Naval battles

A painting by Louis Philippe Crepin depicting the battle of Trafalgar, 1805. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

The battle of Trafalgar, hour by hour: what happened and why did Britain win?

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in 'The Favourite'. (Photo by Twentieth Century Fox/Entertainment Pictures)

The best historical TV shows and films to stream right now

WW2 surrender signed, 2 September 1945

Second World War

How and when did the Second World War end?

Mural of the battle of Actium from 1600

Actium, 31 BC: the beginning of the end for Mark Antony and Cleopatra

Tom Hanks in 'Greyhound' (2020)

Second World War

The real history that inspired WW2 film Greyhound

Elizabeth I arrives in Tilbury

The Spanish Armada: one of history’s biggest fibs?

The US cutter Spencer attacks U-boat U-175

Second World War

The Battle of the Atlantic: why Britain almost lost to Hitler’s U-boats

British ships on convoy duty in the North Atlantic

Second World War

Danger in the deep: key questions about the Battle of the Atlantic answered

Welcome home: the cruiser 'Exeter' arrives back at Plymouth, c15 February 1940, after taking part in the battle of the River Plate. The action resulted in the scuttling of the German pocket battleship 'Admiral Graf Spee', which had sent several British merchant ships to the bottom of the Atlantic. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

The Battle of the Atlantic: the “desperate” WW2 campaign featured in Tom Hanks film Greyhound

B-17 bombers make their way to England to aid the British in WW2, April 1942. (Photo by Getty Images)

Second World War

WW2 podcasts: 9 top episodes about the Second World War

Firemen tackling a blitz fire at St Paul's Cathedral, London

Second World War

The Second World War: a timeline

Ill mannered discussions: Chinese leader General Chiang Kai-shek, US president Franklin D Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill meet at the Cairo Conference in November 1943. (Photo by Getty Images)

Second World War

VE Day at 75 Preparing for peace: why WW2 felt like a war without an end

Flying the flag: A sailor signals a merchant ship in the Thames Estuary, 1939. Allied maritime capacity was paramount in the final victory. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Second World War

WW2: Why did the Allies win the Second World War?

Pearl Harbor attack

Second World War

America and WW2: when, how and why did the US get involved, and why they didn’t enter sooner?

Illustration of Elizabeth I in a cage

What if... The Spanish Armada had landed?