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 APRIL 2026
THREE THINGS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE
THIS ISSUE'S CONTRIBUTORS
ANNIVERSARIES • DANNY BIRD highlights events that took place in April in history
“Across history, intellectual life repeatedly becomes suspect when societies fracture” • A mistrust of ‘experts’ and ‘intellectuals’ has recently crystallised into US government interventions targeting academic institutions. EMILY KNOX and JOAN SCOTT share their thoughts with Danny Bird about the troubling history of anti-intellectualism
“Today, the defenders of the Enlightenment are in retreat”
THIS MONTH'S TOP PODCAST PICKS
WHAT WE'VE LEARNED THIS MONTH • JAMES OSBORNE highlights four insights shared by experts on our HistoryExtra podcasts
“Lavenham's fortunes declined when it failed to adapt to new methods”
LETTERS
History Extra
England's mistress • Nell Gwyn became famous for her love affair with Charles II, and for her love of drinking, gambling and carousing. Yet, writes Sophie Shorland, this upwardly mobile celebrity was also a canny political operator who wielded substantial power in court
THE COMMON TOUCH • How an actress became the toast of the nation
Purging Stalin • Seventy years ago, Nikita Khrushchev stood before a packed hall in central Moscow and delivered a four-hour denunciation of Josef Stalin, one that exposed mass terror and attempted to reclaim the legacy of Leninism. So what drove this extraordinarily radical move? And did the Soviet people buy Khrushchev's message?
What was the most important invention in history? • Our team of historians, broadcasters and authors name the discoveries that have transformed our world over the centuries
ROME'S PEOPLE POWER • From Romulus's open-city policy to Claudius's reforms, citizenship was used by Rome as both a reward and a weapon. And, as Shushma Malik explains, it enabled the burgeoning empire to build power and define identity
How medieval mothers took back control • In the Middle Ages, the bearing and raising of children defined women's lives. But as Elinor Cleghorn explains, there were women who had other ideas and boldly challenged attitudes towards motherhood
Q&A • A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts
BLOOD AND PLUNDER • It's a tale of slavery, racism and naked imperial power. Barnaby Phillips traces the fate of the exquisite golden treasures looted by British forces from the kingdom of Asante 150 years ago
“What we have here embodies the soul of Asante” • The return of 32 pieces of gold regalia in 2024 sparked joy – and anger – among the Asante people, writes Barnaby Phillips
THE FACE FIXATION • From a Stone Age Venus and an Egyptian death mask to an unflinchingly challenging 21st-century sculpture, Fay Bound-Alberti introduces seven depictions of the face that track humanity's ever-evolving relationship with creativity, hierarchy and self-image
BOOKS
“To portray Rasputin as a figure of pure evil is as misleading as depicting him solely as a holy man” • DANNY BIRD speaks to Antony Beevor about the extraordinary influence the mystic Rasputin had on the imperial Romanov family and the role he played in...