Figures of European history

Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, Henry VIII, Napoleon and the figures who shaped Europe.

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• Crowned on Christmas Day 800: Does Charlemagne Deserve the Title 'Father of Europe'?

  Charlemagne is called the Father of Europe: he united most of western Europe, revived the empire in the West and shaped its law, church and schools.

• Did Marie Antoinette Really Say 'Let Them Eat Cake'? The Queen Behind the Myth

  No. There is no evidence Marie Antoinette ever said it. The line appears in Rousseau years before she reached France. Here is the real queen.

• Did Nostradamus Really Predict the Future? How His 'Hits' Are Made

  Nostradamus wrote 942 cryptic verses in 1555. No quatrain has ever been shown to predict a specific event before it happened. Here is why they seem to.

• How Did a German Princess Become Catherine the Great of Russia?

  Catherine the Great was born Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, learned Russian as a teenager, seized the throne in 1762 and ruled Russia for 34 years.

• How Did Ludwig II, the 'Fairy-Tale King,' Really Die?

  Ludwig II of Bavaria drowned in Lake Starnberg in 1886, a day after being deposed as insane. Suicide, accident or murder? What the evidence shows.

• How Did Rasputin Actually Die? Poisoned Cakes, Three Bullets and an Icy River

  Rasputin died of gunshot wounds, one fired into his forehead at close range, in December 1916. The poison and drowning stories don't fit the autopsy.

• Shipyards, a New Capital and a Tax on Beards: How Peter the Great Remade Russia

  Peter the Great (1672–1725) worked in Dutch shipyards, built St Petersburg, taxed beards and turned Russia into an empire. His key reforms and their cost.

• Was Blackbeard Really as Bloodthirsty as His Legend? Smoke, Ransom and His Last Fight

  Not quite. Records suggest Blackbeard relied on a terrifying image more than on killing. His real career lasted barely two years and ended at Ocracoke in 1718.

• Was Mata Hari Actually a Spy, or France's Perfect Scapegoat?

  Partly both. Mata Hari took money from France and Germany, but historians say she passed on little more than gossip. France shot her in 1917.

• Was Napoleon Really Short? The Corsican Outsider Who Crowned Himself Emperor

  Napoleon was about 168 cm tall, average for his time; the 'tiny tyrant' was a British cartoon. How a Corsican officer rose to emperor and fell at Waterloo.

• Was Vlad the Impaler the Real Dracula? What History Actually Says

  Vlad III of Wallachia was called Dracula in his lifetime, but Bram Stoker's notes never mention him. Here is the real prince behind the vampire myth.

• Why Did Henry VIII Have Six Wives? The Hunt for a Son That Split a Church

  Henry VIII married six times mainly because he wanted a male heir. How that obsession broke England from Rome, and what happened to each queen.

• Why Did Queen Elizabeth I Never Marry? The Virgin Queen's Choice and the Reign It Shaped

  Elizabeth I turned down every suitor because marriage threatened her power, her country's peace and her own safety. How that choice defined her reign.

• Why Did Queen Victoria Wear Black for 40 Years? Grief, Power and the 'Grandmother of Europe'

  After Prince Albert died in 1861, Queen Victoria wore black for the rest of her life. How grief shaped her 63-year reign and the Victorian era.

• Why Was Anne Boleyn Executed? The Charges, the Trial and What Historians Believe

  Anne Boleyn was beheaded in 1536 for adultery, incest and treason, charges most historians doubt. How Henry VIII's queen fell in just three weeks.

• Why Was Joan of Arc Burned at the Stake? The Teenager Who Changed a War

  Joan of Arc led French troops at about 17 and was burned as a relapsed heretic in 1431. How a farm girl rose, why she was tried, and what came after.