Dockers unloading wine barrels

Social history

Henrietta Boyle

Fashion history: dressing to impress in the 17th century.

A replica of the Koh-i-Noor in Bangalore in 2002

Desired, stolen, cursed: the history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond

John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon

Does history show that age affects US presidents’ performance? Plus, how old is too old?.

January 1973: Londoners reading the newspapers headlining Britain's entry into the Common Market.

When did the UK join the European Economic Community (EEC) and why?

(Illustration by Davide Bonazzi for BBC History Magazine)

The big question: has the European Union been a success?

Youths salute Adolf Hitler

Second World War

Hitler Youth: how the Third Reich used children’s organisations to wage war

Policemen from Scotland Yard patrolling at night

Real-life Sherlocks: the detectives of Scotland Yard and their curious cases.

Thomas Blood stealing the Crown Jewels

The day Thomas Blood stole the Crown Jewels.

The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill

The death of Sir Winston Churchill and the top-secret plans for his funeral

An engraving depicts a frost fair on the Thames

Frozen: Britain's Little Ice Age

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector

Royalists, beards and cowardice: are these the strangest taxes in history?.

6 lesser-known facts about the Ottoman Empire

Sir Nicholas Winton

Second World War

The 'British Schindler' who saved 669 children from the Nazis

The Windrush generation.

Scandalous Tudor marriages: 7 women who braved royal wrath by marrying for love

Puritans and the Mayflower.

German prisoners of war

What would you have done? 6 terrible choices people had to make during the Second World War.

New York City police watching agents pour liquor into a sewer

Wet vs Dry: how prohibition fractured America.

The Auschwitz volunteer.

Medieval myths.

Ayatollah Khomeini

General ancient history

A brief history of Iran

David Bowie and Twiggy

David Bowie's life in pictures

Edvard Munch's painting 'Love and Pain'

The Vampyre stirs: 200 years of vampire entertainment.

"A great social experiment”: a brief guide to prohibition

An illustration of Jeffrey Hudson and Queen Henrietta Maria

The amazing life of Jeffrey Hudson, the queen's dwarf

The long history of Brexit.

The two faces of Robert Mugabe.

The filthy Middle Ages?.

Setting a trap: East German soldiers construct the Berlin Wall, 13 August 1961. The barrier was an attempt to stop the flood of Germans fleeing from east to west – yet, as scores of audacious escape bids attest, it didn't entirely succeed. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Escape from East Berlin: an audacious bid to tunnel under the Berlin Wall.

A curious history of Christmas.