HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2025-11-21T16:03:17.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Fake news and the Dreyfus affair: the media-fuelled scandal that divided France
items: Did he photograph the ghost of a president? Meet the scheming Victorian who exploited a grieving America
items: Toilets through time: Victorian lavatories
items: James Garfield: life of the week
items: History’s sexiest revolutionary? Meet the mesmerising general whose charms helped win a war
items: Who was Roscoe Conkling? The real story of how US politics’ ‘spoils system’ met its match
items: Nellie Bly: life of the week
items: Frederick Douglass escaped enslavement in 1838 – but here's why he was still far from true freedom
items: Who was the real Lucretia Garfield? Inside the forgotten life of a fleeting First Lady
items: Who was the real Chester Arthur – and what was his relationship with James Garfield?

Fake news and the Dreyfus affair: the media-fuelled scandal that divided France
type: item
date: 2025-11-24T09:00:02.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Civil rights
subject: Historical people
description: The wrongful conviction for treason of a Jewish army captain in France in the late 19th century exposed antisemitism and virulent nationalism – but also, as Mike Rapport reveals, sparked a flood of ‘fake news’ that presaged the worst of the modern media landscape
encoded: In the oppressive heat of his cell in the Mont-Valérien military prison west of Paris on 31 August 1898, Lieutenant-Colonel Hubert-Joseph Henry wrote a despairing letter to his wife, drank half a bottle of rum, and killed himself. This desperate act was a pivotal moment in one of the best-known causes celebres in modern history: the Dreyfus Affair. The story of Henry’s suicide, following his arrest for forging a document in the controversial case, was co-opted by the nationalist rightwing media as part of a tidal wave of coverage that threatened to destabilise French democracy and public trust in the Republic. The background is well known today. In September 1894, Henry, a counter-espionage officer, had uncovered evidence of a mole within French military intelligence. A cleaner working in the German embassy (and in Henry’s pay) had found a memorandum, since dubbed the ‘bordereau’, written by an officer in the French General Staff revealing military secrets. The handwriting was identified as that of Alfred Dreyfus, an army captain then working in the War Ministry, who was arrested, court-martialled, publicly degraded and hauled off to solitary confinement on the notoriously harsh penal colony of Devil’s Island, off French Guiana. But the army had the wrong man. Contradictions and irregularities in the case soon began to appear. In August 1896, the new head of military intelligence, Lieutenant-Colonel Georges Picquart, was examining more papers stolen from the German embassy. The handwriting on one was identical to that in the bordereau used to convict Dreyfus – but the signature was that of Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, a dissipated, debt-ridden, disreputable officer who had been selling secrets to the Germans for two years. Dreyfus, Picquart realised, was innocent. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/11/BAL1756949-CMYKWeb-Ready-2c9d689.jpg" width="3683" height="2456" alt="An engraving shows a man lying dead on the floor, while a p…

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Did he photograph the ghost of a president? Meet the scheming Victorian who exploited a grieving America
type: item
date: 2025-11-22T10:45:44.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: In the aftermath of the American Civil War, a grieving nation turned towards spiritualism in the hope of seeing the dead once more. Facilitated by new technologies like photography, some unscrupulous fraudsters stepped in to manipulate the vulnerable
encoded: In the decades after the American Civil War ended in 1865, the United States was a nation still grappling with its own grief. As many as 750,000 people had died in the conflict as they fought their own countrymen. It was a scale of loss unprecedented since the inception of the United States as an independent nation. Families were torn apart, as many husbands, sons and fathers had died on American battlefields. Of course, with the widespread loss, many people were struggling to come to terms with their grief, which in turn created a vulnerability. And, for some less scrupulous individuals, that uncertainty and collective sadness presented a new opportunity for fame and wealth. Enter William Mumler, a so-called spirit photographer. Born in 1832, Mumler later became a fraudster who claimed to be able to reunite people with their dead loved ones via his photography. Mumler was only a small part of a quasi-religious movement, which, in the wake of the war, became a subject of fascination. “It was in the middle of the 19th century that ghost-hunting became a cultural obsession,” explains Alice Vernon, author and academic at Aberystwyth University, speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast. “It swept across America as this new pseudo-scientific religion called spiritualism.” The rise of spiritualism was inseparable, says Vernon, from this wave of collective mourning. Science and spiritualism in the 19th century The idea of spiritualism offered many people a kind of conceptual comfort, and new technologies, including photography, were giving it a seemingly evidential backbone. “I think the reason why spirit photography became so popular at that moment,” Vernon says, “was because photography was a fairly new innovation, and it was something that people didn’t really understand.” Early photographs were incredibly precious. So when spiritualists claimed that cameras could record the unseen world – as well as the images of the dead – many saw it as a logical extension of what the te…

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Toilets through time: Victorian lavatories
type: item
date: 2025-11-19T07:00:30.000Z
creator: Dr David Musgrove
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Toilets through time podcast series
description: David Musgrove and Jerry White revisit the avant-garde sewerage systems, shining porcelain cisterns, and unsanitary conditions of the Victorian era
encoded: In the fourth episode of Toilets Through Time, we’ve finally reached the age of avant-garde sewerage systems and shining porcelain cisterns: the Victorian era. David Musgrove is joined by historian and author Jerry White, who explains why the period nevertheless saw appalling sanitary conditions that sparked debates about the public health of Britain’s cities – and shares some surprising toilet-based euphemisms.

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James Garfield: life of the week
type: item
date: 2025-11-18T08:00:30.000Z
creator: Elinor Evans
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Life of the week (podcast series)
description: CW Goodyear introduces US president James Garfield, the 20th man to hold the office, who died after being shot in 1881
encoded: US president James Garfield's life is often overshadowed by his untimely death in 1881, as the second president to be assassinated in office. However, his story is now once again in the limelight, thanks to the new Netflix drama Death by Lightning. Historian and biographer CW Goodyear talks to Elinor Evans about a man who, though his time as leader was fleeting, remains a fascinating figure – and explains why there is much more to be remembered about him than simply his final days.

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History’s sexiest revolutionary? Meet the mesmerising general whose charms helped win a war
type: item
date: 2025-11-15T11:15:32.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: Giuseppe Garibaldi’s courage and charisma made him a hero of Italian unification in the 19th century. Here’s how he became a celebrity who captivated the world
encoded: With his sun-bleached auburn hair, heroic exploits and easy charisma, Guiseppe Garibaldi was adored from London to New York, hailed as the man who turned the 19th-century dream of a united Italy into reality. His admirers wore his trademark red shirt, while poets and painters immortalised him in their works. Even Queen Victoria reportedly found him very handsome. But, as historian Dr David Laven explains on the HistoryExtra podcast, Garibaldi’s magnetism was more than skin-deep. His courage, compassion and populist flair made him not only a romantic icon, but the embodiment of the new Italian nation that was taking shape. The fracturing of Italy “Garibaldi is probably the most famous Italian of the 19th century,” says Laven. “He’s famous for a series of events from the late 1840s through to the 1860s, in which he’s one of the key drivers of Italian unification.” Understanding his importance to Italy depends on understanding what the region looked like before unification. “Italy in the 19th century had been divided into many smaller states for a very long while,” Laven explains. For centuries, the peninsula had been a mosaic of duchies, city-states and foreign-ruled territories. The north lay under Austrian control; the Papal States dominated the centre; and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ruled the south. Read more | When did Italian replace Latin as the language of Italy? “Briefly, it was semi-united under Napoleonic rule in the early 19th century, but basically it was a divided peninsula.” It was the fragmented nature of the region that caused the emergence of the Risorgimento (‘the resurgence’), a political and cultural movement seeking national rebirth. It blended liberal reform with revolutionary zeal, and its leaders included not only Garibaldi, but figures such as Giuseppe Mazzini and Camilo Benso, Count Cavour. Garibaldi, as a sailor-turned-soldier whose daring captured the public imagination, was by far the most recognisable face of the movement. But before…

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Who was Roscoe Conkling? The real story of how US politics’ ‘spoils system’ met its match
type: item
date: 2025-11-11T15:50:59.000Z
creator: Elinor Evans
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: In the turbulent Republican Party of the late 1870s and early 1880s, Roscoe Conkling loomed as the hard-edged master of machine politics. Who was Conkling, and how did he ‘go to war’ with James Garfield, sparking a chain of events that would end with the president’s untimely death?
encoded: Netflix drama Death by Lightning has revived interest in the turbulent politics that shaped James Garfield’s brief presidency, and at the heart of that drama stood two Republican powerbrokers – Roscoe Conkling and James Blaine. Their rivalry helped fracture their party and set the stage for Garfield’s rise and the collapse of a corrupt brand of politics known as the 'spoils system'. Conkling was charismatic, theatrical, and ruthless. More importantly, he controlled a powerful faction within the Republican party known as the Stalwarts, whose influence depended on the spoils system – an issue which had flourished unchallenged in the politics of the United States of America since the 1820s. While Death by Lightning is ultimately the story of Garfield’s untimely death in 1881, following his shooting by Charles Guiteau, much of the action derives from this seemingly unsurmountable rift in the Republican party of the time. What was this system, what was Conkling’s role in it, and why was it so important to the assassination of President James Garfield? Here’s the real history. The Stalwarts, the Half-Breeds, and the spoils system Speaking on an upcoming episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, historian and biographer CW Goodyear describes Conkling as “a colourful bantam rooster of a politician” who walked through Congress “like a bird of paradise amid a barnyard of DC fowl”. And as for the system in which he thrived, Goodyear explains that in this era “the civil service, all of the jobs in the federal government, were awarded by politicians to their cronies”. That arrangement allowed corrupt networks to flourish, and created something called the spoils system through which politicians could “basically rig elections” and “bribe people, and then reward places on the public payroll to their loyalists”. Read more | Your guide to the American Civil War These loyalists, in turn, would often “skim money from the public to enrich themselves and give money back to their political pat…

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Nellie Bly: life of the week
type: item
date: 2025-11-11T08:00:57.000Z
creator: Kev Lochun
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Life of the week (podcast series)
description: Trailblazing and fearless, Nellie Bly broke every rule in Victorian journalism. Bob Nicholson unpacks the life of a woman whose headline-grabbing exploits made her a household name
encoded: In the late 19th century, when female reporters were largely confined to newspapers' society pages, Nellie Bly's daring investigations and headline-grabbing exploits made her a household name. From her audacious exposé from inside a New York asylum – after convincing doctors she was insane – to becoming the 'real Phileas Fogg' by racing around the globe, Bly’s adventures captivated the world. Historian Bob Nicholson tells Kev Lochun more about her audacious brand of stunt journalism.

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Frederick Douglass escaped enslavement in 1838 – but here's why he was still far from true freedom
type: item
date: 2025-11-08T11:30:30.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: When Frederick Douglass crossed the Mason-Dixon line, he had achieved his escape from enslavement. But the first years of his freedom were marked by fear, isolation and the lingering reach of the system from which he had fled
encoded: In the autumn of 1838, a young man in his early twenties boarded a northbound train from Maryland, USA. Dressed as a sailor and carrying borrowed identity papers, he looked to be just another person in the busy crowd of travellers who were heading out across the United States. Within a day he had reached New York. As he stepped out into the city in the northern state, he left behind a lifetime of enslavement. The man was Frederick Douglass (at the time still known by his birth name, Frederick Bailey). His escape would go on to become one of the best-known stories of the 19th-century abolitionist movement, but in the moment, it was a desperate risk. For a man like Douglass, freedom was certainly not a guarantee of safety. It wasn’t until nearly a decade later that Douglass would find himself living without the constant shadow of his history looming over him, threatening to pull him back in. In those first years, Douglass was still living in fear. Speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast, academic Clare Elliott explains why. Frederick Douglass’s early years Frederick Douglass was born into enslavement, growing up in a plantation in Talbot County, Maryland, separated from his family. But when, precisely, he was born is uncertain. “He thought that he was born in 1818,” explains Elliott. “But there's always a question mark over the birth of enslaved people.” Douglass’s early years, up until the cusp of adulthood, were marked by shocking deprivation and violence. “There’s a horrible and often quoted passage,” Elliott notes, “where Douglass talks about himself and the other enslaved children eating mush from a trough like so many pigs.” Read more | The true story of Charles Guiteau and a president’s assassination Scenes like these, described vividly in his 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, demonstrate the physical and psychological hardship that Douglass was subjected to. By his teens, Douglass had been hired out to work in Baltimore for a white …

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Who was the real Lucretia Garfield? Inside the forgotten life of a fleeting First Lady
type: item
date: 2025-11-06T17:31:03.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: Lucretia Garfield, also known as Crete, was the wife of US President James A Garfield and served briefly as First Lady in 1881. She was admired for her stoic devotion during the president’s long illness that followed his wounding by assassin Charles Guiteau (as depicted in the Netflix drama Death by Lightning), and for her later efforts to preserve his papers and legacy
encoded: When US President James A Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau in July 1881, the nation’s focus turned not only to the wounded president and his successor Chester A Arthur, but also to his wife, Lucretia Garfield, sometimes known to history as ‘Crete’. She was with him for more than two months as he died, dividing her time between his sickroom in Washington, DC, and the New Jersey seaside house where doctors hoped the air might help him recover. Contemporary newspapers heaped praise upon her for her strength and devotion, at a moment of personal and national anxiety. But her stoicism in the face of personal tragedy is just one part of Lucretia’s story – part of which is dramatised in the Netflix series, Death by Lightning, which follows the assassination of President Garfield. Behind her composure was a life of intellectual interest and loyalty that was present long before she became First Lady. Who was Lucretia ‘Crete’ Garfield? Lucretia Rudolph Garfield is remembered in history as the wife of James A Garfield, the 20th President of the United States. She served as First Lady for only six months before her husband died of fatal wounds following an attack by assassin Charles Guiteau. She had previously been a teacher and scholar, and retained passion for education and literature throughout her life. Her poise during his slow death earned wide admiration across the United States, and in the decades that followed she became a guardian of his papers and legacy. Read more | How many US presidents died in office? <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/11/GettyImages-1410610111-5277a01-e1762429347504.jpg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="This late 19th-century portrait shows Lucretia Garfield, wife of U.S. President James A. Garfield. Known for her intellect and dignity, she brought refinement to the White House during her husband’s brief presidency in 1881." title="A portrait of Lucretia Garfield, wife of President Garfield." /> Lucretia…

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Who was the real Chester Arthur – and what was his relationship with James Garfield?
type: item
date: 2025-11-06T17:30:12.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: When US President James Garfield was assassinated in 1881, his Vice President, Chester A Arthur, assumed the presidency amid widespread distrust. But once viewed as a party insider tied to political corruption, Arthur surprised the nation
encoded: When US President James Garfield was shot in July 1881, few Americans expected his vice-president, Chester A Arthur, to be able to manage the crisis that followed. Known as a New York Republican party bureaucrat, with a background in patronage and machine politics, Arthur had little public confidence backing him. But when Garfield died of his wounds later that year, Arthur was thrust into the spotlight as the 21st President of the United States. Arthur story simmers in the background of Netflix’s 2025 drama Death by Lightning, the story of the assassination of Garfield (played by Michael Shannon) at the hands of frustrated political hopeful Charles Guiteau (played by Matthew Macfadyen). In Death by Lightning, Chester Arthur (played by Nick Offerman) is portrayed as something of a low man pushed in high office, a Republican enforcer famed for his carousing. But how does real history remember him? Who was the real Chester Arthur? Prior to becoming the 21st US President, serving from 1881–85, Chester Alan Arthur had been a lawyer and political organiser from New York, and was closely associated with the patronage system of the Republican Party. As president, however, his administration is perhaps best known for passing the 1883 Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act – ending the easily abused ‘spoils system’ of political patronage that he had once supported. His presidency is often viewed as a meaningful step toward cleaner government and a more professional civil service. Arthur was born on 5 October 1829 in Fairfield, Vermont, as one of nine children. His father, Reverend William Arthur, was a Baptist minister from Northern Ireland. His mother, Malvina Stone Arthur, came from a New England farming family. He attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, where he graduated in 1848. He taught at a school for several years before studying law in New York City. In 1854, in his mid-twenties, he was admitted to the bar. Arthur’s early legal work included a notable civil rig…

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