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History / World History

The northernmost statue of Lenin.

A Soviet Ghost Town in the Arctic Circle, Pyramiden Stands Alone

This outpost in the high north looks much as it did when it was abandoned in 1998, providing visitors with a glimpse into Soviet-era life and culture

Google Street View is bringing Cambodia's hidden treasure to you.

For the First Time Ever, Explore Angkor Wat With Google Street View

With more than 90,000 panoramic images, you can see the stunning Cambodian ruins up close from anywhere in the world

"The Murder of Caesar" by Karl von Piloty, 1865.

Explore Julius Caesar’s Rome

From his former neighborhood to the place where he met his demise, check out these spots associated with Rome’s most famous leader

The Paris Catacombs.

Beneath Paris’ City Streets, There’s an Empire of Death Waiting for Tourists

More than 200 miles of tunnels sit just under the City of Lights—some lined to the ceiling with skulls and bones

"Peasant girls." Young Russian women offer berries to visitors in a rural area along the Sheksna River near the small town of Kirillov.

Color Photographs of Imperial Russia Reveal a World Lost to History

At Paris’ Zadkine Museum, explore vibrant photos of the pre-Soviet Russian Empire

The Inside Story of Baseball’s Grand World Tour of 1914

As the 2014 season opens in Australia, they are really only following in the footsteps of the Giants and the White Sox from 100 years ago

The Amazon Women: Is There Any Truth Behind the Myth?

Strong and brave, the Amazons were a force to be reckoned with in Greek mythology—but did the fierce female warriors really exist?

The aftermath of Ian Ball's attempt to kidnap Princess Anne. Ball's white Ford Escort is parked blocking the path of the princess' limousine.

The Bloody Attempt to Kidnap a British Princess

Remembering the failed plot undertaken by a lone gunman

Genghis Khan attacked and captured the Jin capital of Zhongdu (now Beijing, China) in 1215, in one of many campaigns that expanded the Mongol Empire.

Anthropocene

Warm, Wet Times Spurred Medieval Mongol Rise

Genghis Khan—and his army of men on horseback—benefitted from boom in grasslands

Late 18th century English cartoon on Catherine the Great's territorial ambitions in Turkey.

When Catherine the Great Invaded the Crimea and Put the Rest of the World on Edge

The Russian czarina attempted to show the West she was an Enlightened despot, her policies said otherwise

Congo's second civil war ended in 2003, but ongoing conflict has left millions displaced. Two million were forced from their homes in 2012, for instance, due to violence in the eastern part of the country.

New Research

Congo’s Civil Wars Took A Toll On Its Forests

Conflicts drove the human population deep into protected areas, satellite maps reveal

This double-edged iron sword was found in Denmark’s Tisso Lake.

The Vikings’ Bad Boy Reputation Is Back With a Vengeance

A major new exhibition is reviving the Norse seafarers’ iconic image as rampagers and pillagers

What is Garry Kasparov’s Next Move?

The great chess champion brings his knowledge to the games of Sochi, global politics and computer intelligence

A damaged Olympic Symbol from the 1984 Winter Olympics.

Winter Olympics

Sarajevo’s Abandoned Olympic Sites

Haunting images of a war-torn Winter Olympic venue

Lieutenant Daniel J. Kern and Karl Sieber examining a panel of the Ghent Altarpiece, 1945.

The Path of the Monuments Men Through Europe

Chart the course the Monuments Men took to safeguard Europe’s treasures during World War II

Walker Hancock, Lamont Moore, George Stout and two unidentified soldiers in Marburg, Germany, June 1945.

Austria

The True Story of the Monuments Men

Without the work of these curators and professors, tens of thousands of priceless works of art would have been lost to the world forever

The mountaineers leave the aul.

Winter Olympics

150 Years Ago, Sochi Was the Site of a Horrific Ethnic Cleansing

Czar Alexander II may have freed the serfs, but his war against the stateless people of the Caucasus cannot be ignored

A computer simulation of how the Hope Diamond likely appeared when it was owned by King Louis XIV of France. The sunburst inside the stone results from specially-cut facets on its back, which produce a translucent area that conveys the color of the diamond's gold mounting.

New Research

The Hope Diamond Was Once a Symbol for Louis XIV, the Sun King

New research indicates that the stone was once specially cut to produce an image of a sun when mounted on a gold background

The Last Days of Blackbeard

An exclusive account of the final raid and political maneuvers of history’s most notorious pirate

The Heartbreaking History of Divorce

Historian Amanda Foreman explores the other side of love and marriage

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