Featured
Article
The 1918 Armistice with Germany - Allied Victory on WWI's Western Front
The armistice that ended the First World War (1914-18) on the Western Front was signed between Germany and the Allies on 11 November 1918. The...
Featured
Article
The Causes of WWI
The origins of the First World War (1914-18) are many and varied, with some even dating back several decades, but a political assassination in the Balkans in the summer of 1914 was the...
Featured
Image
The Four Intact Pharaoh Burials of Ancient Egypt - Tutankhamun and the Royal Treasures of Tanis
Ancient Egyptian royal burials were designed to preserve the pharaoh's body, identity, and status for the afterlife. Coffins...
Featured
Image
12 Royal Princes Who Never Reached the Throne - From Germanicus to the Black Prince & Franz Ferdinand
Royal heirs and princes expected to succeed to a throne occupied an unusually precarious position: close enough to power...
Latest Content
Definition
James A. Garfield - The Unlikely Rise and Tragic Assassination of a President
James A. Garfield (1831-1881) was an American politician from Ohio who served as the 20th president of the United States from 4 March 1881...
Article
A History of Modern Time - From Railroad Time to Atomic Clocks
The rapidly expanding 19th-century rail network not only 'annihilated space,' in the parlance of the day, but also altered the definition, use, and perception...
Article
Battle of Chickamauga - The Second Bloodiest Battle of the American Civil War
The Battle of Chickamauga (19-20 September 1863) was a decisive battle in the western theater of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Fought...
Curriculum Collection
AP World History Unit 7 - Global Conflict (c. 1900 to the Present)
At the dawn of the 20th century, a few Western powers dominated global politics. Within only 50 years, that order was remade by two world wars of...
Article
Stalin's Gulag System - The USSR's Labour Camps
Joseph Stalin's gulag system was a network of labour camps across the USSR, which were, from 1930, used to detain criminals and anyone considered enemies of the state...
Article
F. Buchanan's Account of the Battle of Hampton Roads - Excerpts From the Official Action Report
Confederate Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan (1800 to 1874) is best known as the commander of the CSS Virginia on the first day...
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Map of the Western Front in World War I, 1914–1918 - Trench Warfare, Major Battles, and the Allied Victory
The Western Front (1914–1918) was the principal battlefield of the First World War in Western Europe, emerging from...
Image
Map of the Fertile Crescent and the Origins of Agriculture - Early Farming and Domestication in the Ancient Near East
The Fertile Crescent, a term coined in 1916 by Egyptologist James Henry Breasted, describes an arc of Southwest...
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Map of the Roman Empire under Septimius Severus, 193-211 CE - Civil War, Roman Expansion, and the Rise of the Severans
The reign of Septimius Severus (193–211 CE) marked a turning point in Roman imperial history. Rising to power...
For You
Definition
Trireme
The trireme (Greek: triērēs) was the devastating warship of the ancient Mediterranean with three banks of oars. Fast, manoeuvrable, and with a bronze-sheathed ram on the prow to sink an enemy ship...
Definition
Edmond Halley
Edmond Halley (1656-1742) was an English astronomer, mathematician, and cartographer. Halley's Comet is named after him since he accurately predicted its return in 1758. One of the early globetrotting...
Definition
Augustus
Augustus Caesar (27 BCE - 14 CE) was the name of the first and, by most accounts, greatest Roman emperor. Augustus was born Gaius Octavius Thurinus on 23 September 63 BCE. Octavian was adopted...
Definition
Manhattan Project - How the Atomic Bomb Was Built
The Manhattan Project was the code name for the secret US-led programme to develop an atomic bomb during the Second World War (1939-45). Hugely expensive and employing...
Book Reviews
Book Review
The Army of Alexander the Great
The Army of Alexander the Great (2025) is a highly detailed and insightful examination of one of the most influential military forces in history. Rather than presenting Alexander...
Book Review
The Porpoise (Vintage Contemporaries)
The Porpoise is a novel that seamlessly intertwines a modern tale with an ancient story. After Philipe’s wife is killed in a plane crash and their daughter Angelica survives...
Book Review
Zenobia - Birth of a Legend
In the 3rd century a girl of uncommon abilities was born in the desert wilderness of Syria. Rescued from death by her courageous mother, Zenobia masqueraded as a boy to stay alive...
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| 1,774 | articles |
| 19,897 | illustrations |
| 2,646 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 16,512 | translations |
| 48 | languages |
| 1,348 | contributors |
| 15,685 | keywords |
| 63,855 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Definition
War in Ancient Times
The word 'war' comes to English from the old High German language word Werran (to confuse or to cause confusion) through the Old English Werre (meaning the same), and is a state of open...
Definition
Anu - Mesopotamian Father of the Gods
Anu (also known as An) is an early Mesopotamian sky god who was later viewed as the Father of the Gods and ruler of the heavens, a position which then passed to his son Enlil...
Definition
Vercingetorix
Vercingetorix (82-46 BCE) was a Gallic chieftain who rallied the tribes of Gaul (modern-day France) to repel the Roman invasion of Julius Caesar in 52 BCE. His name means "Victor of a Hundred...
Definition
Mount Athos - The Byzantine Holy Mountain
Mount Athos, located on the Chalkidike peninsula near Thessalonica, Greece, is a holy site which first saw hermit monks living there in the 9th century CE. Regarded as...
Article
Song of Everlasting Sorrow
The Song of Everlasting Sorrow is a narrative poem of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) inspired by the love affair between Xuanzong (r. 712-756 CE), the seventh emperor of the dynasty...
Article
Fish Sauce in the Ancient World
The production and trade of fish sauce in the ancient world was a significant and widespread industry, stretching from Britain to the Black Sea. Roman fish sauce, known as garum...
Definition
Vetulonia
Vetulonia (Etruscan: Vetluna), located in the hills near the western coast of central Italy, was an important Etruscan town from the 9th to 3rd century BCE. The site has many impressive tumulus...
Definition
Roman Law
Roman laws covered all facets of daily life. They were concerned with crime and punishment, land and property ownership, commerce, the maritime and agricultural industries, citizenship, sexuality...
Medieval Period
Article
Viking Age Greenland
Greenland was drawn into the Viking Age and settled by Norse Vikings in the late 980s CE, their presence there lasting into the 15th century CE. Despite its ice-riddled geography, the...
Article
Zengids & the Crusaders: Race for Egypt (1163-1169 CE)
In the aftermath of the failure of the Second Crusade (1147-1149 CE), which only managed to bring Damascus under Nur ad-Din's (sometimes also given as Nur...
Definition
Children's Crusade
The so-called Children's Crusade of 1212 CE, was a popular, double religious movement led by a French youth, Stephen of Cloyes, and a German boy, Nicholas of Cologne, who gathered two...
Definition
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic-monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah (l. 570-632 CE, after whose name Muslims traditionally add “peace be upon him” or, in writing...
Image Gallery
A Gallery of Historical Maps
This gallery of 30 maps traces the history of cartography, with examples of maps made by cultures from the Paleolithic to the early modern period. The maps cover cities, states...
Definition
Ridda Wars
The Ridda Wars or the Wars of Apostasy (632-633 CE) were a series of military engagements between the armies of the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661 CE) and the renegade tribes of Arabia. The rebels...
Definition
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace (c. 1270-1305) was a Scottish knight and national hero who fought for his country's independence from England. Wallace famously led the Scots to victory against a larger...
Article
Mongol Multiculturalism
The Mongol Empire accepted and promoted many other cultures. Historians often talk about cultural exchange across Asia in the Mongol Empire as something that was just facilitated by...
Early Modern Period
Article
Why Poland-Lithuania Disappeared
The Polish-Lithuanian Republic (1569-1795) was one of the largest and most populous states in Early Modern Europe, yet in 1795, its last remnants were partitioned between Austria...
Definition
Louis I de Bourbon, Prince of Condé
Louis I de Bourbon (l. 1530-1569) was a descendant of Louis IX of France (r. 1226-1270) and founder of the House of Condé. The Prince of Condé proved his valor as a Huguenot...
Article
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (French: Declaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen) is a human rights document adopted in the early...
Definition
Edward Low
Edward 'Ned' Low was an English pirate active in the Caribbean and eastern Atlantic from 1721 to 1724 during the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730). Probably the most sadistic and cruelest of...
Article
Jeanne de Jussie's Short Chronicle
Jeanne de Jussie's Short Chronicle (1535) is an eyewitness account by the nun Jeanne de Jussie (l. 1503-1561) relating how the Protestant Reformation in Geneva, Switzerland...
Definition
Manila Galleon
The Manila galleons were Spanish treasure ships which transported precious goods like silk, spices, and porcelain from Manila in the Philippines to Acapulco, Mexico, between 1565 and 1815...
Definition
Hobbamock
Hobbamock (d. c. 1643, also given as Hobbamok and Hobomok) was a Native American of the Pokanoket tribe who served the sachem Massasoit (l. c. 1581-1661) of the Wampanoag Confederacy as a pniese...
Article
Youth of George Washington
The youth of George Washington (1732-1799), the first President of the United States, remains the least understood chapter of his life, shrouded in folklore and myths. Yet the experiences...
Modern Period
Definition
Numismatics
Numismatics the study of coinage, and is a wonderfully useful tool in the archaeologist's and historian's toolbox. One of the best things for an archaeologist to find while digging is a coin...
Definition
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was an Italian composer best known for operas such as Rigoletto, La traviata, and Aida. Verdi is noted for his powerful scores and strong characters where anti-heroes...
Definition
Operation Gomorrah - The 1943 Bombing of Hamburg
Operation Gomorrah (aka the Battle of Hamburg or Hamburg Air Offensive) was a sustained area bombing campaign of the German port of Hamburg in four night attacks...
Definition
Geronimo
Geronimo (Goyahkla, l. c. 1829-1909) was a medicine man and war chief of the Bedonkohe tribe of the Chiricahua Apache nation, best known for his resistance against the encroachment of Mexican...
Definition
Dowding System - Britain's WWII Integrated Air Defence System
Britain's integrated air defence system in the Second World War (1939-45), known as the Dowding System after the air chief marshal of that name, included...
Definition
Ulysses S. Grant - The General Who Won the American Civil War
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was a Union general in the American Civil War and, later, the 18th president of the United States of America. He is generally...
Image Gallery
A Gallery of 40 Portrait Paintings Through History
Capturing in paint for all time the faces of particular people has been an endeavour of artists for millennia. In this gallery, we present in chronological sequence...
Article
Italian Colonialism in Libya
One of the most coveted projects of Italian colonial policy was to secure an African colony in the Mediterranean. For this reason, Italy fought and won the Italo-Turkish war of...
Prehistoric Period
Image Gallery
A Gallery of the Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 7000-c. 600 BCE) is among the oldest in the world but, as it was only “discovered” in 1829 – after ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian...
Definition
Carnac
Carnac, located on the north-west coast of France, is the site of the largest concentration of megalithic monuments in the world. Over 100 monuments, which include burial mounds, stone tombs, enclosures...
Definition
Maeshowe - The Ancient Meadow Mound of Orkney
Maeshowe (pronounced `maze-ow' or `maze-oo') is a large Neolithic chambered cairn, dating from between 3000-2800 BCE, in the Stenness parish of Orkney, Scotland. According...
Definition
Altamira
Altamira is a Paleolithic cave located in Santillana del Mar (Cantabria region) in northern Spain, containing prehistoric paintings. The cave was inhabited for millennia and so, besides Paleolithic...
Definition
Homo Naledi
Homo naledi is an extinct species of human discovered in Rising Star Cave in South Africa in 2013 CE in what has become the biggest single-species hominin find in Africa to this day, which is...
Definition
Ҫatalhöyük
Ҫatalhöyük is one of the largest Neolithic settlements ever discovered. Built more than 9000 years ago in modern Konya Plain, central Turkey, it is known in archaeology as a proto-city, a link...
Article
Rock Drawings of Valcamonica
The rock drawings of Valcamonica are prehistoric petroglyphs carved in the glacier-polished, grey-purple Permian sandstone of the Camonica valley that extends for 90 km in the...
Article
Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Hunter-gatherer societies are – true to their astoundingly descriptive name – cultures in which human beings obtain their food by hunting, fishing, scavenging, and gathering...
