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Book Reviews
Sally Coulthard Sheep
A Short History of the World According to Sheep, Sally Coulthard
What’s truly joyful about 'A Short History of the World According to Sheep' is how Coulthard has woven together so many different disciplines – history, literature, archaeology, etymology, genetics, current affairs and politics, earth sciences and astrophysics – into such a witty and entertaining narrative, so that the reader comes away not just…
High and Late Medieval
The Black Death
The Black Death: A Brief Introduction
The Black Death looms large in the modern imagination, as it did in the minds of late medieval people. It is a spectre, or shadow, reminding everyone of their mortality, and the briefness of life. The reactions it provoked showed the best, and worst, of the human condition, and its long-term effects contributed to sweeping changes in society.
Book Reviews
Philip and Alexander
Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors, Adrian Goldsworthy
In the space of just forty years, the small and troubled kingdom of Macedonia went from an inconsequential backwater on the northern edge of Greece to a superpower that had challenged, and beaten, the greatest empires of the known world. In large part, this was down to the aspirations and actions of just two people: King Philip II of Macedon and…
News
Film reel
Fast and Loose: The Value of Historically Questionable Cinema
Historical cinema comes in for endless criticism from reviewers, viewers and – of course – historians: filmmakers bring their own interests, opinions and biases to their work. They make films not just to entertain, but generally speaking to express a message. So what value is there in an historical film, especially one which takes huge liberties…
Book Reviews
World Aflame
The World Aflame, Dan Jones and Marina Amaral
The World Aflame is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Colour of Time, a worldwide bestseller that changed perceptions of the past through the careful colourization of black-and-white photographs. Marina Amaral’s pictures and Dan Jones’s text took the reader on a new journey through history, from the first photographs to the popularization…

Latest Articles

The Black Death
The Black Death: A Brief Introduction
The Black Death looms large in the modern imagination, as it did in the minds of late medieval people. It is a spectre, or shadow, reminding everyone of their mortality, and the briefness of life.…
Read more
John Dee
Ten Things You Might Not Know About John Dee
John Dee is famous as a sorcerer and alchemistSomeone who practices alchemy (the attempt to turn base metals into gold and to gain spiritual awareness and immortality). Someone who practices alchemy…
Read more
Edo period map
Charts and Minds: Maps - Beyond Geography
Maps are usually looked at as functional works that have the narrow aim of describing geographical spaces. This idea is just as narrow. They are not just a description of geography and topography,…
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Latest Quizzes

Moon landings
The first Moon landing - 50th anniversary quiz
How much do you really know about the Moon landing in 1969? Try the GetHistory.co.uk 50th anniversary quiz and find out!
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Name the historical character from their on screen depiction
Name the historical character from their on screen depiction
Can you match the following film and TV characters to the real historical character? See if you can get over 70%!
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Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day Quiz
How much do you really know about the history of Valentine's Day?
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Latest News

Film reel
Fast and Loose: The Value of Historically Questionable Cinema
Historical cinema comes in for endless criticism from reviewers, viewers and – of course – historians: filmmakers bring their own interests, opinions and biases to their work. They make films not…
Read more
Hereford mappa mundi (13th century)
Elizabeth Baigent: In Conversation
As the final part in a trilogy of articles on space and history, I met up with Oxford professor Dr Elizabeth Baigent, University Reader in the History of Geography and SCIO Senior Tutor at Wycliffe…
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Covid-19
The Best History Resources for Covid-19 Lockdown!
Struggling to keep the kids engaged with homeschooling during lockdown for Covid-19, or just bored and looking for new things to do? Check out this list of some of the best history-related (ish)…
Read more

Latest Reviews

Sally Coulthard Sheep
A Short History of the World According to Sheep, Sally Coulthard
What’s truly joyful about 'A Short History of the World According to Sheep' is how Coulthard has woven together so many different disciplines – history, literature, archaeology, etymology,…
Read more
Philip and Alexander
Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors, Adrian Goldsworthy
In the space of just forty years, the small and troubled kingdom of Macedonia went from an inconsequential backwater on the northern edge of Greece to a superpower that had challenged, and beaten,…
Read more
World Aflame
The World Aflame, Dan Jones and Marina Amaral
The World Aflame is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Colour of Time, a worldwide bestseller that changed perceptions of the past through the careful colourization of black-and-white…
Read more

Fact of the Day

In 1800, the Holy Roman Empire could boast 45 universities. France had 22, and England had two.

Quote of the Day

"Water knee deep and up to the waist in places. Rumours of being relieved by the Grand Fleet. "
~ British First World War soldier writing about the trenches in his diary

On This Day

1154 King Stephen, who had wrested control of England from his cousin, Empress Matilda - and broken his oath in the process - died of a stomach disorder. Thanks to the Treaty of Winchester, Matilda's own son, Henry, became king instead of Stephen's eldest surviving son, William.
1400 One of the greatest poets of the English language, Geoffrey Chaucer, died of unknown causes (according to the engraving on his tomb) but possibly on the orders of the enemies of the recently-deposed Richard II. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and his remains are now interred in Poets' Corner.
1415 The outnumbered English, led by Henry V, won a decisive victory against the French - helped massively by their use of the longbow - at the Battle of Agincourt.
1760 George II died when his heart ruptured following an incipient aortic aneurysm, and his grandson, George III, acceded to the throne.
1822 The First Siege of Missolonghi begins as part of the Greek War of Independence.
1854 'Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell Rode the six hundred': British light cavalry charged in a frontal assault against well-defended and well-sited Russian guns in the Crimean War. The Charge of the Light Brigade has become a prime example of bravery in the face of futile death.
1917 (Julian calendar). Lenin's Bolsheviks seize power by capturing the Winter Palace in Petrograd.