October 2019 (Issue 73)

Expert articles from the October 2019 issue of BBC History Revealed Magazine

An illustration from The Travels of Marco Polo, showing a teenage Marco on the deck of a ship sailing away from Venice

Why are Marco Polo’s travels so famous?

'The last Day of Pompeii', 1833. Briullov, Karl Pavlovich (1799-1852). Found in the collection of the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Pompeii: a remarkable window into ancient Roman life

Once allies, Adolf Hitler and Ernst Röhm (sitting to his left) had a colossal falling out over ideology

The Night of the Long Knives: the bloody purge that secured Hitler’s power

PT Barnum and General Tom Thumb

The greatest show on earth? The myths of the Victorian freak show

A dinner scene from Downton Abbey, with large candlesticks on the table

Could you survive an Edwardian dinner party?

Courtiers dancing La Volta in a scene from 1953 film The Sword And The Rose

Strictly shocking: the dances that shook the world