Featured
Article
Causes of the Russian Revolution of 1917
There were many causes behind the Russian Revolution of 1917, ranging from the unpopular authoritarian rule of Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917) to the radical mobilisation of the working class, who wanted better working...
Featured
Definition
Gunpowder Plot - Guy Fawkes & the Plan to Blow up Parliament
The 1605 Gunpowder Plot was a failed attempt by pro-Catholic conspirators to blow up the English Parliament on 5 November and kill King James I of England...
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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...
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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
Article
Battle of Hampton Roads - Clash of the Ironclads
The Battle of Hampton Roads (8-9 March 1862), also known as the Battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack, Battle of Ironclads, or Clash of the Ironclads, was a naval...
Article
The USSR's Great Famine of 1932-3
The USSR's Great Famine of 1932-3 was caused by a combination of aggressive requisitioning of foodstuffs by the state, the sale of grain abroad, persecution of farmers, and...
Article
Federalist No. 10 - James Madison's Antidote to the Dangers of Factionalism
Federalist No. 10 was an essay written by James Madison, under the pseudonym Publius, and originally published in the New York Daily Advisor...
Article
Stalin's Collectivisation of Agriculture
Joseph Stalin's policy to collect private farms into cooperatives and wholly state-owned farms across the USSR began in 1928. Stalin hoped the process of collectivisation...
Article
James Longstreet's Account of the Battle of Gettysburg - Excerpts From the Official Action Report
At the Battle of Gettysburg (1-3 July 1863) Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet urged his commanding officer...
Article
Gilgamesh and Huwawa - The Epic Battle of the Cedar Forest
Gilgamesh and Huwawa is a Sumerian poem relating the expedition of Gilgamesh and Enkidu to the Cedar Forest and the slaying of the monster-demon Huwawa...
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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...
Image
Map of the Russian Empire in 1914 - From Muscovy to World War I, 1533–1914
By 1914, the Russian Empire was one of the largest contiguous empires in history, stretching from Eastern Europe across Siberia to the Pacific...
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Map of Europe After World War II, 1945–1989 - Cold War Division, Reconstruction, and Alliances
Following World War II (1939–1945), Europe emerged devastated and increasingly divided between rival political systems. As relations...
For You
Definition
Eighty Years' War
The Eighty Years' War (1568-1648, also known as The Dutch Revolt and Dutch War of Independence) was a military conflict between the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands and Spain, which...
Definition
Tegea
Tegea was an ancient Greek city-state or polis in the southeast of Arcadia in the Peloponnese. The city participated in wider Greek affairs such as the Persian Wars of the early 5th century BCE...
Definition
Apollo
Apollo was a Greek god associated with the bow, music, and divination. The epitome of youth and beauty, source of life and healing, patron of the arts, and as bright and powerful as the sun itself...
Article
Inca Food & Agriculture
The Inca empire controlled four climate zones and, consequently, their agricultural produce was diverse. Ancient Andean people were largely vegetarian, supplementing their diet with...
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
Origin Story: A Big History of Everything
Every culture, religion, and community has its narrative of how this world originated. This narrative tells the people in that community why our landscapes look the way...
Book Review
Understanding Greek Vases: A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques (Looking at Series)
If you are going to buy one book on Greek vases then this is the one to go for. Cheap in price but high in quality, this is a richly...
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| 1,770 | articles |
| 19,882 | illustrations |
| 2,645 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 16,465 | translations |
| 48 | languages |
| 1,346 | contributors |
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Ancient Period
Definition
Inca Religion
For the Incas, as with many other ancient cultures, religion was inseparable from politics, history, and society in general. All facets of community life were closely connected to religious...
Definition
Ancient Egyptian Mythology
Egyptian mythology was the belief structure and underlying form of ancient Egyptian culture from at least c. 4000 BCE (as evidenced by burial practices and tomb paintings) to 30...
Definition
Menes
Menes (c. 3150 BCE) is the legendary first king of Egypt who is thought to have united Upper and Lower Egypt through conquest and founded both the First Dynasty and the great city of Memphis. His...
Article
The Eternal Life of Gilgamesh - Literary Immortality
The Epic of Gilgamesh is among the most popular works of literature in the present day and has influenced countless readers, but for the greater part of its history...
Article
A Visitor's Guide to Rome's Frontier in Germany
In the 2nd century CE, the Roman Empire stretched from Scotland in northern Europe to the deserts of southern Egypt, encompassing the entirety of the Mediterranean...
Definition
Wanka Civilization
The Wanka (also Wanca or Huanca) people occupied the highlands of ancient central Peru around Lake Junin and the Manataro, Chanchamayo and Tarma rivers. The culture flourished from the...
Definition
Unified Silla Kingdom
The Unified Silla Kingdom (668- 935 CE) was the first dynasty to rule over the whole of the Korean peninsula. After centuries of battles with the other states of the Three Kingdoms Period...
Article
Magic in Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, if a woman were having difficulty conceiving a child, she might spend an evening in a Bes Chamber (also known as an incubation chamber) located within a temple. Bes...
Medieval Period
Article
The Sun & the Moon in Norse Myth
In Norse mythology, the Sun and the Moon appear as personified siblings pulling the heavenly bodies and chased by wolves, or as plain objects. Written sources, such as the Poetic...
Collection
15 Aztec Gods
The Aztecs of northern Mesoamerica (c. 1345 and 1521 CE) worshipped some of the weirdest, most fantastic and downright scary gods seen anywhere in history. The Aztec civilization and the empire...
Definition
Tarascan Civilization
The Tarascan civilization (aka the Purépecha, after their language) dominated western Mexico and built an empire that would bring it into direct conflict with that other great Mesoamerican...
Definition
Aihole
Aihole (Ayyavole) was an ancient walled city in Karnataka, central India. Aihole was the first regional capital of the Karnakata region under the rule of the Chalukyas. The large number of early...
Definition
Khor Virap
Khor Virap is a monastery located in Armenia that was first established in 642 CE. Its name is derived from "virap nerk'in," which means "deep dungeon" in Armenian. Khor Virap is one of the...
Definition
Cerdic
Cerdic of Wessex (r. 519-534) was King of the West Saxons and the founder of Wessex. His influence was so profound that later genealogies of the English monarchy would claim that all the sovereigns...
Definition
Kachina Cult
The Kachina (also “Katsina”) cult refers to the specific religious practices centered on the kachina, which is a spiritual entity and divine messenger of the Puebloan peoples as well as the...
Article
Game Review: A Plague Tale: Innocence
A Plague Tale: Innocence is a true masterpiece of interactive storytelling. The video game (console versions on Amazon, PC version on Steam) takes the player back to medieval...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Storming of the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille was a decisive moment in the early months of the French Revolution (1789-1799). On 14 July 1789, the Bastille, a fortress and political prison symbolizing...
Definition
Olympia Fulvia Morata
Olympia Fulvia Morata (l. 1526-1555, also given as Olimpia) was an Italian scholar, poet, and writer who sought to advance the Protestant Reformation in Italy. She was considered one...
Article
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown (28 September to 19 October 1781) was the final major military operation of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). It resulted in the surrender of British general...
Curriculum Collection
AP World History Unit 4 - Transoceanic Interconnections (c. 1450–1750)
Between 1450 and 1750, new maritime technology allowed European states to reach the Americas, Africa, and Asia by sea for the first time, linking...
Definition
Battle of Neerwinden
The Battle of Neerwinden saw the major defeat of a French republican army by an allied force of Austrians and Dutch during the War of the First Coalition (1792-97), part of the broader...
Definition
Anglo-Powhatan Wars
The Anglo-Powhatan Wars were a series of conflicts between the English colonists of Virginia and the indigenous people of the Powhatan Confederacy between 1610-1646 CE. The Powhatan Confederacy...
Definition
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (1758-1794) was a French lawyer who became one of the primary leaders of the French Revolution (1789-1799). From his initial rise to...
Definition
Tokugawa Iemitsu
Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651) governed Japan as the third shogun of the Edo period. He implemented a number of important policies that not only consolidated his family's hold on power but...
Modern Period
Image Gallery
12 Maps of World War II in Europe and Africa
This collection of maps tells the story of World War II in Europe and Africa (1939–1945), a global conflict that emerged from unresolved tensions after World War I...
Article
The Aftermath of Nat Turner's Insurrection by John W. Cromwell
John Wesley Cromwell (l. 1846-1927) was an African American civil rights activist, educator, historian, journalist, and lawyer who wrote extensively...
Definition
Thaddeus Stevens - American Jacobin
Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) was a US politician and abolitionist, who rose to prominence in the 1860s during the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras. A leader of the...
Definition
Portuguese Macao
Macao (Macau) is located on a peninsula in the estuary of the Pearl River delta in southeast China and it was a Portuguese colonial settlement from c. 1557 until 1999. Macao was a major...
Image Gallery
Edgar Degas: A Gallery of 30 Paintings
In this gallery, we showcase 30 paintings by Edgar Degas (1834-1917) the French impressionist painter whose innovations contributed to a new definition of modern art. Here...
Article
Found In the Grass
Found In the Grass is a legend of the Algonquian-speaking nations of the Plains Indians and one of the most famous. The story is told in many different versions, but the best-known comes...
Definition
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung (SA or Storm Detachment), popularly known as the Brownshirts for their uniform, was the paramilitary arm of the German Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). The SA...
Article
Vienna’s Legacy: The Habsburg Empire on the Intellectual Map
While most people today know about the influence of London, Paris, and New York on modern thought, Vienna makes few appearances in people’s discussions...
Prehistoric Period
Article
The Megalithic Funerary Art of San Agustín
Beginning approximately 2000 years ago, in a rugged stretch of southwestern Colombia where the Andes split into multiple ranges and the mighty Magdalena River is born...
Definition
Barnhouse Settlement
The Barnhouse Settlement is a Neolithic village located in Antaness, Orkney, Scotland, which was inhabited between c. 3300 and 2600 BCE. The present designation of 'Barnhouse' comes...
Definition
Migration Age
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions or German: Völkerwanderung (wandering of the peoples), was a period of human migration that occurred roughly between 300 to 700 CE...
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...
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...
Image Gallery
Prehistoric Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly are a small island group west of Cornwall. Despite their small size, they abound in prehistoric sites dating from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, including...
Article
The Megalithic Temples of Malta
The megalithic temples of Malta and Gozo rank amongst the oldest free-standing buildings in the world. Construction of these temples started c. 3500 BCE, an impressive architectural...
Article
The Meaning of European Upper Paleolithic Rock Art
Rock art (also known as parietal art) is an umbrella term which refers to several types of creations including finger markings left on soft surfaces, bas-relief...
