Why the Gunpowder Plot failed, and other questions answered by historians

The failed attempt to assassinate an English king and blow up Parliament

This article and gallery detail the Gunpower Plot, a religiously motivated assassination attempt to blow up English King James I, his heir, and other nobles. Late on Nov. 4, 1605, as the clock chimed toward Nov. 5, guards patrolling the Palace of...

An in-depth history of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot

Guy Fawkes Day has been celebrated on November 5 in the United Kingdom for over four centuries, with bonfires, fireworks, and effigies. But who was Guy Fawkes, really? Learn about the Catholic radical who was a member of a group of 13 men eventually executed for their attempts to blow up Parliament and the king.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre burned down

During a June 1613 performance of “Henry VIII,” a theatrical cannon misfired and sent sparks into the theater’s straw roof, forcing the 3,000 attendees to evacuate. No one was killed, though the theater burned down in roughly an hour.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

How royal panic led to Europe's deadliest witch hunts

This article delves into the witch "panics" and hunts that roiled across Scotland between 1590 and 1662. The witch hunts in Scotland were unusually deadly, with the country having five times the average European execution rate per capita. Their...

The "green men" were among the first European pyrotechnicians

In the 1600s, men wore leaf-covered caps when handling fireworks to protect against sparks. Headgear was also worn by those helping to maintain order when leading medieval fireworks processions, often acting like jesters to entertain viewing audiences.

The deadliest fireworks accident in history was Marie-Antoinette's wedding

In 1770, a fireworks display in Paris celebrating the marriage of Marie-Antoinette to the Dauphin, later known as Louis XVI, resulted in as many as 3,000 deaths. Most casualties were caused by trampling from a panicked crowd of thousands rushing away after some fireworks were blown into the spectators.

The Stamp Act's real purpose was protecting colonists from Native Americans

The troops the act funded weren't left in America to guard against France, but to manage the aftermath of Pontiac's Rebellion and keep the peace between colonists and Indigenous nations. Some historians argue this means Native American resistance to British expansion indirectly triggered the tax that sparked the Revolution.

Englishmen in the 17th century mixed their blood into wine to show devotion

In order to demonstrate their love for a woman, some young Englishmen would stab themselves in the arm and mix the blood into their wine. They'd then toast the object of their affection and drink to their honor.

Conspiracy theories come from distrust in government, media, and institutions

Some believe JFK's assassination was orchestrated by larger networks rather than a lone shooter. Skeptics wondered how one unknown man could kill the most powerful person in America, and believed the CIA, FBI, or Soviet government played a role in the murder.

10 Shakespeare authorship theories

Although William Shakespeare is widely considered to be the authentic author of the plays attributed to him, there are still dozens of theories suggesting that others are responsible for the classic works. Was it actually his contemporary, Christopher Marlowe? Or maybe his wife, Anne Hathaway? This list explains the 10 most popular theories that have been proposed, much to more than a few Shakespeare scholars' chagrin.

The history of the New Year's misunderstanding in England

In the mid-18th century, the legal system in England operated under the understanding that the New Year began March 25. However, the widespread custom remained a Jan. 1 celebration as the public had been practicing for years. Read along to discover the practical issues this discrepancy caused and how the English legal system ended up yielding to public belief.

Five key causes of World War I

What caused World War I? The ready answer refers to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. But there was more to it than that. This article, accompanied by a short explanatory video, outlines how mutual defense alliances, imperialism, militarism, and nationalism also had a heavy hand in the start of what some considered a "preventable war."

Britain’s bottle innovation saved Champagne

Champagne wouldn’t be where it is today without a surprising partner: 17th-century British glassmakers. An energy crisis caused by deforestation—not enough trees to burn—led to the search for an alternative fuel source. Enter coal. The plentiful resource burned much hotter than wood, creating stronger glass that could stand up to the pressure of the carbon monoxide produced by the wine’s second fermentation and solving one of the fledgling industry’s most vexing problems.

Watch over a dozen fireworks effects

Adding pellets of salt to gunpowder within a fireworks shell causes them to explode with different colors, but the type of gunpowder used also has an effect. Finely ground gunpowder burns quickly, producing streaks that swiftly burn out.

In 1969, one British taxi driver stole a Goya from the National Gallery in London

Francisco de Goya's portrait "The Duke of Wellington" was believed to be seized by a criminal mastermind. In reality, a 60-something cabby named Kempton Bunton confessed to the crime about four years later. In 2021, it was revealed that he was actually covering for the actions of his son. The heist has since been immortalized in the film "The Duke."

A British trade corporation toppled the Mughal Empire

This History Extra feature explains how the East India Company—armed with royal backing, taxation rights, and military force—expanded from a trading venture into a corporate power that overtook the Mughal Empire and laid the foundations of British colonial rule in India.

Where the world's most wanted pirate hid in the 1600s

Metal detectorists who discovered 500-year-old silver coins have helped support the theory that notorious 16th-century pirate Henry Every hid out in several American colonies.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Visualize 1,000 years of English monarchs with this timeline

Who sat on the throne and for how long? This visualization highlights the reigns of England’s kings and queens from 1066 to present day.

Alexander the Great, Rudyard Kipling, and more may have died from food poisoning

Though it is hard to prove decades or centuries after their deaths, some researchers suspect that food poisoning killed a variety of historical figures, including US President Zachary Taylor in 1850: Some researchers believe he may have consumed food contaminated with *Salmonella*.

Hear why the Continental Congress decided to declare independence—and how the text took shape

In this episode of "Ben Franklin's World," historians Danielle Allen, Patrick Spero, and Peter Onuf examine why Congress pursued a declaration, how Congress chose the drafters, and how Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin shaped its language and Revolutionary intent.

Who was Maximilien Robespierre, leader of the Reign of Terror?

This 28-minute podcast details the life and death of French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre, who was killed by the people he previously led in 1794. Robespierre is considered the leader of the Revolution's Reign of Terror, a period of intense...

How the American takeover of world football failed.

What happened behind the scenes at Europe’s top clubs as their Super League plans were pitched and ripped apart in a matter of days

Spies working on the Manhattan Project propelled the Soviet bomb program

Soviet infiltration—most notably by Klaus Fuchs—smuggled detailed implosion-design and hydrogen‑bomb data from Los Alamos to Moscow, cutting the USSR’s development time by at least a year and enabling their first atomic test in August 1949.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

The Wampanoag collaborated with the Pilgrims in order to survive

Decades of violence and disease brought by European settlers had devastated local tribes. Up to 75% of the Wampanoag people had been eliminated, leading them to sign the peace treaty to preserve those who remained.

Scientific advances have transformed understanding of Stonehenge’s builders

Techniques such as radiocarbon dating, DNA analysis, and isotopic testing have revised scholars' understanding of Stonehenge. This article presents evidence suggesting that societies were more cooperative and less violent than earlier theories had suggested.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

The power and influence of the American presidency have expanded significantly over time—far beyond what the founders envisioned.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'