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History / World History

In the foreground stand foundation remnants of a house where soldiers once searched for Jews. The family hid refugees in a secret compartment constructed between the interior walls.

The Dispossessed

This French Town Has Welcomed Refugees for 400 Years

For centuries, the people of the mountain village of Chambon-sur-Lignon have opened their arms to the world’s displaced

Standing Rock #2: Oil-pipeline protester Mychal Thompson in North Dakota, in November 2016. Her quote, in Navajo, reads, “To be of the people means you must have reverence and love for all of the resources and all of the beauties of this world.”

The Dispossessed

Pushed to the Margins, These Brave People Are Pushing Back

From the American West to the Middle East, the powerless face stark choices when confronted by the powerful

The train to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a French village where strangers in need have been welcomed for centuries.

The Dispossessed

Identity Crisis: Three Photo Essays Highlight the Lives of the Dispossessed

In our chaotic era, there are outcasts—and people who take them in

The new series "A Very English Scandal" stars Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe, a British politician embroiled in a murder scandal.

The True Story of ‘A Very English Scandal’ and the Trials of a Closeted Gay Politician

The new series about 1970s British MP Jeremy Thorpe traces his rise to power, then dramatic fall, complete with charges of a conspiracy to murder

Fifty Years Ago, Airline Diplomacy Sought to Bring the U.S. and U.S.S.R. Closer Together

Hopes for a Cold War détente were sky high when the first American and Soviet flights took off 50 years ago

The charred papyrus scroll recovered from Herculaneum is preserved in 12 trays mounted under glass. Here is PHerc.118 in tray 8. The scroll was physically unrolled in 1883-84, causing irreparable damage.

Buried by the Ash of Vesuvius, These Scrolls Are Being Read for the First Time in Millennia

A revolutionary American scientist is using subatomic physics to decipher 2,000-year-old texts from the early days of Western civilization

The Russian Imperial Family on the steps of the Catherine Palace

Russian Revolution

A Century Ago, the Romanovs Met a Gruesome End

Helen Rappaport’s new book investigates if the family could have been saved

Teams compete to form the tallest human towers, called castells—a centuries-old activity that creates quite the spectacle in Catalan public spaces.

Beyond the Headlines, Catalan Culture Has a Long History of Vibrancy and Staying Power

The autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia takes center stage at this summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Armenian countryside on the road from Yerevan to Vanadzor.

Unfurling the Rich Tapestry of Armenian Culture

This year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival will offer a window on Armenian visions of home

What if Napoleon hadn't stopped at invading Russia and instead created a world under French control?

What if Napoleon Hadn’t Lost Europe and Other Questions of Alternate History

How the 200-year-old literary genre reflects changing notions of history and society

Elsie Janis (1889-1956), an American singer, songwriter, actress, and screenwriter

World War I: 100 Years Later

The Sweetheart of the American Expeditionary Force

During World War I, vaudeville star Elsie Janis travelled to France to bring good cheer to U.S. troops

With fingers intertwined and mouths gleefully thrown open, the three maidens dance around the Art Nouveau sculpture by Walter Schott.

The Lost Maidens of Berlin

A decades-long quest for one of the most intriguing artworks looted by the Nazis leads to the courtyard of a posh hotel in the German countryside

An aerial photograph shows the new museum’s proximity to the ancient arena.

Europe

Travel to Southern France for a Dazzling Taste of Ancient Rome

A new museum in Nimes pays tribute to the grandeur of the Empire

Busting dams

How a British Engineer Made a Bomb That Could Bounce On Water

Seventy-five years ago, Barnes Wallis masterminded a famous World War II attack that involved skipping a bomb into German dams

Elinor Powell (right) with a fellow nurse at POW Camp Florence in Arizona, circa 1944-1945

Women Who Shaped History

The Army’s First Black Nurses Were Relegated to Caring for Nazi Prisoners of War

Prohibited from treating white GIs, the women felt betrayed by the country they sought to serve

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