Featured
Article
Causes of the Russian Revolution of 1917
There were many causes behind the Russian Revolution of 1917, ranging from the unpopular authoritarian rule of Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917) to the radical mobilisation of the working class, who wanted better working...
Featured
Definition
Gunpowder Plot - Guy Fawkes & the Plan to Blow up Parliament
The 1605 Gunpowder Plot was a failed attempt by pro-Catholic conspirators to blow up the English Parliament on 5 November and kill King James I of England...
Featured
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The Four Intact Pharaoh Burials of Ancient Egypt - Tutankhamun and the Royal Treasures of Tanis
Ancient Egyptian royal burials were designed to preserve the pharaoh's body, identity, and status for the afterlife. Coffins...
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12 Royal Princes Who Never Reached the Throne - From Germanicus to the Black Prince & Franz Ferdinand
Royal heirs and princes expected to succeed to a throne occupied an unusually precarious position: close enough to power...
Latest Content
Article
Battle of Hampton Roads - Clash of the Ironclads
The Battle of Hampton Roads (8-9 March 1862), also known as the Battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack, Battle of Ironclads, or Clash of the Ironclads, was a naval...
Article
The USSR's Great Famine of 1932-3
The USSR's Great Famine of 1932-3 was caused by a combination of aggressive requisitioning of foodstuffs by the state, the sale of grain abroad, persecution of farmers, and...
Article
Federalist No. 10 - James Madison's Antidote to the Dangers of Factionalism
Federalist No. 10 was an essay written by James Madison, under the pseudonym Publius, and originally published in the New York Daily Advisor...
Article
Stalin's Collectivisation of Agriculture
Joseph Stalin's policy to collect private farms into cooperatives and wholly state-owned farms across the USSR began in 1928. Stalin hoped the process of collectivisation...
Article
James Longstreet's Account of the Battle of Gettysburg - Excerpts From the Official Action Report
At the Battle of Gettysburg (1-3 July 1863) Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet urged his commanding officer...
Article
Gilgamesh and Huwawa - The Epic Battle of the Cedar Forest
Gilgamesh and Huwawa is a Sumerian poem relating the expedition of Gilgamesh and Enkidu to the Cedar Forest and the slaying of the monster-demon Huwawa...
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The Four Intact Pharaoh Burials of Ancient Egypt - Tutankhamun and the Royal Treasures of Tanis
Ancient Egyptian royal burials were designed to preserve the pharaoh's body, identity, and status for the afterlife. Coffins...
Image
Map of the Russian Empire in 1914 - From Muscovy to World War I, 1533–1914
By 1914, the Russian Empire was one of the largest contiguous empires in history, stretching from Eastern Europe across Siberia to the Pacific...
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Map of Europe After World War II, 1945–1989 - Cold War Division, Reconstruction, and Alliances
Following World War II (1939–1945), Europe emerged devastated and increasingly divided between rival political systems. As relations...
For You
Definition
Red Cloud's War
Red Cloud's War (1866-1868) was a conflict between the Lakota Sioux-Cheyenne-Arapaho alliance and the US government over the westward expansion of the United States into the Powder River...
Definition
Battle of Gaixia
The Battle of Gaixia (202 BCE, also known as Kai-Hsia) was the decisive engagement of the Chu-Han Contention (206-202 BCE) at which Liu Bang (l. c. 256-195 BCE), from the State of Han, defeated...
Collection
Unsolved Ancient Mysteries
We know a lot about our past but some things, despite research, archaeology and endless debate, still remain largely unknown. This collection looks at some of the great unsolved...
Collection
The Viking Age
This collection on the Vikings, who dominated northern Europe from c. 790 CE to c. 1100 CE, examines not only their fearsome reputation for war and invasion but also their celebrated ships...
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
Egyptian Mythology: A Traveler's Guide from Aswan to Alexandria
Egyptian Mythology: A Travelers Guide from Aswan to Alexandria by Egyptologist Garry J. Shaw takes you on a journey up the Nile as if on a tour of Egypt's...
Book Review
The Ptolemies, Rise of a Dynasty: Ptolemaic Egypt 330–246 BC
In the introduction, Grainger makes the disconcertingly false claim that Ptolemaic Egypt’s political and military affairs were solely the province of...
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| 1,770 | articles |
| 19,882 | illustrations |
| 2,645 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 16,465 | translations |
| 48 | languages |
| 1,346 | contributors |
| 15,652 | keywords |
| 63,087 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Article
Eunuchs in Ancient China
Eunuchs were powerful political players in ancient Chinese government. Originating as trusted slaves in the royal household they were ambitious to use their favoured position to gain...
Definition
Pertinax
Pertinax was Roman Emperor for three months in 193 CE and, as successor to Commodus, it was hoped that he would restore much needed sobriety to the office of emperor. However, the former teacher...
Definition
Quipu - The Inca String Record-Keeping Device
A quipu (khipu) was a method used by the Incas and other ancient Andean cultures to keep records and communicate information using string and knots. In the absence...
Definition
Boudicca
Boudicca (d. 61 CE) was the Celtic queen of the Iceni tribe of modern-day East Anglia, Britain, who led a revolt against Rome in 60/61 CE. The Iceni king, Prasutagus, an independent ally of Rome...
Definition
Childeric I
Childeric I (r. c. 458-481) was a late antiquity king of the Salian Franks during the period of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Childeric's reign solidified the Salians as a dominant Frankish...
Article
Female Gladiators In Ancient Rome
Female gladiators in ancient Rome – referred to by modern-day scholars as gladiatrix – may have been uncommon but they did exist. Evidence suggests that a number of women participated...
Definition
Chimu Civilization
The Chimu civilization, otherwise called the kingdom of Chimor, flourished on the northern coast of Peru between the 12th and 15th centuries CE. With their capital at Chan Chan, the Chimu...
Definition
Tikal
Tikal, located in the north of the Petén region of Guatemala, was a major Maya city which flourished between 300 and 850 CE. The city, known to the Maya themselves as Mutul, is one of the grandest...
Medieval Period
Definition
Kachina Cult
The Kachina (also “Katsina”) cult refers to the specific religious practices centered on the kachina, which is a spiritual entity and divine messenger of the Puebloan peoples as well as the...
Definition
Wonhyo
Wonhyo (l. 617-686 CE) was a Korean Buddhist philosopher whose works impacted a wide array of later philosophers and writers through his teaching that one’s interpretation of the world created one’s...
Definition
Faras Cathedral
The Cathedral of Faras, a city in ancient Nubia and once the capital of the Kingdom of Faras (aka Nobatia), was built and rebuilt from the 8th to 11th century CE. Its interior was decorated...
Definition
Chilperic I
Chilperic I (r. 561-584) was a king of the Merovingian Dynasty, who ruled over the Frankish kingdom of Neustria. During his reign, Chilperic was often occupied with civil wars against his brothers...
Definition
Astrolabe
The astrolabe is an astronomical instrument used from around the 6th century to measure time and position by determining the altitude of heavenly bodies like the Sun and certain stars. Measurements...
Definition
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian Renaissance artist, architect, engineer, and scientist. He is renowned for his ability to observe and capture nature, scientific phenomena...
Definition
Azuchi-Momoyama Period
The Azuchi-Momoyama Period (Azuchi-Momoyama Jidai, aka Shokuho Period, 1568/73 - 1600 CE) was a brief but significant period of medieval Japan's history which saw the country unified...
Definition
The Constantinian Excerpts - The 10th Century Byzantine Encyclopedia
The Constantinian Excerpts, or Excerpta Constantiniana is the conventional name given to the mid-10th Century Byzantine palace encyclopedia commissioned...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) was an English manufacturer and inventor who designed and created pottery of all kinds. Noted for his jasper stoneware, Wedgwood was also innovative in how he...
Definition
Benvenuto Cellini
Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571 CE) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, medallist, and goldsmith whose most famous works today include the bronze statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa...
Definition
Storming of the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille was a decisive moment in the early months of the French Revolution (1789-1799). On 14 July 1789, the Bastille, a fortress and political prison symbolizing...
Definition
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (l. 1483-1546) was a German priest, monk, and theologian who became the central figure of the religious and cultural movement known as the Protestant Reformation. Even though...
Article
La Malinche - A Complicated Woman in Context
La Malinche, or Malintzin, was the primary interpreter in the retinue of Hernán Cortés during his conquest of Mexico in the early 16th century and has become one of...
Definition
Colonel Tye
Colonel Tye (c. 1753-1780) was an African-American Loyalist leader who commanded one of the most effective guerilla forces of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Born into slavery, he...
Article
Siege of Bristol in 1645
The siege and capture of Bristol by Parliamentary forces on 10 September 1645 was one of the most devastating blows to the Royalist cause during the English Civil Wars (1642-1651...
Article
The Printing Revolution in Renaissance Europe
The arrival in Europe of the printing press with moveable metal type in the 1450s CE was an event which had enormous and long-lasting consequences. The German printer...
Modern Period
Article
How the United Nations was Born from WWII
The Allies met in several conferences from 1941 to 1945 to discuss how to guarantee a more peaceful and cooperative world once the Second World War (1939-45) was concluded...
Definition
Thomas Jefferson - The Flawed Idealist of the American Enlightenment
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was an American lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. A prominent figure of the...
Collection
The Steps to World War Two
The causes of WWII (1939-45) were many and varied, but there was a chain of international crises in Europe, which finally degenerated into a conflict that ultimately spread to engulf...
Article
Native American Land & The Mysterious Butte Legend
The Native American understanding of the land as a living thing, providing for, guiding, and speaking to the people, is expressed in many of their stories, legends...
Article
The Boy Who Saw A-ti'us
The Boy Who Saw A-ti'us is a legend of the Pawnee nation about a young man who is granted a vision of the Creator Ti-ra'wa A-ti'us (also known simply as Ti-ra'wa or as A-ti'us) and...
Article
Eyewitness Accounts of WWI
The First World War (1914-18) was the first truly global conflict and the first to be fully mechanised. Armies clashed across continents on land, in the air, and at sea. Civilians...
Definition
Battleship Bismarck
The Bismarck was a German battleship, the largest and most powerful capital ship in the Kriegsmarine. For all its weaponry and armour, the ship was involved in only one major operation...
Definition
Claude Monet
Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a French impressionist painter who transformed modern art with his emphasis on light brushstrokes, bright colours, and uncluttered nature. Famed for his landscapes...
Prehistoric Period
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...
Article
Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Hunter-gatherer societies are – true to their astoundingly descriptive name – cultures in which human beings obtain their food by hunting, fishing, scavenging, and gathering...
Article
The Dolmens of Sicily
It is a well-known fact that Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean sea, went through a quite complex prehistoric period. So much so that it is difficult to navigate through...
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...
Definition
Ice Age
An ice age is a period in which the earth's climate is colder than normal, with ice sheets capping the poles and glaciers dominating higher altitudes. Within an ice age, there are varying pulses...
Article
Rock Drawings of Valcamonica
The rock drawings of Valcamonica are prehistoric petroglyphs carved in the glacier-polished, grey-purple Permian sandstone of the Camonica valley that extends for 90 km in the...
Definition
Newgrange
Newgrange is a Neolithic monument located in the region of Bru na Boinne, County Meath, Ireland. The name is fairly modern and comes from the 'newer' grange (farm) of the monks of Mellifont Abbey...
Definition
Ness of Brodgar
The Ness of Brodgar is a Neolithic Age site discovered in 2002 CE through a geophysical survey of the area of land in Stenness in Orkney, Scotland, which separates the salt water Stenness...
