Europe

The story of Troy speaks to all of us - the kidnapping of Helen, a queen celebrated for her beauty, sees the Greeks launch a thousand ships against the city of Troy, to which they will lay siege for 10 whole and very bloody years.... 

Sixteen hundred years ago, Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin. Into this violent and unstable world came foreign invaders from across the sea and established themselves as its new masters....

A shocking true story of murder, extreme politics and the deep scars left by the Troubles in Ireland of the 1970s and the human consequences. A taut tale of murder, extreme politics, institutionalised violence and the deep scars left by such turmoil....

Professor Alice Roberts combines archaeological finds with cutting-edge DNA research and written history to shed fresh light on how people lived: by examining the stories of the dead....

A thrilling Cold War story about a KGB double agent, by one of Britain's greatest historians - now with a new afterword.... 

Acclaimed military historian Peter Caddick-Adams brings the closing stage of the Allies' fight against Nazi Germany brilliantly to life. He explores the immense challenges they faced in crossing the Rhine on a 300-mile front....

Fintan O'Toole, Ireland's leading public intellectual and author of Heroic Failure, tells a history of Ireland in his own time - a brilliant interweaving of memoir and historical narrative....

The Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks, and they have been retold many times, but rarely do they focus on the remarkable women at the heart of these ancient stories....

In 16th-century Europe, two women came to hold all the power, against all the odds. They were Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici....

The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400....

From the best-selling author of The Templars, Dan Jones' epic new history tells nothing less than the story of how the world we know today came to be built....

In his brilliantly illuminating new book Sathnam Sanghera demonstrates how so much of what we consider to be modern Britain is actually rooted in our imperial past....

Five devastating human stories and a dark and moving portrait of Victorian London - the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper....  

This brilliant new audiobook explores the lives of eight generations of the greatest kings and queens that this country has ever seen, and the worst. The Plantagenets - their story is the story of Britain....

Stalingrad is a harrowing look at one of history's darkest moments....

Told through seven fascinating burial sites, this groundbreaking prehistory of Britain teaches us more about ourselves and our history: how people came and went, how we came to be on this island....

Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War....

From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail....

Here, for the first time, is the story of England's Borgias, a noble house competing for proximity to the throne through cunning, adultery and sheer audacity, revealing some of the period's most talented, intelligent and cunning individuals....

Discover the stories of the brave men and women who worked, trained and fought across the UK, from Bletchley Park in southern England all the way to Arisaig in northern Scotland, in an unbelievable effort to defeat the Nazis and win the Second World War.

Tony Blair is the politician who defines our times....

From much loved historian Neil Oliver comes a whole new insight on our past, told through 100 remarkable, unforgettable stories....

In this groundbreaking investigation, investigative journalist David de Jong reveals how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions from the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II—and how the world allowed them to get away with it....

Antony Beevor's account narrates the origins of the Civil War and its violent and dramatic course from the coup d'etat in July 1936 through the savage fighting of the next three years....

Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat....

Ireland’s Secret War reveals strategic Nazi intentions for Ireland and the real role of leading government figures of the time, placing Dan Bryan and G2—the military intelligence branch of the Irish Defence Forces—at the centre of the country’s battle against Nazi Germany. With the help of over 35 hours of previously unpublished audio recordings that were held in storage in Northern California for over 50 years, Marc Mc Menamin reveals the extraordinary unheard history of WWII in Ireland, told from the point of view of the main protagonists.

More nations have vanished from this Earth than exist today. It is hard to imagine that Scotland or India will one day not exist, yet history is the graveyard of nations. This is the story of one such country, because like a once mighty ship who has sunk into the ocean of history, its wreckage and remains are meager. It is the story of a Kingdom called Alt Clut that existed for 600, perhaps 700 years, and is now almost unheard of. The story of Alt Clut only survives in archaeological finds, linguistic whispers, the chronicles of its neighbors and enemies, poetry, and legends.

Do you remember collecting shrapnel and listening to Children's Hour? Carrying gas masks or sharing your school with evacuees from the city? The 1940s was a decade of challenges for everyone who lived through it. The hardships and fear created by a world war were immense. Britain's towns and cities were being bombed on an almost nightly basis, and many children faced the trauma of being parted from their parents and sent away to the country to live with strangers. For just over half of this decade the war continued, meaning food and clothing shortages became a way of life.

In 16th-century Europe, two women came to hold all the power, against all the odds. They were Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. One a Virgin Queen who ruled her kingdom alone, and the other a clandestine leader who used her children to shape the dynasties of Europe, much has been written about these iconic women. But nothing has been said of their complicated relationship: 30 years of friendship, competition and conflict that changed the face of Europe.

There has never been a distinct people, race or tribe claiming the name of Celtic, though remnants of different languages and cultures remain throughout Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Cornwall. The word keltoi first appears in Greek as applied generally to aliens or 'barbarians'—and theories of Celticism continue to fuel many of the prejudices and misconceptions that divide the peoples of the British Isles to this day. Often seen as unimportant or irrelevant adjuncts to English history, in The Celts Simon Jenkins offers a compelling counterargument.

The Crusades are one of those dark chapters in history that we would rather forget, especially religious people. In name of the church, or other religions, like the Muslim faith, people killed, destroyed, looted, and burned cities to the ground. There is nothing “holy” about attacking and plundering, yet this is what they did. In this book, we’ll explore some of the most important crusades everyone should know about. You will learn to understand better why people started them, what drove them to continue, and what ended them. 

The history of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent civil war has been well documented in a number of books and documentaries. What has received far less coverage is an almost uncannily similar situation in Finland during the same time period. Starting in 1917, Finland was convulsed by a series of events that provided a direct parallel to those in Russia. The revolution, the civil war that followed, and the impact of the end of World War I all helped to define the modern state of Finland. This is the story of a forgotten conflict, its roots, and its impact on Finland and beyond.

What is the mind? How does it relate to the body and soul? These questions were as perplexing for the Elizabethans as they are for us today—although their answers were often startlingly different. Shakespeare and his contemporaries believed the mind was governed by the humors and passions, and was susceptible to the Devil’s interference. In this insightful and wide-ranging account, Helen Hackett explores the intricacies of Elizabethan ideas about the mind. 

When William the Conqueror died in 1087, he left the throne of England to William Rufus . . . his second son. The result was an immediate war as Rufus's elder brother Robert fought to gain the crown he saw as rightfully his; this conflict marked the start of 400 years of bloody disputes as the English monarchy's line of hereditary succession was bent, twisted, and finally broken when the last Plantagenet king, Richard III, fell at Bosworth in 1485.

For three millennia, the Mediterranean Sea served as the center of western civilization and the scene of many colossal wars and naval battles. In the early summer of 1940, this ancient body of water again played host to a new and extensive conflict as the Kingdom of Italy challenged Britain for dominance within the region. With France on the verge of collapse and Britain facing the prospect of imminent invasion, the Italians hoped to re-establish control over the Mediterranean. 

Scotland’s history led its people through many a dark passage: even from its earliest prehistory, this proud nation suffered at the hands of conquerors and invaders. From the Vikings to the Normans and the English—everyone wanted to reign over proud and wild Alba. In the late 1200s and early 1300s, however, the people of Scotland finally stood up and sought the light of freedom: They led a series of wars that would gain them their independence. Many leaders and commanders appeared during this time. Only one emerged as King of the Scots and led the nation to its independence.

How did descendants of Viking marauders came to dominate Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East? It is a tale of ambitious adventures and fierce freebooters, of fortunes made and fortunes lost. The Normans made their influence felt across all of western Europe and the Mediterranean, from the British Isles to North Africa, and Lisbon to the Holy Land. In Empires of the Normans we discover how they combined military might and political savvy with deeply held religious beliefs and a profound sense of their own destiny. 

In this book, we explore British Colonialism in India, a history of oppression and exploitation, whilst celebrating the contributions that the diaspora and its descendants have made to British society. We explore the origins of the British East India Company, navigating through the dark history of a struggle for independence. On the way we meet Mahatma Gandhi, and recognize his significance in the fight for independence, before we discuss the partition of India and creation of Pakistan. We conclude with Indian emigration to the UK, and the history of the modern-day British Indian.

The Chronicle is one of the most ambitious productions ever commissioned. An epic eye-witness history of the last five hundred years, told entirely in the words of those who were there. Performed by an outstanding cast of actors in a dramatised setting, we take you on a daily journey from January 1st to December 31st to reveal a fascinating and intriguing record of life as witnessed by some of history’s most colourful characters.

Here we have it: We may be looking at the years 2020-2021 and think a certain virus has been bad for the world population. However, what happened in these two years is nothing, proportionally, to the hundreds of millions of people who got wiped out by rat infestations spreading insanitary bacteria, resulting in the disease and death of huge parts of the European population in the mid-centuries.