Great Fire of London: Did you mean...?

Two clay grenades which were designed to be filled with the flammable liquid known as Greek Fire and launched at the enemy. Greek Fire was first used in the Byzantine empire in 678 CE. These examples date to between the 10th and 12th century...

A photograph of the Reichstag Fire of 27 February 1933, an arson attack on the German parliament blamed on a communist anarchist Marinus van der Lubbe but more likely the work of the Nazi party’s paramilitary group the Sturmabteilung (SA...

Frederick II of Prussia (1712-1786), better known as Frederick the Great, was one of the most consequential rulers of 18th-century Europe. A scion of the House of Hohenzollern, he came to power in 1740 at the age of 28 and, over the course...

George I of Great Britain (r. 1714-1727) succeeded the last of the Stuart monarchs, Queen Anne of Great Britain (r. 1702-1714) because he was Anne's nearest Protestant relative. The House of Hanover secured its position as the new ruling...

A 12th century CE illustration of the Byzantine weapon Greek Fire in action. The weapon sprayed a petroleum-based liquid to set ablaze anything in its path, especially ships. Here the battle is between ships of Michael II and those of Thomas...

A detail of a c. 1512 CE painting by Mathias Grunewald showing a man suffering from St. Anthony's fire (ergotism). 'Temptation of St. Anthony'. (Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, France)

Fire

Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great) was the Tsar of Russia from 1682-1721 and Emperor of Russia from 1721-1725. During his long reign, Peter had absolute power and brought real change to Russia, including building its first navy, introducing...

Alfred the Great (r. 871-899) was the king of Wessex in Britain but came to be known as King of the Anglo-Saxons after his military victories over Viking adversaries and later successful negotiations with them. He is the best-known Anglo-Saxon...

Ancient Persian religion was a polytheistic faith which corresponds roughly to what is known today as ancient Persian mythology. It first developed in the region known as Greater Iran (the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia...