HistoryExtra

1. History's most notorious crime scenes: from Lizzie Borden's lair to HH Holmes's 'murder castle'

   What is it about places marked by murder and violence that continue to pique our interest, long after the crimes have been committed? Caitlin Blackwell Baines uncovers the history behind some of the world's most morbid locations – from a crumbling Slovakian castle to Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel

2. Nato is in crisis. Can history predict what happens next?

   As tensions build between the US and its long-term allies, historian Sam Edwards examines how the international military organisation has withstood moments of turbulence in the past – and whether we can glean any lessons for the future

3. Why does Putin blame this infamous Russian revolutionary for Ukraine’s independence?

   More than a century after the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin’s decision to organise the Soviet state around national republics continues to shape political arguments about Ukraine

4. One of medieval history’s biggest mysteries has just been solved – and it rewrites 1066

   A fresh re-reading of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle suggests that King Harold Godwinson didn’t race south by land after Stamford Bridge, but instead used a coordinated naval strategy. What does that mean for how we should understand the events of 1066?

5. Churchill vs Stalin: did this one speech cause the Cold War?

   It’s 80 years since the war victor delivered his ‘Iron Curtain’ speech, sounding the alarm for a perilous new age. The speech, given as tensions with Stalin soared, is among the most famous in modern history. Yet, asks Richard Toye, has it been misunderstood?