk on the history of Europe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

So, you want to study history? Top tips from a graduate

Great wars were started by young men with “jangling hormones”, argues Simon Jenkins

A half-hour history of Europe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration showing the last moments of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the explorer, soldier and half-brother of Sir Walter Ralegh. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

The Tudor guide to colonising the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ian Hislop (Photo by J.Fernandes/D.Hubbard © Trustees of the British Museum)

Dissent through the centuries. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A battle of Flodden memorial statue of one of the Hawick Callants on horseback, raising the captured banner aloft in triumph. Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland. (Getty Images)

History explorer: the battle of Flodden. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Studying in Venice was a course highlight for our deputy editor, Charlotte Hodgkin. (Image by Getty Images)

Study history: Lessons from abroad