All About History

AZTEC SACRIFICE

Why this great empire believed bloody rites and cannibalism brought order to the cosmos

Welcome

The United Kingdom boasts an impressive heritage of great writers. From the Brontës to Blyton and from Tolkien to Pratchett, we’re fortunate to have some incredible storytellers emerge from these isles. In terms of popularity and cultural influence,...

Welcome

Investigating Roman history is a great case study in the kind of precautions we have to take when reading about the past from those who either lived through it or close to it. We’re fortunate to have a fair amount of Roman historical writing to tell us...

Welcome

How we explore the past can often be rather siloed: treating geographical regions as isolated areas of interest. As such, I always enjoy taking a step back and considering dates from a more global perspective. For instance, our cover subject for this...

Welcome

It’s challenging to get your head around the enormous impact of the Black Death, which killed at least one-third of the population of Europe. Thankfully that’s a level of devastation we’ve not had to confront again since, although the world has...

Welcome

What is it about RMS Titanic that makes it so compelling over 100 years after its tragic sinking? I’ve been thinking on this question a fair amount, as you might expect, having selected it as our cover feature this issue. The human tragedy factor is...

Welcome

When I say that the Norse myths have been massively influential on the modern world, I don’t just mean getting to watch Chris Hemsworth swing a hammer around. Famously, JRR Tolkien drew heavily from these classic tales and the gods involved for his...

Welcome

It probably says a lot about how tumultuous the reigns of Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I were that their forebear and originator of the Tudor dynasty is often written about the least. It also speaks to the manner in which Henry VII managed his...

Welcome

The adage goes that ‘history is written by the victors’, but it’s also often written by the vindictive. Having an axe to grind is a tremendous incentive to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, as the comment sections of most news and social media...

INCA WAR OF TWO BROTHERS

Welcome

This issue’s cover story is one that takes us back over 5,000 years. Even having studied and written about history for as long as I have, trying to mentally bridge that gap can be a challenge. When attempting to answer the question ‘who was the first...

Welcome

Chivalry is a fascinating concept and one that is well worth delving into. Many of the classic medieval European tales that have survived are explorations of the concept of the ‘perfect knight’, a mix of bravery, courtesy, wisdom and mercy that many...

COLD WAR GAY PANIC

How the ‘Lavender Scare’ ended careers in US

WHAT IF... MARILYN HAD LIVED?

Welcome

Welcome to the 150th issue of All About History. Not a bad milestone for us to hit and one I’m incredibly proud to be a part of. We’ve tackled a lot of subjects across those issues and frequently doubled back to areas for reexamination. In some ways,...

Welcome

Context really matters. It’s good to be reminded of that from time to time and any study of history is bound to bring it up eventually. Knowing the conditions in which a group of people existed can elevate our understanding of their actions and world...

From Picasso to Pollock

10 POLITICAL SCANDALS

Welcome

It’s remarkable how much we continue to learn about the pyramids in Egypt. They’ve stood for thousands of years and been examined and combed over generation after generation, and yet we keep discovering new details about how they were built, who built...

Welcome

Why did so many Germans go along with Hitler? It’s a common question regarding the rise of the Nazi party and the road that led to World War II. It’s a question that gets to the heart of issues of human behaviour and the dangers of authoritarianism....