History Revealed - December 2021

WHAT IF...HANNIBAL HAD TAKEN ROME?

Professor Greg Woolf talks to Nige Tassell about what might have happened to Rome and the Romans had the Carthaginian military mastermind managed to conquer the city

PUNISHMENT FROM ON HIGH

An unshakeable certainty that the plague was God's punishment for sin led to desperate, and terrible, measures

GOING INTO LOCKDOWN

Helen Carr explores the measures used across the centuries to curb the spread of the deadliest disease in human history

GRIEF AND DESPERATION

The Black Death triggered untold panic across Europe, causing people to desert their loved ones and seek out scapegoats

THE SHADOW OF DEATH DESCENDS

Originating in eastern or central Asia, plague ravaged Europe - and people were helpless to stop it spreading

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BLACK DEATH

Professor John Hatcher answers keys questions about the global spread, symptoms and long-term impact of plague

Pauli Murray: civil rights lawyer

Trailblazing attorney Pauli Murray devoted her legal career to tackling racial and gender discrimination in the US. But what drove the civil rights icon and LGBTQ+ pioneer to take up the fight in the first place?

The French Wars of Religion

In the late 16th century, France was torn apart by a series of violent religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, with several noble families competing for mastery over the kingdom's salvation

Alexander Selkirk is finally rescued

Marooned on a remote desert island for more than four years, Scottish mariner Alexander Selkirk survived against all the odds, gaining fame, fortune and a lasting influence on popular culture

What is the importance of the Phaistos Disc?

SHORT ANSWER The ancient treasure may be the key to unlocking an unreadable  script, if it can ever be deciphered