History Today

Divining disaster at Aberfan and beyond, in subjects from nocebos to lost cosmonauts.

Swear words are a constant, but their ability to cause offence is in flux. In the 1600s, today's obscenities were mundane.

The mother goddess brings death and destruction – to those who deserve it. 

From alliances, to open warfare; from tense meetings on bridges, to collective mourning at family funerals: French and English royalty were united by marriage and divided by war.

Following the death by burning of Czech Wycliffite Jan Hus in 1415, Jan Zelivsk preached in Prague New Town on 30 July 1419.

Brazil’s cars have run on ‘green fuel’ for a century, but this has not come without costs. 

Once described as a ‘slow-motion car crash’, relations between Turkey – or Türkiye – and the rest of Europe have often been defined by suspicion and mistrust. Do historical grievances define the country’s relationship with Europe?

When Blackshirts took over an Italian ship and headed for Cardiff, trade unions held a boycott in what was the first British protest against fascism.

Dismissed as ‘high and mighty’ and accused of pushing Charles I towards civil war, Henrietta Maria was a deft military mover – perhaps more so than the king himself.