BBC History Magazine

BBC History Magazine aims to shed new light on the past to help you make more sense of the world today. Fascinating stories from contributors are the leading experts in their fields, so whether they're exploring Ancient Egypt, Tudor England or the Second World War, you'll be reading the latest, most thought-provoking historical research. BBC History Magazine brings history to life with informative, lively and entertaining features written by the world's leading historians and journalists and is a captivating read for anyone who's interested in the past.

WELCOME JULY 2024

THREE THINGS I'VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

THIS ISSUE'S CONTRIBUTORS

ANNIVERSARIES • DANNY BIRD highlights events that took place in July in history

Should period dramas reflect modern sensibilities? • From The Forsyte Saga in the 1960s to the latest season of Bridgerton, period drama has long been a favourite genre with TV audiences. But should such shows reflect our changing tastes as viewers, or offer an accurate view of the people and periods they depict? We asked a panel of experts

Nicolas Kinloch (1954—2024)

MICHAEL WOOD ON… • THE SHAKESPEARE AUTHORSHIP QUESTION

HIDDEN HISTORIES • KAVITA PURI on the emotional impact of telling upsetting stories

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BBC History Magazine

“IT'S TIME TO WRITE WOMEN BACK INTO THESE WORLD-CHANGING ANCIENT EVENTS” • Daisy Dunn tells the story of the Greco-Persian Wars through the deeds of the extraordinary female figures who shaped them

TITANIC STRUGGLE • A timeline of the Greco-Persian Wars

War and pieces • Far from idle pursuits, games have transformed the way societies have made sense of life and death, order and conflict for centuries. Kelly Clancy picks five examples that reveal how playtime has often been a serious business

Horror in France • On the morning of 10 June 1944, the residents of Oradour-sur-Glane were going about their lives as normally as was possible in occupied France: cooking, washing, shopping, playing. Little did they know that they were about to become the victims of one of the most infamous massacres of the Second World War.

Q&A • A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts

DID YOU KNOW…?

Gulbadan Begum The Mughal Jane Austen • Gulbadan Begum was meant to live a quiet life in the confines of a Mughal harem. Instead she made her mark on history twice: first, embarking on a pioneering pilgrimage to Islam's holy cities; second, writing a remarkable history of her dynasty. RUBY LAL tells her story

Britain's war on the slave ships • In the early 19th century, a Royal Navy squadron was sent to west Africa to hunt down ships carrying enslaved people to the Americas. The operation was hailed as an act of “pure unselfish philanthropy”. Yet, writes Mary Wills, the reality was far more tangled

FROM HELL TO FREEDOM? • The capture of a slave ship was the first step of a journey that rarely took enslaved people back to their homelands

Roman Britain • Rob Collins, who is teaching our new HistoryExtra Academy course, shares five surprising facts about life in Britain during the Roman occupation

Succession 1603 • The passing of the English crown from Elizabeth I to James VI & I was welcomed by a nation hungry for change. But, writes Susan Doran, it wasn't long before tensions began to rise between the incoming king and his new subjects

KING JAMES'S UPS AND DOWNS • Whose fortunes surged – and whose took a nosedive – in the new Stuart regime?

THIS MONTH'S TOP PODCAST PICKS

BOOKS

“It had been a tiny triumph, but it had been a British triumph” • MAX HASTINGS talks to Rob Attar about a daring airborne raid that provided a much-needed boost to Britain's...