Martin Luther and the German Reformation's impact on cities is difficult to generalise about as each city reacted differently to circumstances unique to it; some converted near enough immediately while others took many years to decide. Others, even in north Germany, never converted to Luther. In the early C16, there were 65 imperial cities (free cities) which were not controlled by a prince.

Joseph Goebbels was born in 1897 and died in 1945. Goebbels was Hitler's Minister of Propaganda and one of the most important and influential people in Nazi Germany. Goebbels was born in the Rhineland and he attended the established Heidelberg University where he was awarded a doctorate of philosophy in 1920.

The Great War was to change the lives of millions of people in a number of ways and the Post Office played a vital and varied role in the efforts. Over 8,500 Post Office workers were killed during World War One and the need for soldiers to fight on the frontline was in high demand. Employers such as the General Post Office actively encouraged their employees to fight in the war and they even had their own regiment called 'The Post Office Rifles'.

Antibiotics transformed medicine. The discovery of antibiotics began by accident. On the morning of September 3rd, 1928, Professor Alexander Fleming was having a clear up of his cluttered laboratory. Fleming was sorting through a number of glass plates which had previously been coated with staphyloccus bacteria as part of research Fleming was doing.

In 1900, India was part of the British Empire; but by the end of 1947, India had achieved independence. For most of the Nineteenth Century, India was ruled by the British. India was considered the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. Queen Victoria had been made Empress of India and the British had a major military presence in India.

Europe in 1945 Europe by the summer of 1945 was very different to the Europe that had started out on war in September 1939. The Allies (USA, Britain and France) had started to fall out with Stalin's Russia during the war itself. Stalin had wanted the Allies to start a second front in 1943. This, the Allies claimed, was not possible.