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The Normandy Landings
In this collection of resources, we look at the events of D-Day, 6 June 1944, when the Allies stormed the Normandy beaches in France on the first day of a campaign to free Western Europe from occupation by Nazi Germany during the Second World War (1939-45). We examine the objectives of D-Day, each of the five beaches of the landings...
Featured
Article
Clocks in the Scientific Revolution
Keeping good time proved an elusive objective for centuries, and it was only in the second half of the 17th century, during the Scientific Revolution (1500-1700), that clocks...
Featured
Image
Alexander the Great’s Eight Bodyguards - The Somatophylakes and the Macedonian Empire
Under Philip II of Macedon (reign 359–336 BCE) and Alexander the Great (reign 336–323 BCE), the somatophylakes (“bodyguards”) formed...
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10 Crowned Monarchs on Crusade for the Holy Land (1107–1254) - Kings and Emperors Who Personally Led Crusades to Jerusalem
Between 1107 and 1254, ten crowned European monarchs personally led or joined major Crusades to the Holy...
Latest Content
Definition
Abraham Lincoln - Preserver of the Union
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the sixteenth president of the United States. He led the country through the tumultuous...
Article
N. Bart Pearce Account of the Battle of Wilson's Creek - The Confederate View of the Conflict
Nicholas Bartlett Pearce (better known as N. Bart Pearce, 1828 to 1894) was a brigadier general in the Arkansas Militia who allied...
Definition
Thaddeus Stevens - American Jacobin
Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) was a US politician and abolitionist, who rose to prominence in the 1860s during the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras. A leader of the...
Definition
Battle of Wilson's Creek - The "Bull Run of the West"
The Battle of Wilson's Creek (also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, 10 August 1861) was the second major battle of the American Civil War and the first major...
Article
Eyewitness Accounts of the Pacific War - From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima
The Pacific War (1941-45) was the theatre of the Second World War that saw Imperial Japan and the United States, with its allies, fight for control...
Definition
US Presidential Election of 1860 - The Election That Caused a Civil War
The election of 1860 was one of the most pivotal moments in the political history of the United States and was one of the direct causes of the...
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Map of the Norman Conquest of England, 1066–1086 - From Hastings to Domesday – The Making of Norman England
The Norman Conquest of England began in 1066 after the death of Edward the Confessor (reign 1042–1066) without a direct...
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Map of the Caucasus after the Peace of Nisibis 299 CE - Roman and Sasanian Power on the Caucasian Frontier
The Peace of Nisibis (299 CE) ended the Roman–Sasanian War of 296–299 CE after Galerius, Caesar under the Roman emperor...
Image
Map of the African Slave Trade Networks, c. 1750 - Atlantic, Trans-Saharan, Red Sea & Indian Ocean Routes
By c. 1750, the slave trades affecting Africa were entering a period of major transformation. Long-established trans-Saharan...
For You
Definition
Semiramis
Semiramis is a legendary queen thought to based on the historical Sammu-Ramat (r. 811-806 BCE) the queen regent of the Assyrian Empire who held the throne for her young son Adad Nirari III until...
Interview
Interview: Early Medieval Irish Book Art
Early medieval Irish book art is both beautiful and fascinating. It reflects a flourishing monastic culture which played a key role in the cultural development of Europe...
Article
Norse Alcohol & The Mead of Poetry
Alcohol played an integral part in Norse culture. People drank ale more than water because the brew had to be boiled as part of the process and so was safer to drink. The...
Definition
Greek Architecture
Greek architecture is concerned with simplicity, proportion, perspective, and harmony in buildings. Greek architecture includes some of the finest and most distinctive buildings ever built...
Book Reviews
Book Review
The Army of Alexander the Great
The Army of Alexander the Great (2025) is a highly detailed and insightful examination of one of the most influential military forces in history. Rather than presenting Alexander...
Book Review
Jean-Paul Marat: Prophet of Terror
Keith Michael Baker’s Jean-Paul Marat: Prophet of Terror is a 27-chapter comprehensive biography of one of the men identified with the French Revolution’s most violent period...
Book Review
Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires
The Silk Road may have carried the world’s most luxurious fabrics for trade, but it was paved with horses’ hooves. From the Bronze Age to the 20th century...
Statistics
| 2,973 | definitions |
| 1,748 | articles |
| 19,716 | illustrations |
| 2,623 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 15,745 | translations |
| 47 | languages |
| 1,327 | contributors |
| 15,371 | keywords |
| 54,150 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Article
Athens in the Hellenistic World
When we think about ancient Athens, it is almost always about the classical city. We think of such things as its numerous monuments (the Parthenon on the Acropolis for example...
Definition
Medes
The Medes or Medians were a group of Indo-Iranian-speaking people from central Asia who migrated westwards and entered northern Iran around the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. They settled in the...
Definition
Set (Egyptian God)
Set, also known as Seth and Suetekh, was the Egyptian god of war, chaos, and storms, brother of Osiris, Isis, and Horus the Elder, uncle to Horus the Younger, and brother-husband to Nephthys...
Definition
Carthago Nova
Carthago Nova (modern-day Cartagena) was a city on the southern Iberian Peninsula, Spain, originally known as Mastia. Human habitation of the region predates the Neolithic Period, but the...
Definition
Otho
Otho was Roman emperor from January to April 69 CE. Immediately after the assassination of Galba, Otho, the governor of Lusitania, was proclaimed emperor by the army. However, the unrest that existed...
Article
The Egyptian Afterlife & The Feather of Truth
Is it possible to have a heart that is lighter than a feather? To the ancient Egyptians it was not only possible but highly desirable. The after-life of the ancient...
Article
Pre-Inca Civilisations at the Tucume Museum
On 1 November 2015 CE, at the annual dinner hosted by the British Guild of Travel Writers at the Savoy Hotel in London, it was announced that the Tucume Museum in northern...
Article
7 Ancient Sites in Georgia
Georgia, lying at the junction of Europe and Asia, is a country of ancient myths with a rich and turbulent history. Home to the first European hominids and the birthplace of wine...
Medieval Period
Definition
Medieval Castle
Medieval castles were built from the 11th century CE for rulers to demonstrate their wealth and power to the local populace, to provide a place of defence and safe retreat in the case of...
Article
Christianization of Iceland
The Christianization of Iceland was a smooth transition compared to other Scandinavian countries. While in Norway, Denmark, or Sweden, royal authority played a crucial role in conversion...
Article
Martial Arts in Medieval Japan
There were 18 martial arts (bugei or bujutsu) in medieval Japan, and these included use of weapons, unarmed self-defence techniques, swimming, and equestrian skills. Initially...
Definition
Pietro Perugino
Pietro Perugino (c. 1450-1523), real name Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance artist who created frescoes for the Vatican's Sistine Chapel and was in demand across...
Definition
Tairona Civilization
The Tairona civilization - one of the Chibcha family tribes - flourished in northern Colombia between 200 CE and 1600 CE. Like the Muisca of Cundinamarca, the Tairona were known for...
Article
Monastic Orders of the Middle Ages
The monastic orders of the Middle Ages developed from the desire to live a spiritual life without the distractions of the world. Men and women who took religious vows were...
Definition
First Crusade
The First Crusade (1095-1102) was a military campaign by western European forces to recapture the city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim control. Conceived by Pope Urban II following...
Definition
Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II of Scotland reigned from 1214 to 1249 CE. Succeeding his father William I of Scotland (r. 1165-1214 CE), Alexander supported the northern barons in England against the...
Early Modern Period
Article
The Microscope & the Scientific Revolution
The microscope was one of the most significant inventions of the Scientific Revolution, opening up completely new and miniaturised worlds. The first microscopes were...
Definition
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and natural philosopher. He created a superior telescope with which he made new observations of the night...
Article
The Iberian Conquest of the Americas
European explorers began to probe the Western Hemisphere in the early 1500s, and they found to their utter amazement not only a huge landmass but also a world filled with...
Definition
War of the Austrian Succession - How One Woman's Right to Rule Plunged Europe into War
The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) was a major conflict fought between the great powers of Europe, sparked by a dispute...
Article
The Origin of Medicine
The Origin of Medicine is a Cherokee story on the theme of balance and respect told from the point of view of the animals and plant life. When the animal world turns against humanity...
Definition
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) was a Danish nobleman who made the most significant contribution to our knowledge of astronomy before the telescope arrived. He discovered a supernova, observed the elliptical...
Article
Siege of Toulon
The Siege of Toulon (29 August to 19 December 1793) was a decisive military operation during the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802), conducted by a French Republican army to retake the...
Article
Hidatsa Sun Dance Ritual
The Hidatsa Sun Dance Ritual (also known as Hidatsa Sun Dance) is a Native American story of the Hidatsa nation illustrating the practice of an individual initiating the Sun Dance...
Modern Period
Definition
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was an American lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. A prominent figure of the American Revolution, he wrote the Declaration...
Definition
Sun Dance
The Sun Dance is a ritual ceremony observed by the Plains Indians of the regions of modern Canada and the United States to awaken the earth, renew the community, give thanks for the sun, and...
Definition
East India Company
The English East India Company (EIC or EEIC), later to become the British East India Company, was founded in 1600 as a trading company. With a massive private army and the backing of the...
Image Gallery
Mary Cassatt: A Gallery of 30 Paintings
In this gallery, we showcase 30 works by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), the American impressionist painter. The selection here is presented in chronological sequence to show...
Article
Cheyenne Creation Story
The Cheyenne Creation Story is the account of the beginning of the world, the seasons, and the first people in the time before time when all was water, and nothing existed but the...
Definition
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg trials (1945-6), held in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany, were a series of trials involving the senior surviving Nazis to hold them accountable for waging war and committing...
Definition
Bernard Montgomery
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976) was one of Britain's top commnaders in the Second World War (1939-45). He famously defeated Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) at the Second Battle of...
Article
The Brave Who Went on the Warpath Alone and Won the Name of the Lone Warrior
The Brave Who Went on the Warpath Alone and Won the Name of the Lone Warrior is a Sioux tale in the tradition of the hero's journey in which...
Prehistoric Period
Article
Dynamics of the Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution began between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago at several widely dispersed locations across the world, when our ancestors first began planting and raising...
Definition
Neolithic Period
The term Neolithic Period refers to the last stage of the Stone Age - a term coined in the late 19th century CE by scholars which covers three different periods: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic...
Definition
Europe
Europe is a continent forming the westernmost part of the land mass of Eurasia and comprised of 49 sovereign states. Its name may come from the Greek myth of Europa, but human habitation of the...
Definition
First Agricultural Revolution
The First Agricultural Revolution, beginning c. 12-20,000 years ago, was characterized by the emergence of different agricultural systems in different parts of the world, whose...
Definition
Predynastic Period in Egypt - The Time Before History Began
The Predynastic Period in ancient Egypt is the time before recorded history, from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age and on to the rise of the First Dynasty...
Definition
Clava Cairns - Monuments to Memory and More
Clava Cairns is an early Bronze Age site in Scotland, located east of the city of Inverness, consisting of three well-preserved cairns (two of which are passage graves...
Article
The Meaning of European Upper Paleolithic Rock Art
Rock art (also known as parietal art) is an umbrella term which refers to several types of creations including finger markings left on soft surfaces, bas-relief...
Definition
Ceide Fields
The Ceide Fields, near Ballycastle, Co. Mayo, on the western coast of Ireland, are recognised as one of the oldest and largest Stone Age farming sites in the world, dating back to c. 3700 BCE...
