Who was Olaf Tryggvason King of Norway?
Don Hollway tells us about the extraordinary life of Olaf Tryggvason, the Viking King of Norway.
Archive
New History Books for May 2026
Our pick of new history books for May. From the Vikings to the Weimar Republic, the Georgian Dining Room to Winston Churchill.
The Thrilling Finish to the 1908 Olympic Marathon
The marathon at the 1908 Olympic Games in London provided one of the most dramatic moments in the history of athletics
The Might and the Mystery of King Offa of Mercia
Offa of Mercia is an enigmatic figure in Anglo Saxon history. Powerful and respected, Rory Naismith tells us about this formidable king
The Royal Air Force's Bombing Offensive Against Nazi Germany
Richard Strachan, author of the WW2 novel Night Fire, examines the history behind the RAF's aggressive bombing campaign against the Germans
The Beauty and the Terror in Renoir’s ‘Pink and Blue’
This 1881 portrait of Alice and Elisabeth Cahen d'Anvers would inspire Catherine Ostler's The Renoir Girls
What is a Blockade – and Do They Work?
As President Trump announces his blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, we glance back at the history of this military tactic
October 1989: Proclamation of the Republic of Hungary
This photograph shows the US ambassador among the crowds as the Republic of Hungary was proclaimed by Mátyás Szűrös in 1989
The General Strike of 1926 with Jonathan Schneer
The General Strike of 1926 marked a precarious moment in British political and social history, as Jonathan Schneer explains
Adolf Hitler's Strange Death with Caroline Sharples
On 30 April 1945 Adolf Hitler committed suicide in Berlin. But the story of the Führer's death is more complicated than these bare facts suggest, explains the historian Caroline Sharples
The Hapsburgs and the French Revolution
Upon the outbreak of the French Revolution, Europe's first family, the Hapsburg, were propelled into a crisis that they struggled to contain