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 DECEMBER 2025

THREE THINGS I'VE LEARNED THIS MONTH

THIS ISSUE'S CONTRIBUTORS

ANNIVERSARIES • DANNY BIRD highlights events that took place in December in history

Is the advance of AI good or bad for history? • As artificial intelligence penetrates almost every aspect of our lives, six historians debate whether the opportunities it offers to the discipline outweigh the threats

"The Book of Kells is a masterwork of medieval calligraphy and painting"

"Everyone cried unashamedly at the news of this young pilot's death"

LETTER OF THE MONTH

BBC History Magazine

Margaret Beaufort Schemer or opportunist? • The mother of Henry VII is often characterised as a domineering woman who plotted her son’s rise to the throne. But how true is that depiction? Lauren Johnson explores the life of the founding matriarch of the Tudor dynasty

Mother-in-law from hell?

Spain's miracle • The nation’s transition from dictatorship to democracy in the late 1970s surely counts as one of modern Europe’s most remarkable stories. On the 50th anniversary of General Franco’s death, Paul Preston explores how pluralism arose from the ashes of tyranny

SURVIVING FRANCO • A timeline of the 40-year battle for the soul of Spain

A SYMBOL OF RECONCILIATION • How an amnesty helped Spain confront its past, and its future

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

DID YOU KNOW…?

He came, he saw… he crucified pirates • Ancient accounts of Julius Caesar’s early life depict an all-action hero who outwitted tyrants and terrorised bandits. But can they be trusted? David S Potter investigates

FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT… the Tudors • Ruth Goodman, who teaches our new HistoryExtra Academy course on Tudor life, shares five insights about the dynasty’s legacy

The Nazis' war of words • Hitler and his acolyte Joseph Goebbels wielded propaganda as a potent weapon in the battle for German hearts and minds. Lisa Pine shows how posters targeted all sectors of society to promote prejudice and bolster support for party policies

Just how many Bayeux Tapestries were there? • As a new theory, put forward by Professor was unique, David Musgrove asks more than one ‘Bayeux Tapestry’

The US 'voodoo' scare • From sexual orgies to Satan incarnated as a snake, lurid depictions of ‘voodoo’ in North America long titillated and shocked readers. As David G Cox explains, they were also wielded as justifications for racist oppression during the social and political upheavals of the 19th-century US

BOOKS

"Women are entirely excluded from nation-building, yet the ultimate emblem of the nation is a woman" • JANINA RAMIREZ speaks to Danny Bird about how women and their stories have been co-opted and curated by men attempting to forge nations across Europe

Royals, radicals and rebels • DAVID ANDRESS assesses a detailed portrait of the political and personal interactions that fuelled the French Revolution – but is only partly convinced by the book’s approach

Revolutionary France • Content producer Danny Bird picks episodes of the...