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 APRIL 2023

THIS ISSUE'S CONTRIBUTORS

ANNIVERSARIES • HELEN CARR highlights events that took place in April in history

What happens to heritage sites following a catastrophe? • As efforts continue to care for survivors of the devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria in February, numerous historic sites in the region are also at risk. KATHERINE PANGONIS explains how heritage organisations work to save ancient monuments struck by disaster

HISTORY NEWS IN BRIEF

“The early 2000s was a strange era of fear and terror – and the relentless drive towards conflict in Iraq was very much a part of that” • Twenty years on from the Iraq War, a BBC Radio 4 series sets out to chart its causes and consequences. Matt Elton spoke to its presenter, GORDON CORERA, about how it compares with earlier wars, and his own experiences of the conflict

MICHAEL WOOD ON… • THE HISTORY CARRIED IN OUR LANDSCAPES

HIDDEN HISTORIES • KAVITA PURI explores lesser-known stories from our past

LETTERS

BBC History Magazine

GEORGE VI'S NAZI DILEMMA • As war raged across the globe, the king had to confront admirers of Adolf Hitler uncomfortably close to home,

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL • What drew British elites to Hitler's dark ideology?

Hot cockles, handball and hide-and-seek • Nicholas Orme highlights some of the most popular children's pastimes in Tudor England – from ball games to blind man's buff – and explores their place in wider society

Q&A • A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts

DID YOU KNOW…?

“Come and assist your loving mother. I am in prison for debt” “Dear mother, so am I” • Debtors’ prisons inflicted untold misery on families in the 18th and 19th centuries. Yet, writes Alexander Wakelam, England's credit-fuelled economy would have ground to a halt without them

William Douglas The infamous bushranger • Hard drinker, bandit, prize-fighter and reader of skulls. MEG FOSTER unravels the myth of “Black Douglas”, whose life of crime across 19th-century Australia made him a target of lynch mobs and the popular press

“Before my children shall be taken, I will kill every one of them” • The BBC series Lady Killers investigates historical murders perpetrated by women. As series consultant Rosalind Crone reveals, there was often a lot more to these cases than initially met the eye

AT THE MERCY OF THE MONGOLS • They pulled off one of the most astonishing campaigns of conquest in history. But how did they treat their subject populations once the dust had settled? Nicholas Morton examines what life was like under the Mongols

TIMELINE The Mongol conquest of the near east

The first families of the second city • The story of modern Birmingham is dominated by two clans, whose radical views and fierce commitment to public service forged its distinctive identity. Richard Vinen traces the rise of the Chamberlains and the Cadburys

“Climate is a factor that underpins all of human history” • PETER FRANKOPAN talks to Rhiannon Davies about his pioneering new book exploring how humanity's complex relationship with the natural world has altered over the millennia

Competing theories? •...