Featured
Definition
Omaha Beach - D-Day's Deadliest Beach
Omaha Beach was one of two beaches attacked by the US armed forces on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Strong German defences on the bluff overlooking the beach made this area the most difficult of the Normandy landings, but by the end of the day, the beachhead...
Featured
Collection
The Normandy Landings
In this collection of resources, we look at the events of D-Day, 6 June 1944, when the Allies stormed the Normandy beaches in France on the first day of a campaign to free Western Europe...
Featured
Image
Map of the Korean War, 1950–1953 - Major Campaigns and Front-Line Movements
The Korean War (1950–1953) began on 25 June 1950 when communist North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), invaded South...
Featured
Image
Map of The D-Day and the Normandy Landings, June 1944 - Operation Overlord & History's Largest Amphibious Invasion
The Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944, commonly known as D-Day, marked one of the most significant...
Latest Content
Definition
Manhattan Project - Building the Atomic Bomb
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...
Definition
Almourol Castle - Island Fortress of the Knights Templar
Almourol Castle in Portugal was built on a 310-meter-long and 75-meter-wide granite islet in the middle of the Tagus River. Earlier Roman and Moorish structures...
Definition
George H. Thomas - The Underrated Hero of the Union
George H. Thomas (1816 to 1870) was a Union general in the American Civil War who first came to national attention after his victory at the Battle of Mill Springs...
Article
Why Japan's Kamikaze Attacks Failed in WWII
Kamikaze attacks were made by Japanese servicemen throughout the final, desperate year of the Second World War (1939-45). Planes, piloted rockets, and boats were packed...
Definition
Abraham Lincoln - Preserver of the Union
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the sixteenth president of the United States. He led the country through the tumultuous...
Article
N. Bart Pearce Account of the Battle of Wilson's Creek - The Confederate View of the Conflict
Nicholas Bartlett Pearce (better known as N. Bart Pearce, 1828 to 1894) was a brigadier general in the Arkansas Militia who allied...
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Map of the Korean War, 1950–1953 - Major Campaigns and Front-Line Movements
The Korean War (1950–1953) began on 25 June 1950 when communist North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), invaded South...
Image
Map of the Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus, 1492–1504 - Routes, Landfalls & Colonial Expansion in the Americas
Christopher Columbus (c. 1451–1506) led four transatlantic expeditions between 1492 and 1504 under the patronage...
Image
Map of the Norman Conquest of England, 1066–1086 - From Hastings to Domesday – The Making of Norman England
The Norman Conquest of England began in 1066 after the death of Edward the Confessor (reign 1042–1066) without a direct...
For You
Definition
Judean Pillar Figurines
Judean pillar figurines are an interesting and specific form of female representation from the Iron Age kingdom of Judah. They fall into a broader category of pillar figurines, which...
Article
William Harvey's Discovery of Blood Circulation
The human body's system of blood circulation was discovered by the English physician and anatomist William Harvey (1578-1657) in 1628. Harvey determined the relationship...
Article
Dynamics of the Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution began between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago at several widely dispersed locations across the world, when our ancestors first began planting and raising...
Article
History of Assyria
The foundation of the Assyrian dynasty can be traced to Zulilu, who is said to have lived after Bel-kap-kapu (c. 1900 BCE), the ancestor of Shalmaneser I. The city-state of Ashur rose...
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
Dante: A Life
Writing a biography of Dante Alighieri is not an easy task even for the most talented historians. In narrating the life of the great Florentine poet, universally considered the initiator of...
Book Review
Domitian’s Rome and the Augustan Legacy
The Flavian dynasty has often been portrayed in a positive light except for its final emperor, Domitian. The legacy of Emperor Augustus, according to Marks and Mogetta...
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| 1,749 | articles |
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| 2,623 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
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| 1,330 | contributors |
| 15,389 | keywords |
| 54,798 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Article
The Five Gifts of Hathor: Gratitude in Ancient Egypt
The central cultural value of ancient Egypt was ma'at – harmony and balance – which maintained the order of the universe and the lives of the people. Keeping...
Definition
Agamemnon (Play)
The play Agamemnon was written by one of the greatest Greek tragedians Aeschylus (c. 525 – 455 BCE), “Father of Greek Tragedy.” Older than both Sophocles and Euripides, he was the most popular...
Definition
Pergamon
Pergamon (also Pergamum) was a major intellectual and cultural center in Mysia (northwest Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey) which flourished under the Attalid Dynasty (281-133 BCE) during the Hellenistic...
Collection
Great African Kingdoms
This collection presents a small sampling of the many great African kingdoms that rose and fell from the ancient period when Punt traded with Egypt up through the common era. Each kingdom...
Definition
Amphipolis
Amphipolis, located on a plain in northern Macedonia near Mt. Pangaion and the river Strymon, was an Athenian colony founded c. 437 BCE on the older Thracian site of Ennea Hodoi. Thucydides...
Definition
Tantalus - The Man Who Could Never Quench His Thirst
Tantalus is a figure from Greek mythology who was the rich but wicked king of Sipylus. For attempting to serve his own son at a feast with the gods, he was punished...
Article
Ancient Korean & Japanese Relations
Ancient East Asia was dominated by the three states known today as China, Japan, and Korea. These kingdoms traded raw materials and high-quality manufactured goods, exchanged...
Article
Herodotus on Babylon
The description of Babylon and Babylonian customs in Histories by the Greek historian Herodotus (l. c. 484-425/413 BCE) has long been challenged for accuracy and been found wanting...
Medieval Period
Definition
Norman Conquest of England
The Norman Conquest of England (1066-71) was led by William the Conqueror who defeated King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Anglo-Saxon elite lost power as William...
Definition
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of military campaigns organised by popes and Christian western powers to take Jerusalem and the Holy Land back from Muslim control and then defend those gains. There...
Article
The Meanings of Mjölnir - Thor's Hammer & More
One of the most famous objects in Norse mythology, Mjölnir was the hammer wielded by Thor, god of storms and thunder, and was his most potent weapon in battles against...
Definition
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire (1206-1368) was founded by Genghis Khan (r. 1206-1227), first Great Khan or 'universal ruler' of the Mongol peoples. Genghis forged the empire by uniting nomadic tribes of...
Definition
The Description of Africa
The Description of Africa is the first comprehensive book about Africa, written by Leo Africanus, an African scholar trained in the Islamic intellectual tradition, in 1526, during...
Article
Hummingbirds in Aztec Culture - Warriors, Survivors, & the Namesakes of Gods & Kings
Hummingbirds, called huitzillin ("wee-TZEEL-een") in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, are one of the most recognizable and striking...
Collection
Mesoamerican Civilizations
Ancient Mesoamerica (modern-day Mexico and Central America) witnessed an extraordinary flourishing of cultures from the beginnings of the Olmec civilization around 1200 BCE, through...
Definition
Hongwu Emperor
The Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368-1398 CE) was the founder of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 CE) which took over from the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1276-1368 CE) as the rulers of China. Born a peasant...
Early Modern Period
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
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
"Give me liberty or give me death!” is the closing line from a speech made by Patrick Henry to the Second Virginia Convention on 23 March 1775, in which he argued that war with...
Definition
Battle of Valmy
The Battle of Valmy was a stunning French victory over a Prussian-led coalition army on 20 September 1792, during the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802). Although the battle was little...
Definition
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) was an accomplished cavalry commander, then head of Parliament's New Model Army, and finally Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The latter title...
Definition
US Presidential Election of 1796
The US presidential election of 1796 was the first contested presidential election in the history of the United States. John Adams, the candidate of the Federalist Party, won...
Article
The Capture of the Treasure Ship Madre de Deus
The treasure ship Madre de Deus (aka Madre de Dios) was a Portuguese vessel carrying hugely valuable cargo from the East Indies which was attacked and captured by...
Definition
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) was the first full-scale armed insurrection in Colonial America pitting the landowner Nathaniel Bacon (l. 1647-1676) and his supporters of black and white indentured...
Definition
Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr (1756-1836) was an American politician and lawyer, who served as the third vice president of the United States (1801-1805). His reputation as a US Founding Father was marred by his...
Modern Period
Article
Architects of France's 1901 Law of Associations
The Law of Associations was adopted by the French Parliament on 3 July 1901 to limit the influence of Catholic teaching orders as the first step toward the formal...
Article
Badger-Woman
Badger-Woman is a story of the Arapaho nation about a noble young hunter who refuses the advances of his sister-in-law and is then betrayed by her. The tale is similar to those of other civilizations...
Article
The 1944 Plot to Assassinate Hitler
A group of German generals attempted to assassinate the leader of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) using a bomb on 20 July 1944 but failed. The conspirators were against...
Article
Battle of Verdun - The Longest Battle of World War I
When German generals decided on a strategy of attrition to methodically wear down the French Army in the middle of the First World War (1914-18), the Battle of...
Image Gallery
The Story of WWI in 50 Images
The First World War (1914-18) was the first global conflict, the first mechanised conflict, and the first to involve civilians far from the fighting front. In this gallery of...
Definition
Great Exhibition
The 1851 Great Exhibition was held in the purpose-built Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, to showcase the latest developments in engineering, science, and the arts, as well as objects...
Collection
The Steps to World War Two
The causes of WWII (1939-45) were many and varied, but there was a chain of international crises in Europe, which finally degenerated into a conflict that ultimately spread to engulf...
Article
Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota Sioux
The Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota Sioux (Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota Oyate) are the spiritual observances of the Native American Sioux nation that maintain their...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a Neolithic / Bronze Age monument located on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, southern England. The first monument on the site, began around 3100 BCE, was a circular 'henge' earthwork...
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
Europe
Europe is a continent forming the westernmost part of the land mass of Eurasia and comprised of 49 sovereign states. Its name may come from the Greek myth of Europa, but human habitation of the...
Definition
Newgrange
Newgrange is a Neolithic monument located in the region of Bru na Boinne, County Meath, Ireland. The name is fairly modern and comes from the 'newer' grange (farm) of the monks of Mellifont Abbey...
Definition
Dolmen
A dolmen is a megalithic structure typically formed from a large horizontal stone slab resting on two or more upright slabs. The oldest European examples are found in Brittany, northern France...
Definition
Paleolithic
The Palaeolithic ('Old Stone Age') makes up the earliest chunk of the Stone Age – the large swathe of time during which hominins used stone to make tools – and ranges from the first known tool...
Definition
Lindow Man
The Lindow Man (officially Lindow III) is the top half of a male body, found preserved in a peat bog in Cheshire, England. The peat bogs at Lindow Moss date back to the last ice age and were...
Definition
First Agricultural Revolution
The First Agricultural Revolution, beginning c. 12-20,000 years ago, was characterized by the emergence of different agricultural systems in different parts of the world, whose...
