Gunpowder: Did you mean...?

Basil I was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 886 CE and he founded the "Macedonian" dynasty which lasted for over 200 years. Basil was an Armenian from a humble background who had risen to become the second most powerful man...

Mary II of England (r. 1689-1694) ruled jointly with her husband William III of England (r. 1689-1702) until her death from smallpox. While William suffered a xenophobic reaction to his rule, Mary represented the continuity...

James Monroe (1758-1831) was an American statesman who served as the fifth president of the United States (1817-1825). The fourth president to belong to the so-called 'Virginia Dynasty', and the last of the generation of the Founding...

The Cadoudal Affair, or the Pichegru Conspiracy, was a failed royalist attempt to kill or kidnap Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), then the First Consul of the French Republic, and restore the House of Bourbon to the French throne...

The Hundred Years' War was fought intermittently between England and France from 1337 to 1453 CE and the conflict had many consequences, both immediate and long-lasting. Besides the obvious death and destruction...

The staggering quantity of gold the conquistadors extracted from the Americas allowed Spain to become the richest country in the world. The thirst for gold to pay for armies and gain personal enrichment resulted in...

English medieval knights wore metal armour of iron or steel to protect themselves from archers and the long swords of opponents. From the 9th century CE, chain mail suits gave protection and freedom of movement...

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 peace and stability across such a huge...

The Mongol invasions of Japan took place in 1274 and 1281 CE when Kublai Khan (r. 1260-1294 CE) sent two huge fleets from Korea and China. In both cases, the Japanese, and especially the samurai warriors...

Halloween is among the oldest traditions in the world as it touches on an essential element of the human condition: the relationship between the living and the dead. The observance evolved from ancient rituals marking the...