Social history

Vanguard-class submarine HMS Vigilant, the top above water

Britain’s nuclear deterrent: a brief history

Photo of a man on a penny-farthing

Q&A How dangerous was the penny-farthing?

Two Hitler Youth who have surrendered to Allied Forces, Germany, 1945. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

First World War

Innocence under fire: how children were used in warfare of the past

US secretary of state William Seward (seated left) signs the agreement to buy Alaska from Russia in 1867

America’s hidden empire: the USA’s forgotten imperial expansion

Illustration showing the traders who made a fortune during the wake of the Black Death

Merchants of doom: the traders who profited from the Black Death

Japanese boats approaching a 'black ship' of US Commodore Matthew C Perry. His arrival in Japan in 1853 forcibly introduced the modern west to the semi-self-isolated island nation (Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

From Meiji to modernity: how Japan reinvented itself through the 20th century

Workers lower the bodywork of a Standard Vanguard car onto its chassis in a factory

Britain’s motor city: how Coventry’s car industry roared to greatness – then went into reverse

Illustration depicting the migration of people across the world

How has migration changed the world?

'The last Day of Pompeii', 1833. Briullov, Karl Pavlovich (1799-1852). Found in the collection of the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Pompeii: a remarkable window into ancient Roman life

Joep de Beer of Holland throws a javelin at the Stoke Mandeville Games

Q&A When and where were the first Paralympics held?

Ruined buildings in the village of Mitlino, one of at least 20 settlements evacuated after the Mayak explosion. Radioactive particles spread across an estimated area of over 23,000 sq km (SVF2/Getty Images)

Before Chernobyl: the secrets that paved the way for disaster

Benin Bronzes at the British Museum In London

What are the Benin Bronzes and why are they important? Explore the significance of the controversial treasures

Thomas Crapper started a plumbing business in Chelsea in 1861 and pioneered some of the most revolutionary designs of sanitary engineering in the 19th century – but he didn't 'invent' the toilet

The legend of Thomas Crapper, the man who didn’t invent the toilet

A phantasmagoria by Belgian entertainer Etienne-Gaspard Robert, whose stage name was Etienne Robertson, 1797. (Photo by Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Phantasmagoria: creating the ‘ghosts’ of the Enlightenment

Brazilian peacekeepers under UN command in Haiti during general election 2006

When should countries intervene in others’ affairs?