Letters from the front line

The Hittites were one of the most powerful civilisations in the Near East, building a vast empire that encompassed much of modern-day Turkey. But aside from a few vague references in ancient texts, pr...

14 Sep 202448min

In May 1980, TV coverage of the world snooker final was interrupted by live footage of men in black balaclavas abseiling down the walls of the Iranian Embassy in London. This was Operation Nimrod, a d...

12 Sep 202439min

Nothing is more synonymous with ancient Egypt than mummification. But why was this postmortem practice actually performed? And what other rituals and beliefs surrounded death in the ancient civilisati...

11 Sep 202444min

The story of Native American societies decimated by European arrival is a familiar one. But, while undoubtedly important, that’s only one part of the story. In her new book Native Nations, Kathleen Du...

10 Sep 202435min

From pioneering railways and awe-inspiring bridges to ocean-spanning passenger ships and flatpack hospitals, there was no engineering challenge too ambitious for Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The impressiv...

9 Sep 202442min

Recent developments in the Russia-Ukraine war have seen Kursk make headlines – provoking parallels with the Second World War battle that took place in the region. But are such links helpful? And how i...

8 Sep 202452min

Why were people tortured in the Middle Ages? Was it ever legal? Did the infliction of physical pain play as large a role in medieval prosecutions as we might think? And did anyone actually experience ...

7 Sep 202427min

Just how far does our understanding of the medieval past rely upon written sources? And what happens when these precious fragments of knowledge are destroyed? Taking in shocking cases of destruction a...

5 Sep 202444min