BBC History UK
THE ANCIENT WORLD'S GREATEST CITY
When Alexander the Great founded a settlement at the junction of three continents in 331 BC, he created a metropolitan powerhouse that would shape global history. Islam Issa hails the genius of ancient Alexandria
10 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
"People began collapsing in the streets and dying on the pavements"
In 1943, a devastating famine claimed the lives of millions of people in the Indian province of Bengal. Kavita Puri (left) tells us why she's keen to ensure that the stories of those who endured the crisis are not forgotten
10+ min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
Lisbon in five places
From Roman colony to imperial epicentre, Portugal's capital has played many roles. BARRY HATTON highlights five sites that reveal the city's past and present glories
3 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
"There was a general perception that Queen Victoria's mourning was neither normal nor acceptable”
JUDITH FLANDERS talks to Rebecca Franks about her new book, which delves into the customs surrounding dying, death and mourning in Victorian Britain
10 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT...The Vikings
Ryan Lavelle, who is teaching our new History Extra Academy course, shares five surprising facts about the raiders, pirates and traders from medieval Scandinavia
4 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
THE GREAT WHEELBARROW CRAZE
In 1886, the nation was gripped by a bizarre trend that saw plucky Britons racing wheelbarrows across the country. David Musgrove takes up this strange-but-true story
8 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
SISTERS AT WAR
By the end of her reign, Mary I's relationship with her half-sister and successor, Elizabeth, was at an all-time low. But had the Tudor siblings always been such bitter enemies? Nicola Tallis reveals how the duo's bond was both broken and strengthened by events beyond their control
9 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
Eighteenth-century mushroom ketchup
ELEANOR BARNETT shares her instructions for making a flavourful sauce with roots in south-east Asia
3 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
Goodbye to the gilded age
JOHN JACOB WOOLF is won over by an exploration of the Edwardian era, which looks beyond the golden-era cliché to find a nation beset by a sense of unease
2 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
Ghosts of Germany's past
KATJA HOYER is impressed by a study of a nation's attempts to grapple with the crimes it perpetrated during the Second World War
2 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
The power of the few
Subhadra Das's first book catches two particular waves in current publishing.
2 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
The 'badass' icon
One of the problems with biography, if an author is not careful, is that it can quickly become hagiography.
1 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
The Aztecs at war
RHIANNON DAVIES discovers why war was so important to the Mesoamerican people - and why they believed a badly cooked meal could prevent a soldier from shooting straight
1 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
Towering achievement
NATHEN AMIN explores a 13th-century stronghold that was built to subdue independent-minded Welsh people, yet has since become a symbol of courage in the face of overwhelming odds
2 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
KNIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!
From the heroic glamour of Henry V to the heady nationalism of Braveheart, the medieval era has proven a rich source of material for film directors. Robert Bartlett charts Hollywood's long obsession with the Middle Ages
10+ min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
A window onto England's soul
SARAH FOOT has high praise for a book that traces the evolution of English Christianity over the course of 1400 years, through the lives of its greatest thinkers
4 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
ANNIVERSARIES
DANNY BIRD highlights events that took place in March in history
5 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
WHO SHOT JFK? WAS ELIZABETH I A MAN? DID ALIENS LAND AT ROSWELL?
Rob Attar investigates the enduring power of conspiracy theories
10 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
"Indigenous children were forcibly separated from their families"
HIDDEN HISTORIES... KAVITA PURI on the legacy of Canada's residential schools
3 min |
March 2024
BBC History UK
"People like to tell themselves that the origins of American independence were non-violent.But it's not true"
The Boston Tea Party is often cited as a model of peaceful civil protest. But, as reveals, on the 250th anniversary of this milestone in America's foundational story, it occurred against a backdrop of bloodshed
10+ min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
It is one of the most fascinating shows that I have ever seen
I’VE JUST RETURNED FROM A TRIP TO NEW YORK.
3 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
How do intractable conflicts come to an end?
The Israel-Gaza war is dominating the news at the moment, but rather than exploring its roots, I wanted to discuss other examples of seemingly intractable conflicts and how they come to an end. What examples from your research would you like to highlight?
7 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
THE RACE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
In 1969, everyone from Prince Michael of Kent to Billy Butlin competed in a dash between London and New York aboard tandems, sedan chairs and jump jets recalls a madcap forerunner of Race Across the World
7 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
A Christmas feast
serves up festive classic favourites that graced dining tables during three eras of British history
5 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
The long death of the Roman republic
Julius Caesar’s murder is often seen as the event that ushered in the age of emperors. Yet structural weaknesses had plagued Rome’s republic long before his death
10 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
THE MANY FACES OF NAPOLEON
As a major new film explores the life of the French emperor, Matt Elton asks historians Laura O'Brien and David Andress how we can make sense of the diverse and contradictory aspects of Napoleon's character and career
10+ min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
Up to 100 million Chinese became refugees in their own country
IF IT HADN’T BEEN FOR A JAPANESE SOLDIER needing a toilet break in July 1937, things could have been so different.
3 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
Hard times: what centuries of cost-of-living crises reveal
As prices have soared in recent months, living costs have outstripped many incomes in the UK.
5 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
Walter Cowan Britain's oldest commando
For some servicemen hardened by a long military career, death in battle is preferable to simply fading away in old age. Tells the story of one such man, a retired naval officer who leapt bravely back into the fray during the Second World War at the age of 70
6 min |
Christmas 2023
BBC History UK
The queen behind the veil
Matilda of Scotland, wife of Henry I, did perhaps more than any other figure to bridge the chasm between the Anglo-Saxons and their Norman conquerors. So why, asks has she been written out of history?
7 min |