A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE VIKINGS

WELCOME

When we think of the Vikings, some of us might

THIS MONTH’S BIG NUMBERS

51 The number of nations that founded the United Nations

The United Nations

The United Nations (UN) is an international diplomatic and political

YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE VIKINGS

Bursting forth from Scandinavia in the late 8th century, the

THE AGE OF THE VIKINGS

They came, they saw… they raided and traded, butchered and built, and explored the edges of the known world

RAIDERS, TRADERS AND EXPLORERS

Exceptional explorers, the Vikings left their mark everywhere they went... and they went to a lot of places

RULERS OF THE WAVES

Expertly designed longships carried the Vikings across the seas

WARRIORS AND WARFARE

Being a mighty warrior was more than just winning battles to the Vikings – it was the path to the afterlife

HOW THE VIKINGS LIVED

Viking society had a hierarchy, laws and means of seeking justice... so not as lawless as their reputation suggests

WOMEN IN THE VIKING WORLD

Dr Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir addresses the roles, rights and reputations of women in the Viking Age

GODS, MYTHS, BELIEFS AND RITUALS

The Vikings were pagan, polytheistic and had a plethora of ways to worship, as far as can be told

HOW BENITO MUSSOLINI BECAME THE FIRST FACE OF FASCISM

A decade before Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933, Mussolini became 20th-century Europe’s first fascist dictator – but, writes Jonny Wilkes, his new ‘Roman Empire’ was in ruins before the end of WWII

THE SLUMS OF NEW YORK

Beneath the glitz and glamour of one of America’s wealthiest cities, millions of New Yorkers resided in squalor, disease and misery

THE INCREDIBLE LIFE OF CHARLOTTA BASS

As US voters prepare to take to the ballot box, Sonia Grant tells the remarkable story of a civil rights activist whose decades-long fight for change saw her become the first woman of colour to run for Vice President

WHAT IF... JAPAN DIDN’T ATTACK PEARL HARBOR?

Jonny Wilkes talks to Professor Robert Cribb about whether the United States would still have entered World War II without, as their president put it, the “date which will live in infamy”

SNAPSHOTS

These female firefighters are practising an evacuation at a workhouse

THINGS WE LEARNED THIS MONTH....

RECENT HISTORY HEADLINES THAT CAUGHT OUR EYE

Haunted London tour guide

HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INTO GIVING GHOST TOURS IN

The Mayflower arrives in the New World

Early on 9 November 1620, as the sun’s first rays

Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER

HISTORY’S GREATEST CONUNDRUMS AND MYSTERIES SOLVED

TV, FILM & RADIO

THE LATEST DOCUMENTARIES, BLOCKBUSTERS AND PERIOD DRAMAS

EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS

WHAT TO SEE AND WHERE TO VISIT IN THE WIDER WORLD OF HISTORY

BOOKS & PODCASTS

THIS MONTH’S BEST HISTORICAL READS AND LISTENS

HISTORICAL FICTION....

England, 1459: during the devastating chaos of the Wars of

LETTERS

After reading your piece on crime and punishment in the

PHOTO FINISH

ARRESTING IMAGES FROM THE ANNALS OF THE PAST