Rob Attar Editor

I’m writing this a few weeks into 2021, and so far the dramatic news agenda of 2020 shows little sign of abating. Here in the UK we’re in lockdown – although there are grounds for hope with the vaccination programme well under way. Meanwhile, soon after we sent our last issue to press, Trump supporters launched an astonishing attack on the US Capitol. The events in Washington were extraordinary, but were they truly unprecedented? In Behind the News, on page 10, we set them in the context of America’s turbulent past.

Assuming the pandemic has subsided, next year should see the Bayeux Tapestry on display in Britain. In advance of its arrival, our content director, David Musgrove, has co-written a book on the Tapestry, and in this issue he and Michael Lewis reveal some of the key moments of 1066 that were excluded from the embroidery. That’s on page 41, and do also check out our new podcast series on the Bayeux Tapestry at historyextra.com/bayeux-tapestry-podcast.

Elsewhere this month, our cover feature (page 22) sees Nick Lloyd revisit the story of the western front, arguing that far from being a futile stalemate, it witnessed a military revolution. Meanwhile, -atherine Pangonis and Fiona Sampson reflect on the lives of powerful women from very different eras, with articles on crusader queens (page 34) and the Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (page 72).

I hope you enjoy the issue and that you’re all keeping well in these unusual times.