History Extra

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 MAY 2026

THREE THINGS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE

THIS ISSUE'S CONTRIBUTORS

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

“Narratives of victimhood, resistance and sacrifice are core to the Iranian regime's identity” • Revolution, repression and recurring crisis have shaped Iran's recent past - and continue to define its volatile present

“Music belongs to everyone, and it evokes the deepest human emotions”

WHAT WE'VE LEARNED THIS MONTH • JAMES OSBORNE highlights four insights shared by experts on our HistoryExtra podcasts

“Frederick Douglass exposed the hypocrisy of equal rights in America” • KAVITA PURI pays tribute to a leading 19th-century abolitionist

LETTERS

History Extra

The great survivor • When Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1952, she could barely have conceived the currents – imperial retreat, multiculturalism, de-industrialiation – that would transform the nation during her reign. On the centenary of the Queen's birth, David Cannadine explores how she navigated seven decades of dizzying change

THIS MONTH'S TOP PODCAST PICKS

Patagonian giants, a ‘long-lost Shakespeare’ and the chicken of prophesy • The Enlightenment was an era of open-eyed progress, of the advance of science and reason - right? So why, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, did British people continue to be hoodwinked? Madeleine Pelling exposes eight frauds and forgeries from a golden age of hoaxes

Who was the best monarch in history? • Our team of historians, broadcasters and authors name kings and queens with a strong claim to greatness

LOST STORIES FROM POMPEII • The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 buried Pompeii and its citizens beneath pumice, stone and ash for centuries. But as Jess Venner reveals, we can now reconstruct the lives of its citizens before the catastrophe

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

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS A medieval self-help guide • Today, we think of these vices as outdated definitions of moral flaws prohibited by the church. But as Peter Jones reveals, they were originally conceived to provide medieval solutions to universal human problems

Power, pomp and the Peacock Throne • Five centuries ago, the birth of the Mughal empire heralded a new era of social and religious tolerance, international trade, and artistic and intellectual flourishing. Jagjeet Lally traces the fortunes and legacy of the dynasty that transformed India

TIMELINE Rise and fall of the Mughals

Old stories, new angles • Jagjeet Lally reveals how Bollywood films about the dynasty reflect contemporary Indian issues

Labour pains • The General Strike was the greatest display of worker solidarity in British history, but also its greatest defeat. A century after 1.7 million people downed tools and brought Britain to a standstill, Jonathan Schneer reveals why their efforts were doomed to failure

BOOKS

“We are not Romans or Greeks. The benefit of studying the classics is that the ancient world is not about us” • MARY BEARD speaks to Charlotte Vosper about her new book exploring why we should study ancient worlds - and the questions we...