Christmas eve: Did you mean...?

A painting by Charles Landseer, The Eve of the Battle of Edgehill, the first major battle of the English Civil Wars (1642-51). The battle took place on 23 October 1642 between Royalist and Parliamentary forces. The...

A map illustrating the growing instability in Europe in the lead-up to World War II, capturing the aggressive territorial expansion of Nazi Germany and the failure of appeasement. Between 1935 and 1939, a series...

The Christmas Truce of the First World War has become a legendary story. The romantic image of enemies shaking hands in the middle of no man’s land, or playing football between the trenches...

Between German unification (1871) and the outbreak of the First World War (1914), European international relations were increasingly shaped by alliance diplomacy...

By the late 2nd century BCE, following its victories in the Punic Wars (264–146 BCE), the Roman Republic had become the dominant power in the Mediterranean world. Roman authority extended from...

A Christmas card made by the Princess Royal 'Vicky' (Victoria) for her mother Queen Victoria (reign 1837-1901) for Christmas 1855. (Royal Collection Trust)

An 1848 illustration of the royal Christmas tree of Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901) and Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the Prince Consort (l. 1819-61).

An illustration of the Christmas Truce of 1914 on the Western Front during the First World War (1914-18). This first appeared in the London Illustrated News and was drawn by Arthur Cadwgan Michael.

A copy by William Corden of an original watercolour by James Roberts which shows Queen Victoria's Christmas tree and gifts at Windsor Castle in 1850. (Royal Collection Trust)

A c. 1873 photograph of Christmas trees and gifts in the Dining Room of Osborne House, residence of Queen Victoria (reign 1837-1901) on the Isle of Wight. (Royal Collection Trust)