BBC History Magazine

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Genghis Khan’s tent, as shown in a 14th-century Persian miniature. The Mongols’ conquests transformed the way the people of Eurasia did trade, shared knowledge, paid taxes and fought wars (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Medieval

What was life like under the Mongol empire?

Illustration by Rose Wilkinson

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William Douglas: infamous bushranger, prize-fighter and reader of skulls. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Construction of the Berlin Wall begins at Ebertstrasse. The barrier would divide the city for 28 years (Photo by von der Becke/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

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Life in East Germany: the cultural evolution behind the Iron Curtain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Christopher Clark at St Catharine's College, Cambridge (Photo by Damien McFadden)

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Christopher Clark“The 1848 revolutions were a dissonant orchestra of ambitions and intentions”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The debtors’ exercise grounds at Newgate prison in 1809. The debtors’ prison was a feature of everyday life in 18th-century England (Photo by Rischgitz/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Inside debtors’ prisons: what life was like for people jailed in Georgian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Passengers and crew leap from the Gloucester after the ship is wrecked in 1682, in a contemporary painting by Johan Danckerts (Image by National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London)

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The sinking of the Gloucester: the shipwreck that rocked Restoration England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Michael Wood on the coronation of Charles III"The symbolism of the royal promise still means something today". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charlotte Augusta, Princess of Wales, (1796-1817), was the only daughter of George IV. Engraving by Henry Thomas Ryall (English, 1811-1867), after an original painting by Alfred Edward Chalon.

Georgian

Princess Charlotte of Wales: the original people's princess

A view of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation ceremony from the rafters of Westminster Abbey, 2 June 1953 (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

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Staging a coronation: 5 dos (and 5 don'ts) for crowning a new monarch. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles III, whose coronation on 6 May “will be significant for the kind of king that emerges”, says Alice Hunt (Photo by Hannah McKay / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

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CoronationsThe soft power of royal pomp and pageantry. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth II surveys troops in Brisbane, Australia during her 1977 silver jubilee tour. There has been increasing debate about the degree to which documents relating to the royal family should be open to the public (Photo by Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

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The royal family and their right to privacy: who should have access to the records?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

George VI and Elizabeth, the queen consort, talking to men clearing the debris of a bomb site in London, September 1940 (Photo by Topical Press/Getty Images)

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King George VI's Nazi dilemma: the men in the royal household who admired Hitler. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Burke and Hare

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Burke and HareLisa Rosner on the pair's crime spree. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Stained glass in Exeter Cathedral depicting King Æthelstan. (Dreamstime)

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The astonishing Æthelstan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A memorial tomb to King Æthelstan, in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire. (Photo by Geography Photos/UIG via Getty Images)

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If King Alfred was great, was Æthelstan even greater?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A protester wearing a star badge at an anti-vaccination rally in Cardiff, 2021. The badge’s design deliberately evokes the star Jewish people were forced to wear in Nazi-occupied territories during the Second World War.

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“Many, if not most, Nazi analogies are historically inaccurate”: Richard J Evans on the trouble with comparisons. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration by Cat O'Neil

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David Ingram: the Tudor sailor who hiked across pre-colonial America. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria

Victorian

Assassinating Queen Victoria: the men who attempted to murder the monarch

An 1812 cartoon by Thomas Rowlandson depicts highwaymen in action in the days when travellers made for easy pickings for criminals (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

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Murder and mayhem in Georgian Britain: the scandalous work of Johnson's General History. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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My history heroMichelle Gayle chooses James Baldwin. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A goat pokes its head over the fence at a city farm near Greenland Dock, London, which is still home to the Surrey Docks Farm

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Urban animals: the growth of city farms in 20th-century Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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My history heroTim Dunn chooses John Betjeman. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of a Viking with a blue tooth wearing mail and a helmet

Viking

Q&AIs it true that Bluetooth was named after a Viking king?

(Photo by Mila Vasileva / Alamy Stock Photo)

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Lady killers: what 5 murder cases can reveal about the lives of women in the 19th and 20th centuries. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Fires burn in Baghdad following an attack on the Iraqi capital, March 2003. The motives for the war continue to spark controversy (Photo by Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

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“The early 2000s was a strange era of fear and terror”: remembering the Iraq War 20 years on. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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My history heroMonica Ali chooses Richard Burton. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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My history heroPhil Tufnell chooses Denis Compton. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Rob Roy MacGregor by George Shearer. Scottish folk hero and outlaw.

Stuart

The real Rob Roy

Aerial view of the 2,000-year-old Gaziantep Castle in Turkey, showing the damage caused by the earthquakes that hit the nation and neighbouring Syria in February 2023 (Photo by Yan Zhigang/VCG via Getty Images)

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Preservation of heritage sites: what happens in the aftermath of a catastrophe?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Micheal Rosen and Émile Zola

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My history heroMichael Rosen chooses Émile Zola. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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