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 APRIL 2024

THREE THINGS I'VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

THIS ISSUE'S CONTRIBUTORS

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

"We need to break free of our babyish way of looking at the past" • SATHNAM SANGHERA’S bestselling 2021 book Empireland found the author in the eye of a media storm. As its follow-up, Empireworld, is released, he talks to Matt Elton about how it felt to make headlines – and how we can have a constructive national conversation about Britain’s imperial past

"The Victorians saw the post office as a highly reliable local institution" • As the long-running post office scandal continues to make headlines, HANNAH SKODA and RANA MITTER talk to Matt Elton about the longer history of postal systems – and why they’ve come to occupy such a central place in societies around the world

MICHAEL WOOD ON… • THE POWER OF GOOD HISTORY

HIDDEN HISTORIES • KAVITA PURI on how the world found out about the Bengal famine

LETTERS

BBC History Magazine

THE DARK MIRROR • In both size and ferocity, the fighting on the eastern front from 1914–17 outdid even the western front. So why, asks Nick Lloyd, has eastern Europe become the forgotten theatre of the First World War?

TIMELINE CATACLYSM IN THE EAST

The Elizabethans • Tracy Borman, who is teaching our new HistoryExtra Academy course, shares five surprising facts about life during the reign of the Virgin Queen

Mad, bad and dangerous to know? • Two hundred years after his death, Lord Byron remains one of Britain’s most controversial poets. But who was the real man behind this scandalous reputation? Charlotte May and Amy Wilcockson look at his life through nine objects

BEASTLY VICTORIANS • They rescued mutilated dogs, prosecuted bull baiters and denounced the slaughter of exotic birds. As the RSPCA marks its 200th anniversary, Helen Cowie reveals how campaigners took the fight to animal abusers in the 19th century

ANCIENT ARMAGEDDON • Nicky Nielsen tells the story of a battle that supercharged the rise of Egypt’s greatest warrior-pharaoh – at a city that would for centuries be linked with the end of the world

ARMED TO THE TEETH • Eight pieces of military kit employed at the time of Thutmosis III

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

DID YOU KNOW…?

Life beyond the margins • From meditations on grief to musings on motherhood, diaries can reveal a great deal about women’s lives over the centuries. Sarah Gristwood turns the pages of some of history’s most fascinating – and overlooked – examples

SECRET VOICES • Five female diarists who offer windows into hidden aspects of history

Emily Anderson Codebreaking pioneer • The work of Britain’s wartime cryptanalysts is now well known – but there is one woman whose contributions have gone largely unrecognised. JACKIE UÍ CHIONNA examines the life of the linguist and musicologist who became the nation’s most senior female codebreaker

"The Black gay movement has always been a broad church" • JASON OKUNDAYE talks to Matt Elton about his new book charting the political, social and sexual lives of...