News stories from the HistoryExtra podcast

The Spanish conquest might have toppled the Aztec imperial state with startling speed, but unpicking precisely what ‘collapse’ really means reveals a far more complicated story

What did everyday life look like for the millions of ordinary people living in Tudor England? Historian Ruth Goodman found out by living the way they did, uncovering a world that was hard, industrious – but also fulfilling

Though rare, female gladiators did appear in the Roman arena, challenging ancient Rome’s expectations and revealing how spectacle, politics and social boundaries shaped life in the empire

Archaeology reveals that a millennium ago, North America was home to thriving urban centres as large and sophisticated as those of medieval Europe. But how and why did these rise, flourish and decline?

The people of ancient Rome didn’t have access to modern science, but they still developed complex – and incredibly intuitive – theories on how nutrition worked

Fear of the living dead, in the form of vampires, is a near-constant trope in modern popular culture – from the regular reinterpretations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula to 20th century Buffy. But the tradition has far deeper roots. Discover how ancient Mesopotamians shaped these beliefs and spread the world’s earliest vampire traditions – and why young women were the most terrifying of all

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, a grieving nation turned towards spiritualism in the hope of seeing the dead once more. Facilitated by new technologies like photography, some unscrupulous fraudsters stepped in to manipulate the vulnerable

From ritual parades to blood-soaked duels, explore a single day in the life (and death) of the most brutal entertainment in the ancient Roman empire

Explore how modern Britons sought signs of divine order in a collapsing world – from searching snails’ shells to eating moles’ hearts

Giuseppe Garibaldi’s courage and charisma made him a hero of Italian unification in the 19th century. Here’s how he became a celebrity who captivated the world

In a kingdom recently divided by faith, Elizabeth I’s government turned to espionage to defend the Protestant crown. This is how her spymasters built a culture of fear that reshaped England’s religious and political life

In 1945, as Europe celebrated peace, Winston Churchill quietly asked his generals to plan an attack on the Soviet Union. But how close was Britain to an immediate and consecutive war?

Ancient Roman gladiators are often imagined as chiselled, bronzed heroes of the arena, akin to today’s top athletes. But the truth was far more complex

In 1605, a small band of English Catholics tried to destroy the king, his family and parliament in a single explosion. This is what might have happened if Guy Fawkes had successfully lit the fuse

From prehistoric burials to overcrowded Victorian churchyards, this is what our treatment of the dead throughout history says about the living

Showman and psychic researcher Harry Price turned Borley Rectory into a national sensation, and its infamy as a haunted house hasn’t gone away

Religious reformer Martin Luther’s message of spiritual freedom helped ignite the German Peasants’ War of 1525. But before too long, Luther had turned against the very people who claimed to fight in his name

How did a law passed by Elizabeth I turn fashion into welfare? Ruth Goodman explains the story behind one garment and the difference it made to the 16th-century poor, and examines the origins of England’s first social safety net

Set alight by Reformation hopes and long-standing grievances, the German Peasants’ War looked like it might successfully upend the established order. Instead, it ended in catastrophe

Beneath the mosaic floors of Roman villas, an ingenious system of underfloor heating transformed warmth into a mark of power

Art Deco became the defining style of the interwar years. But its bold glamour rested on a questionable patchwork of inspiration from across antiquity, from Tutankhamun’s glittering tomb to majestic Aztec temples