HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2026-04-29T14:17:49.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Churchill's ‘finest hour’ helped defeat the Nazis. But was it a double-edged sword?
items: The Nazis’ crimes laid bare
items: Pageantry and politics: a history of British royal visits to the US
items: I went digging for buried Nazi gold – and this is what I discovered
items: What should we do with the Nazis? The road to the Nuremberg Trials
items: The battle of the Arctic: the forgotten crucible of WW2
items: Want to understand modern Britain? Look towards its villages
items: 8 weird stories from the Space Age: from hungry tortoises to gorilla suits
items: Nato is in crisis. Can history predict what happens next?
items: Meet the embattled French WW2 leader who withstood the Nazis – and Winston Churchill

Churchill's ‘finest hour’ helped defeat the Nazis. But was it a double-edged sword?
type: item
date: 2026-04-29T14:17:49.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: Winston Churchill’s leadership in 1940 became one of the defining moments of modern British history – but the legacy of that triumph may have shaped Britain’s future as much as the war itself
encoded: On 18 June 1940, Nazism was sweeping across continental Europe and Britain seemed on a precipice. France, Britain’s principal ally on the continent, had rapidly collapsed under the force of the German invasion. The British Expeditionary Force had escaped from Dunkirk, but only by abandoning vast quantities of weapons and equipment on the beaches of northern France. Britain now faced the very real possibility of invasion, defeat, or a long war fought in near isolation. In that context, Winston Churchill stood in the House of Commons to deliver one of the most well-known speeches in British history. “If the British empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years,” he declared, “men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’” This crystallised a moment when an increasingly isolated Britain resolved to continue the fight. But as historian Richard Vinen suggests, for all that Churchill’s famous words marked the moment, they also conveyed a deeper ambiguity about Britain’s post-war future. The meaning of ‘finest hour’ “It always seems to me that the most double-edged words Churchill ever uses are on this very iconic date – 18 June 1940,” Vinen explains, speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast. On the same day that Churchill sought to rally the British, Charles de Gaulle delivered his own appeal from London, urging the French people to continue resisting after their government had sought an armistice with Germany. Together, these speeches marked the opening of a new phase of the war, in which resistance against occupation became an essential theme. Indeed, Churchill’s phrase “finest hour” was intended to inspire – and it did. It recast the ongoing disaster as a test of national character, suggesting that greatness would be forged in the fires of conflict. But, Vinen says, that central phrase also has an edge of pessimism. “If you say people are going to look back on June 1940 as our finest hour,” Vinen notes, “you also mean that one day that finest hour is going to b…

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The Nazis’ crimes laid bare
type: item
date: 2026-04-28T07:00:18.000Z
creator: Dr David Musgrove, FSA
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Holocaust
description: When the Nazi leaders went on trial in Nuremberg from November 1945, the true horrors of their regime were exposed to the world
encoded: When the Nazi leaders went on trial in Nuremberg from November 1945, the true horrors of their regime were exposed to the world. In the second episode of our four-part series on the trials, the lawyer and author Philippe Sands chronicles the dramatic days when the likes of Hermann Goering and Hans Frank were forced to face their accusers in the courtroom. As he explains to David Musgrove, these were moments that those in attendance would never forget. Audio excerpts as presented from Court TV, via Robert H Jackson Center Watch the full episode, or listen ad-free at the link below: View Green Video on the source website Want to know more about the Nuremberg Trials? David Musgrove has curated a selection of essential reading from the HistoryExtra Magazine archive. Go beyond the podcast Philippe Sands is the author of East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016)

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Pageantry and politics: a history of British royal visits to the US
type: item
date: 2026-04-27T01:10:19.000Z
creator: Sam Edwards
subject: 20th Century
subject: 21st Century
subject: Cold War
subject: General History
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: British prime ministers
subject: British queens
subject: Historical people
subject: The royal family
subject: US presidents
description: As transatlantic tensions swirled about King Charles III’s visit to Washington DC in 2026, Sam Edwards reveals how past royal tours have steadied the ‘special relationship’ in times of crisis
encoded: The April 2026 royal visit to the United States came at a particularly challenging moment for the US-UK ‘special relationship’. In the preceding months, President Donald Trump had repeatedly singled out prime minister Keir Starmer for blunt criticism, even going so far as to declare that Starmer as “no Churchill”. Meanwhile, the royal family similarly found itself caught up in transatlantic controversy: the Epstein scandal. If all that wasn’t challenging enough, King Charles’s visit to America also came at a time when the US-UK relationship was drawing even more scrutiny than usual. 2026 is year is the 80th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s famous ‘Iron Curtain’ speech, which popularised the phrase ‘special relationship’, and it’s also the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. The latter was of course the event that severed the connection between the American colonies and the British Crown and thereby put the transatlantic relationship onto a very different trajectory. In short, the visit came at a time of significant turbulence in the US-UK relationship. King Charles, however, might have been able to take some reassurance from the fact that several of his predecessors had similarly travelled to the United States during moments of challenge, change and upheaval... <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2026/04/2GettyImages-1320405043big-566d798-e1777245347971.jpg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="A large group of men and women in formal 19th-century dress gather outside a red-brick tomb set within a leafy landscape, their attention focused on a central meeting of figures. Women wear layered gowns with bonnets, while men in dark suits and top hats stand in lines, with trees and a distant sky framing the scene." title="A painting by Thomas Pritchard Rossiter captures the Prince of Wales’s historic visit to George Washington’s tomb in 1860. The young prince, who later ruled as Edward VII, can be seen standing with President James B…

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I went digging for buried Nazi gold – and this is what I discovered
type: item
date: 2026-04-26T16:00:57.000Z
subject: 21st Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Debate
subject: Fascism
subject: Holocaust
description: In January 2023, the Dutch national archives released a map purporting to show where a cache of stolen treasure was buried during the Second World War. Guy Walters reveals how he tried to track it down – and the dark backstory that gave rise to the legend
encoded: I have been appearing in history documentaries for the best part of 20 years. Usually, they are something to do with the Third Reich and for the most part, the documentaries are weighty and serious, as indeed they should be. But nearly every year, I get a call – normally from a junior producer or researcher – who tells me they wish to make a documentary about Nazi gold, and if so, do I know where they might find some? It’s at that point that I ask them to think about their question very carefully. If – I say – I did know the location of a load of Nazi bullion, do they think I would tell them? For a day rate? Furthermore, wouldn’t I have gone and dug it up myself, and currently be speaking from my 20-bedroom mansion in the Maldives? The line invariably goes silent as the logic of my position seeps in. I then add that if they really want to find themselves some Nazi gold, they should just go to Zurich or Geneva and knock on the door of any Swiss bank and ask for a peek in the vaults. So far, so cynical. But then, in January 2023, my position changed with an intriguing release from the Dutch national archives: a real-life treasure map, hand-drawn by a Nazi paratrooper, revealing where he and his comrades had buried a load of loot they had stolen towards the end of the war. The map even had a red ‘X’ that marked the spot, outside a village called Ommeren, along what was the Allied front line of Operation Market Garden in 1944. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2026/04/2-GettyImages-1458770332-473e6bd-e1776953190948.jpg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="A hand‑drawn map with labelled towns, a river running across the top, and a compass rose. At the bottom are two small inset drawings, including a terrain cross‑section and a landscape sketch." title="The hand-drawn map released by the Dutch national archives in January 2023, allegedly showing the site of a treasure trove near the village of Ommeren. But where does the map’s red ‘X’ sit wi…

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What should we do with the Nazis? The road to the Nuremberg Trials
type: item
date: 2026-04-21T11:00:16.000Z
creator: Dr David Musgrove, FSA
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
description: At the end of the Second World War, the victorious Allies had to decide the fates of the surviving leaders of a regime that had initiated the bloodiest conflict in history, and perpetuated the Holocaust
encoded: At the end of the Second World War, the victorious Allies had to decide the fates of the surviving leaders of a regime that had initiated the bloodiest conflict in history, and perpetuated the Holocaust. The answer, beginning just a few months after VE Day, was the world’s first ever international criminal trial, held in the German city of Nuremberg. As we reach the 80th anniversary of these events, David Musgrove is joined by the lawyer and author Philippe Sands to explore how this groundbreaking trial was conceived amid the rubble of the Reich. Watch the full episode, or listen ad-free at the link below: View Green Video on the source website Want to know more about the Nuremberg Trials? David Musgrove has curated a selection of essential reading from the HistoryExtra Magazine archive. Go beyond the podcast. Philippe Sands is the author of East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016).

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The battle of the Arctic: the forgotten crucible of WW2
type: item
date: 2026-04-06T10:48:53.000Z
creator: Dr David Musgrove, FSA
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
description: Hugh Sebag-Montefiore considers the significance of the battle of the Arctic in shaping the outcome of the Second World War
encoded: The US and UK supplied the USSR with vast amounts of military materiel during the Second World War via the Arctic convoys. In this episode, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore speaks to David Musgrove about the importance of this campaign in shaping the outcome of the war – and details the many horrors faced by the merchant sailors who made the difficult and dangerous journey from Iceland to Russia.

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Want to understand modern Britain? Look towards its villages
type: item
date: 2026-04-03T14:30:16.000Z
creator: Michael Wood
subject: General History
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Column
encoded: This year we celebrate 75 years of The Archers. Now, I confess I haven’t listened to the series for a while – not since the riveting plot 10 years back about coercive control, with Rob Titchener and Helen Archer. But, if any show on radio or TV is iconic, it’s The Archers, the story of an English village over time, “an everyday story of country folk”, (though now billed as “a contemporary drama in a rural setting”). The characters – the Grundys, the Archers, the Pargetters – and the places – Grey Gables, Brookfield Farm, the Bull, St Stephen’s church – have become so real that in 1981 their history was published in Ambridge: An English Village Through the Ages, with photos, maps, court rolls, Tudor wills, even an Æthelstan charter! All fiction, of course, but perfectly realised. The world’s longest-running radio serial was born out of the Second World War. Its first pilot episodes were broadcast in May 1950 and the series started properly on New Year’s Day 1951, in a snowbound world of austerity and rationing. It was originally created by a veteran of the wartime Ministry of Information, Godfrey Baseley. Based on Cutnall Green and Inkberrow in Worcestershire, the series was driven by the Reithian ideal of ‘inform, educate and entertain’. But it was also designed to reflect reality, conceived as a means of disseminating information to farmers and smallholders to help increase productivity in the era of rationing and food shortages. Originally produced with collaborative input from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, it has had a farming consultant ever since. Read more | The radio revolution: how Britain found its frequency It was an instant hit. Its regular 9 million listeners peaked in 1955 at 20 million, when Grace Archer died in a barn fire. At its heart was a simple idea: that the village is the quintessential microcosm of English life, the imagined community to which we all dream of belonging. England is a village! We’ve had villages since the Roma…

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8 weird stories from the Space Age: from hungry tortoises to gorilla suits
type: item
date: 2026-04-01T18:03:43.000Z
creator: Jonathan Wright
subject: 20th Century
subject: 21st Century
subject: Cold War
subject: General Modern
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Discover / Apple News
subject: Space
description: As the Artemis II mission prepares to send humans around the moon, Jonathan Wright explores the stranger side of space history – from UFO sightings to Cold War curiosities and beyond
encoded: Exploring space is a serious business. To use the term employed by Tom Wolfe in his 1979 book about the first US test pilots to enter astronaut training, you need the “right stuff” to sit atop an enormous firework leaving the protection of our atmosphere. But space travel is also a human endeavour. In the heavens as on Earth, that means it throws up stories that can be bizarre, funny or melancholy. As Nasa prepares to send astronauts back to the vicinity of the moon for the first time since 1972, here are eight strange-but-true tales from the ongoing history of the Space Age. 1. Ballistic legacy At the end of the Second World War, the USSR and the US competed to snaffle up as much German rocketry expertise and kit as possible. So it was that, despite his Nazi past, V-2 co-designer Wernher von Braun became chief architect of the Apollo programme’s Saturn V rocket. Less well remembered is the role of the V-2 itself in space exploration. In 1945, US Army Special Mission V-2 recovered parts and equipment needed to make the missiles from an underground factory in eastern Germany. Subsequently, much of the haul was taken to the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico, where initial work resulted in the assembly of 25 rockets. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2026/04/1aGettyImages-544605263-d284276-e1775049918462.jpg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="A mid-20th-century photograph of a suited man seated at a desk, holding a pen and looking towards the camera. In front of him are several model rockets and a black rotary telephone. Behind him, a large illustration shows a spacecraft flying past the moon." title="Wernher von Braun - director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center" /> The first flights from the US followed in the spring of 1946. By October, the grandly named Upper Atmosphere Research Panel was expert enough in launching missiles to use one to capture the first photograph of the Earth from space. A terror weapon had found a mo…

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Nato is in crisis. Can history predict what happens next?
type: item
date: 2026-03-22T11:30:56.000Z
creator: Sam Edwards
subject: 20th Century
subject: 21st Century
subject: Cold War
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: As tensions build between the US and its long-term allies, historian Sam Edwards examines how the international military organisation has withstood moments of turbulence in the past – and whether we can glean any lessons for the future
encoded: “If there's no response – or if it's a negative response – I think it will be very bad for the future of Nato.” So said US President Donald Trump in March 2026, after asking European allies for their help in securing the Strait of Hormuz. This primary export route for most of the world's largest oil and gas fields had lately been declared closed by Iran as a response to US-Israeli military operations. However, the response to the president’s call to aid to his European allies has, so far, been distinctly muted. No doubt this is in part because much of Europe is still reeling from the events at the start of the year. Back in January, the American-led alliance was thrown into disarray by the president’s desire to assert control over Greenland – a semi-autonomous territory of Nato member Denmark. At the height of the crisis, with Trump adamant that the US “needed” Greenland “very badly”, the Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen went so far as to say that "if the United States chooses to attack another Nato country militarily, then everything stops. That includes Nato, and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War." Now, amid renewed transatlantic tensions stemming from the US–Israeli war with Iran, those key questions provoked by the recent Greenland debacle have resurfaced again: is Nato in crisis, and can it endure? Read more | Winston Churchill created the special relationship. Could Donald Trump kill it? On the latter, history does at least provide some reassurance. In fact, surviving crises is something of a Nato speciality. Nato’s troubled origins The alliance initially coalesced in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, a period characterised by growing concern in the west about the expanding influence and power of the Soviet Union. In March 1946, Winston Churchill warned that an “Iron Curtain” had descended “from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic”. A year later, in an effort to “contain” the threa…

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Meet the embattled French WW2 leader who withstood the Nazis – and Winston Churchill
type: item
date: 2026-03-10T17:06:00.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: In June 1940, as France collapsed and Britain faced the prospect of resisting the Nazis alone, Winston Churchill searched for a French leader willing to keep fighting
encoded: In early June 1940, Europe was in freefall. Germany’s invasion of France and the Low Countries – launched in May 1940 – had overturned the presiding strategic assumptions of the First World War. Instead of the slow stalemate of trench warfare, German ‘Blitzkrieg’ tactics had combined tanks, aircraft and rapid manoeuvre to devastating effect. German armoured divisions had burst through the Ardennes and driven deep into France, prompting the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk from 26 May, fleeing from the incoming Nazi military storm. Paris would then fall on 14 June. The French government was retreating in stages, and within weeks, the Third Republic – France’s democratic regime since 1870 – had effectively fallen. For Britain – now led by Winston Churchill, who had taken office only weeks earlier – the stakes seemed existential. Churchill had replaced Neville Chamberlain in May 1940, inheriting a war effort that was already faltering. If France were to leave the war, Britain faced the very real prospect of an attempted German invasion. If there was anyone within the French political or military establishment willing to continue the war from overseas (perhaps from North Africa, where France still possessed territory and troops) Britain needed that person to come to the fore. The individual who would rise to the moment, and come to symbolise Free France was not, at that moment, an obvious candidate. Churchill and de Gaulle’s first encounters in crisis Charles de Gaulle first came to London on 9 June, “which is when he first meets Churchill”, historian Richard Vinen explains, speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast. “Churchill likes him.” When de Gaulle fatefully arrived in London, he was far from the towering statesman who would come to define the coming decades of French history. He held the post of Under-Secretary of State for National Defence and War in the French government – a relatively junior position – and was little known outside France. …

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