Education
BBC History UK
THE KING OF FOLLY
In 1323, Roger Mortimer pulled off an audacious escape from the Tower of London before ejecting Edward II from the English throne. But, writes Paul Dryburgh, the rebel baron's designs on power were undone by his own big head
8 min |
August 2023
BBC History UK
PEACE! (AT THE POINT OF A SWORD)
Pax Romana brought stability and prosperity to Rome's vast empire. Yet, writes Tom Holland, behind the dazzling new cities and teeming sea lanes lay the threat of lethal, irresistible violence
9 min |
August 2023
BBC History UK
"Henry was not a great king but he was respected as a most Christian one"
David Carpenter talks to David Musgrove about the second part of his biography of King Henry II, and the extraordinary revolution that removed him from power in 1258
10+ min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
Tale of the centuries
JOANN FLETCHER is engaged but occasionally frustrated by the third volume of a study of dynastic Egypt’s dramatic past
4 min |
July 2023
BBC History UK
"Caroline was besotted with Byron. But, ungrateful love rat that he was, he set off chasing others"
LADY ANTONIA FRASER talks to Ellie Cawthorne about her biography of Caroline Lamb, the rule-breaking aristocrat whose affair with the great romantic poet scandalised Georgian society
7 min |
July 2023
BBC History UK
The forgotten history of Windrush
The famous voyage of the Empire Windrush from Jamaica to Britain 75 years ago was the product of a tumultuous century in Britain's relationship with the Caribbean. Christienna Fryar reveals how a region was transformed following emancipation
9 min |
July 2023
BBC History UK
The children's war on slavery
They boycotted sugar, signed petitions and played abolitionist board games. Ryan Hanley and Kathryn Gleadle introduce the young people who took a stand against the slave trade in Georgian Britain
9 min |
July 2023
BBC History UK
THE ORIGINAL ROGUE HEROES
It's a story of extravagant lies, homemade bombs and adrenaline-pumped commandos. Joshua Levine charts the formative years of the SAS through the exploits of four extraordinary servicemen
10+ min |
July 2023
BBC History UK
"Diseases such as smallpox were hugely contagious and apocalyptically terrifying"
For centuries, scientists have striven to combat a whole host of infectious diseases. Yet, as Simon Schama explains in his new book, they have often met with considerable opposition
10+ min |
July 2023
BBC History UK
THE GREATEST PHARAOH?
Ramesses II was a genius in the art of self-promotion. Epic palaces, jaw-dropping temples and sycophantic scribes all projected his brilliance. But, asks Toby Wilkinson, do the achievements of Egypt’s ‘king of kings’ truly justify the hype?
10+ min |
July 2023
BBC History UK
"These men are a key part of our story. Their portrait should be seen"
WHEN THE RENOWNED ANGLO-HUNGARIAN painter Philip de László died in 1937, an unusual double portrait was found in his private collection
3 min |
July 2023
BBC History UK
"The coronation felt like a watershed in our relationship with the crown"
SO THE CORONATION IS OVER, AND WE ENTER a new era for the monarchy and the nation
3 min |
July 2023
BBC History UK
"Putin's misreading of history is a major contributing factor in how this war has progressed"
As the war in Ukraine continues to rage, with losses mounting ever higher on both sides, Matt Elton speaks to SERHII PLOKHY about his new book exploring the conflict’s historical origins and their consequences
4 min |
July 2023
BBC History UK
Should historians interpret the past through the prism of the present?
A recent debate about whether the study of history should address contemporary concerns exposed faultlines in academic approaches
5 min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
"History - like any person's story - is messy. It doesn't fit into neat boxes"
EIGHTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD JAMES MEREDITH walks into Bully’s Soul Food Restaurant, a traditional eaterie in Jackson, Mississippi
3 min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
A European success story
PETER ANDERSON is impressed by a sweeping history of modern Spain, covering a century in which the country experienced both wartime tragedy and economic triumph
3 min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
Hitler's forgotten victims
CHRISTINE SCHMIDT welcomes an important new book detailing the fraught search for justice by the Roma in the aftermath of their genocidal persecution by the Nazis
2 min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
Visions of England
MICHAEL WOOD enjoys a thought-provoking exploration of English identity from the postwar period to the present day and the myths that have been told about England
4 min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
The queen who wouldn't go quietly
Margaret of Anjou was a foreigner and a woman. Those facts alone should have sunk her bid to regain the English throne for her husband, Henry VI. Yet, writes Joanna Arman, when it came to fighting her family’s corner, Margaret simply didn’t know when she was beaten
9 min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
How Britain stirred the cauldron of conflict in Palestine
Having ousted the Ottomans from Palestine in 1917, Britain administered a territory that was already a tinderbox of tensions between Arabs and Jews. Matthew Hughes explores the bloody end of the Palestine Mandate and the emergence of the State of Israel
10 min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
WHEN GERMS MADE HISTORY
Infectious diseases don't just make individuals sick - they can cause seismic shifts in societies. Jonathan Kennedy charts six moments when pathogens such as plague, smallpox and malaria played key roles in major cultural, political and economic transformations
9 min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
Black masses, lethal potions and the plot to kill a king
In the 1670s, Louis XIV of France was the target of a series of assassination attempts involving poisons and necromancy. But who was the perpetrator? Josephine Wilkinson untangles a conspiracy that scandalised a nation
9 min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
THE RACE TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD
On the 7Oth anniversary of the first ascent of Everest, Robin Ashcroft charts the trials, tragedies and triumphs that led to that pioneering climb and its implications for Britain's place on the world stage
10 min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
Elizabeth I: mother's girl
The Virgin Queen lionised her father, Henry VIII, in public. Yet, writes Tracy Borman, examine what Elizabeth did as opposed to what she said and it’s evident that her sympathies lay with Anne Boleyn
10+ min |
June 2023
BBC History UK
"Come and assist your loving mother. I am in prison for debt". "Dear mother, so am I"
Debtors' prisons inflicted untold misery on families in the 18th and 19th centuries.
10+ min |
April 2023
BBC History UK
Steppe changes
PETER HOMMEL is critical of some of the conclusions presented in a new study of the nomadic warriors of the central Eurasian steppe
2 min |
May 2023
BBC History UK
Central intelligence
JONATHAN KWAN is swept along by a colourful and authoritative exploration of Europe's geographic heartland
2 min |
May 2023
BBC History UK
Red dawn
RICHARD OVERY is impressed by a comprehensive history of the changing relationship between two states that became the great superpowers of Eurasia
2 min |
May 2023
BBC History UK
Quest for a queen
BRONWEN RILEY is swept up by a lively if uneven exploration of the life and landscapes of the near-mythical first-century leader of the Iceni
3 min |
May 2023
BBC History UK
"The 1848 uprisings were a dissonant orchestra of ambitions and intentions"
CHRISTOPHER CLARK tells Matt Elton about the revolutions that swept Europe in the 19th century, revealing how their speed and synchronicity alarmed authorities across the continent
10 min |