Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

History / World History

The exterior of the Vinoy Renaissance Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Five Hotels That Were Occupied by the Military During World War II

For a brief time in their history, these resorts served as hospitals, training grounds and operations bases

The Battle Over the Memory of the Spanish Civil War

How Spain chooses to memorialize Francisco Franco and the victims of his authoritarian regime is tearing the nation apart

The fifth season of BBC drama "Peaky Blinders" is available now on Netflix

Based on a True Story

Who Were the Real ‘Peaky Blinders’?

The Shelby family is fictional, but a real street gang operated in Birmingham at the turn of the 20th century

A still life of Renia Spiegel’s diary

The Unforgotten: New Voices of the Holocaust

How an Astonishing Holocaust Diary Resurfaced in America

Hidden for 70 years, a new invaluable contribution to Holocaust literature—the diary of Renia Spiegel—was rediscovered inside a desk in New York

A hurricane in the West Indies. Line engraving, late 16th century.

The Bahamas and the Caribbean Have Withstood Hurricanes for Centuries

Europeans came to the islands unprepared for the destructive storms, even as indigenous people understood their massive power

At the height of the book scare, news outlets reported that dust from library books could spread infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, smallpox and scarlet fever.

When the Public Feared That Library Books Could Spread Deadly Diseases

“The great book scare” created a panic that you could catch an infection just by lending from the library

The 1876 Glaciarium included murals of the Alps on its walls and a raised seating section for curious onlookers, as shown in a May 1876 edition of Illustrated London News.

The 19th-Century Mania for Ice Skating in the Summer

Europeans sought to recreate the luxury of wintering in the Alps with an indoor rink attraction

Mosquitos and their related diseases played a role in many historical events.

How Mosquitoes Helped Shape the Course of Human History

Historian and author Timothy Winegard discusses the way mosquitoes have played a major role in battles, genetics and the gin and tonic

Janaki Ammal was a pioneering botanist who helped identify and conserve the biodiversity of India.

Women Who Shaped History

The Pioneering Female Botanist Who Sweetened a Nation and Saved a Valley

One of India’s finest plant scientists, Janaki Ammal spurred her country to protect its rich tropical diversity

Excavation of the Philistine cemetery at Ashkelon.

When Ancient DNA Gets Politicized

What responsibility do archaeologists have when their research about prehistoric finds is appropriated to make 21st-century arguments about ethnicity?

St. Peter’s Church rises above the ancient port of Jaffa, today a bustling neighborhood abutting Tel Aviv.

Two Tour Guides—One Israeli, One Palestinian—Offer a New Way to See the Holy Land

With conflict raging again in Israel, a fearless initiative reveals a complex reality that few visitors ever experience

Canadian Memorial at Vimy, France

Explore These World War I Trenches and Tunnels in France and Belgium

These four sites give visitors a glimpse into the trench warfare tactics soldiers experienced during the Great War

Anaxagoras, who lived in the fifth century B.C., was one of the first people in recorded history to recognize that the moon was a rocky, mountainous body.

An Ancient Greek Philosopher Was Exiled for Claiming the Moon Was a Rock, Not a God

2,500 years ago, Anaxagoras correctly determined that the rocky moon reflects light from the sun, allowing him to explain lunar phases and eclipses

A wooden canoe seat, carved with a spider's web, became noteworthy for being the very first of the 36,000 artifacts in NMAAHC’s collections.

Meet Juan García Salazar, the Man Who Championed Black Identity in Ecuador

Behind the very first artifact to enter the African American History Museum’s collections resides a story about recovering the Afro-Ecuadorian experience

Hundreds of spectators and D-Day veterans gather at Omaha Beach, the bloodiest site during the battle, for the 40th anniversary in 1984.

These Photos Capture the Poignancy of Past D-Day Commemorations

A look back at how the ceremonies marking major anniversaries of the Allied invasion of Europe have evolved.

“The Soviet exhibition strives for an image of abundance with an apartment that few Russians enjoy,” reported the New York Times, “with clothes and furs that are rarely seen on Moscow streets.”

When the United States and Soviet Union Fought It Out Over Fashion

The Russians may have been winning the space race in the 1950s, but they couldn’t hold a candle to the sophistication of Western dress.

"Ray's Rock" on Omaha Beach, where medic Ray Lambert was part of the first wave during D-Day

One of the Few Surviving Heroes of D-Day Shares His Story

Army medic Ray Lambert, now 98, landed with the first assault wave on Omaha Beach. Seventy-five years later, he could be the last man standing

Simcha and Leah Fogelman both endured World War II and took two different paths of surviving the Holocaust.

How the Definition of Holocaust Survivor Has Changed Since the End of World War II

For decades, Jews who were forced east into the uneasy confines of the Soviet Union were excluded from the conversation about the trauma of genocide

A German artillery shell hits the cathedral

History of Now

The Debate Over Rebuilding That Ensued When a Beloved French Cathedral Was Shelled During WWI

After the Notre-Dame de Reims sustained heavy damage, it took years for the country to decide how to repair the destruction

Page 25 of 79