Witness History

A regular morning turned into a day of nightmares for Spanish commuters on 11 March 2004.In the space of minutes, 10 bombs detonated on trains around Madrid, killing nearly 200 people and injuring more than 1,800.With a general election three days away, the political fall-out was dramatic.In 2014, two politicians from opposite sides told Mike Lanchin about that terrible day – and what happened next.(Photo: The wreckage of a commuter train. Credit: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

On 8 March 2014, a plane carrying 239 passengers and crew disappeared.What happened to missing flight MH370 remains one of the world's biggest aviation mysteries.Ghyslain Wattrelos’ wife Laurence and teenage children Ambre and Hadrien were on the plane, which was on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.He was on a different flight at the time and only found out the plane was missing when he landed.A decade on, Ghyslain tells Vicky Farncombe how he’s no closer to knowing what happened to his family.“I am exactly at the same point that I was 10 years ago. We don't know anything at all.”(Photo: Ghyslain Wattrelos. Credit: Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

In 2002, a Catholic nun arrived in Gulu, a town in northern Uganda, to help set up a sewing school for locals. For years, the town had been the target of brutal attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army, led by the warlord Joseph Kony. The rebel group was known for kidnapping children and forcing them into becoming soldiers. As the LRA was being chased out of Uganda, those who were captured arrived at the school seeking refuge. Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe shares the shocking stories of those who escaped captivity with George Crafer.(Photo: Sister Rosemary at St Monica's. Credit: Sewing Hope Foundation)

25 April is Freedom Day in Portugal. Five decades ago on that date, flowers filled the streets of the capital Lisbon as a dictatorship was overthrown.Europe’s longest-surviving authoritarian regime was toppled in a day, with barely a drop of blood spilled.In 2010, Adelino Gomes told Louise Hidalgo what he witnessed of the Carnation Revolution.(Photo: A young boy hugs a soldier in the street. Credit: Jean-Claude Francolon/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images)

In August and September 1939, tens of thousands of children began to be evacuated from Paris.The move, part of France's 'passive defence' tactic, aimed to protect children from the threat of German bombardment.Colette Martel was just nine when she was taken from Paris to Savigny-Poil-Fol, a small town more than 300km from her home.She’s been speaking to her granddaughter, Carolyn Lamboley, about how her life changed. She particularly remembers how she struggled to fit in with her host family, and how it all changed because of a pair of clogs.(Photo: Colette (left) with her sister Solange in 1939. Credit: family photo)

Uruguay was one of the first countries in the world to introduce anti-smoking laws.But in 2010, the tobacco giant Philip Morris took the country to court claiming the measures devalued its investments.The case pitted the right of a country to introduce health policies against the commercial freedoms of a cigarette company.Uruguay’s former Public Health Minister María Julia Muñoz tells Grace Livingstone about the significance of the ban and its fallout.(Photo: An anti-tobacco installation in Montevideo, Uruguay. Credit: Pablo La Rosa/Reuters)

In 1984, a diplomatic dispute broke out between Canada and Denmark over the ownership of a tiny island in the Arctic.The fight for Hans Island off the coast of Greenland became known as the Whisky War. Both sides would leave a bottle of alcohol for the enemies after raising their national flag. What could be the friendliest territorial dispute in history came to an end in 2022, with the agreement held up as an example of how diplomacy should work.Janice Fryett hears from Tom Hoyem and Alan Kessel, politicians on either side of the bloodless war.A Made in Manchester Production for the BBC World Service. (Photo: Tom Hoyem with a Danish flag on Hans Island. Credit: Niels Henriksen)

In 1987, Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva received a call from the police urging him to look at ancient artefacts confiscated from looters.The seized objects were so precious that Walter decided to set up camp in Sipan, the site where they were found. There, he dug and researched what turned out to be the richest tomb found intact in the Americas: the resting place of an ancient ruler, the Lord of Sipan.Walter tells Stefania Gozzer about the challenges and threats he and his team faced to preserve the grave.The music from this programme was composed by Daniel Hernández Díaz and performed by Jarana & Son.(Photo: Walter beside the discovery. Credit: Walter Alva)

On 5 February 1964, an unusual delivery was made to a synagogue in London. More than 1,500 Torah scrolls, lost since the end of World War Two, were arriving from Czechoslovakia. The sacred Jewish texts had belonged to communities destroyed by the Nazis. Alex Strangwayes-Booth talks to Philippa Bernard about the emotional charge of that day.A CTVC production for the BBC Radio 4. (Photo: Philippa Bernard beside the scrolls in Westminster Synagogue. Credit: BBC)

Artek, on the shores of the Black Sea in Crimea, was a hugely popular Soviet holiday camp.Maria Kim Espeland was one of the thousands of children who visited every year.In 2014, she told Lucy Burns about life in the camp in the 1980s.(Photo: A group of children attending Artek. Credit: Irina Vlasova)