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

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

EYE-OPENER • The other Boleyn girl

Polarising figures • The toppling of a statue of slaver Edward Colston in Bristol has sparked national debate – nowhere more so than on Twitter. ANNA WHITELOCK explores the discussions

Justin Champion (1960–2020)

HISTORY IN THE NEWS • A selection of the stories hitting the history headlines

US racial tensions reignite • The death of an African-American man in US police custody in May has again thrust issues of race relations and police brutality into the spotlight. KEVIN GAINES charts the ways in which black people’s long struggle for equality in America has been met with violence

HIDDEN HISTORIES • DAVID OLUSOGA explores lesser-known stories from our past

ANNIVERSARIES • DOMINIC SANDBROOK highlights events that took place in August in history

The 19th Amendment, when American women won the vote

MICHAEL WOOD ON… • THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

The last battle?

LETTERS

WRITE TO US

BBC History Magazine

The bonds of blood • No medieval king could sleep easy at night until he had secured the smooth transition of his crown to a son. From marrying babes-in-arms to siring dozens of offspring, Robert Bartlett reveals the lengths to which rulers would go to ensure the survival of their dynasty

“History has, until very recently, focused heavily on western Europe” • The Silk Roads catapulted Peter Frankopan to the top of the bestseller lists. Five years on, as he’s announced as chair of the jury for the 2020 Cundill Prize, he speaks to Matt Elton about the state of global history

The Antichrist? • For centuries Emperor Nero has occupied a place in history’s hall of infamy, courtesy of tales of Christian burning, wife beating and mother murdering. Yet does he truly deserve his diabolical reputation? Shushma Malik considers the evidence

REIGN OF TERROR • Six of Nero’s most infamous crimes

PANIC on the streets of Victorian London • From the terror of being strangled by violent thieves to tales that the sewers were infested with a squealing band of pigs, 19th-century Londoners spent much of their time living in fear. Emma Butcher and Tim Blythe reveal what seven such scare stories can tell us about the psyche of the imperial capital

A tale of two revolutions • The French Revolution will forever be associated with events in Paris but it in fact began as a howl of rage from France’s rural poor. David Andress reveals how an urban elite co-opted this peasants’ insurgency and turned it against the very people who had started it

“Welcome not those brazen human fleshmongers… Have no fellowship with these merciless menstealers” • In their battle to end the horrors of slavery, African-American abolitionists headed across the Atlantic to rally support. Hannah-Rose Murray tells the story of the firebrands who toured the British Isles, shocking audiences and shining a spotlight on Britain’s own crimes

Unburied treasures • From Bronze Age cups to souvenirs from Hadrian’s Wall to coins hidden at the height of the Viking wars, the British public has discovered hundreds of thousands of archaeological finds, many of which have been recorded with...