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Everything you think you know about Vikings is WRONG. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Emperor Moctezuma II, ruler of the Aztec Empire at the height of its power. His reign oversaw a flourishing capital at Tenochtitlan and an expansive tribute system, but it ended abruptly with the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in 1519.

Did Aztec civilisation really ‘collapse’? The reality isn’t as simple as you might think

AI: good or bad for history? Our experts weigh in. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The summer that changed everything for the Kennedys. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 1Why the Ancient Egyptians WEREN'T ancient. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This Roman mosaic depicts Orestes and Iphigenia, with Iphigenia holding a small statue of Artemis — imagery drawn from Greek myth and popular across the Roman world. Mosaics like this often decorated the floors of bath complexes and latrines, where vibrant storytelling scenes enlivened communal spaces.

Ancient Roman culture would be baffling to modern eyes – and their toilet habits prove it

News stories from the HistoryExtra podcast. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

General History

Beyond the Podcast

Margaret Beaufort: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Idi Amin's willing helpers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A painting of a man with a snake like body, all piled on top of each other, with a sad face and long black hair, plus red wings

The US 'voodoo' scare: why 19th-century racists spread fake news about Haiti. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

“You can’t kill and maim with impunity”: the powerful legacy of Nuremberg. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This composite image brings together Edmond Halley, the comet that bears his name, and the Bayeux Tapestry’s famous depiction of its 1066 appearance. Halley’s calculations in the 18th century revealed the comet’s regular return, transforming a phenomenon once read as an omen of catastrophe — as it was before the Norman Conquest — into a predictable event governed by celestial mechanics.

Has history’s most famous comet been misnamed for centuries? “The answer is clear,” say historians

A large illustration of Henry VIII with several images imprinted on him

Porpoise for breakfast and late night sex visits: Henry VIII's life in a day. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A British government poster highlighting the dangers of Aids, 1987

Aids: the epidemic that changed Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A poster showing a black and white photo of Hitler with a young blond boy in the foreground

Hitler's war on words: how the Nazis used art to bolster their murderous regime. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Assassins vs Templars. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This 1835 painting by Daniel Maclise imagines the first meeting between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Their relationship would set in motion a political and religious upheaval — leading to England’s break with Rome and Anne’s eventual rise and tragic fall as queen.

Want to live like a Tudor? Historian Ruth Goodman did, and here are five crucial lessons she learned

Christmas history myths DEBUNKED | The origins you never knew. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A marble bust of a man

Julius Caesar's hellraising youth: did he really defy tyrants and crucify pirates?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

WW2's Tunisian campaign: the Stalingrad of Africa. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This 4th-century AD mosaic from Terranova near Tuscolo depicts gladiators locked in combat, capturing the drama and choreography of the arena in late Roman Italy. Even as public spectacles waned in some parts of the empire, scenes like this show how gladiatorial fighting remained a potent form of popular entertainment.

Female gladiators shocked the ancient Roman world — but not for the reason you think

Episode 4How William the Conqueror brutally secured rule of England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Empress Matilda: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How warhorses transformed medieval England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A woman wearing a black dress and white hood, praying in front of a Bible

Married three times by the age of 15: Margaret Beaufort, the woman who birthed the Tudor Dynasty. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Did the Nazis get a fair trial?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A pink flower with various contraptions in the background

From goat eyelids to bread: history's 12 strangest sex toys. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This illustration shows the chief of the Taensa people receiving the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle on 20 March 1682. Set in what is now Louisiana, the scene reflects the early encounters between Indigenous nations of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Europeans

Step inside the lost Native American city that rivalled medieval London

A collage of a man in Nazi uniform in front of a large building

I've just been inside a Nazi monster's mansion – and what I found there was deeply haunting. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.