Naval battles

English sailors engage the French invasion fleet at the battle of Sandwich in 1217.

The battle of Sandwich: England’s medieval Trafalgar

The crew of SMS King in its home port following the battle of the Skagerrak, June 1916. (Photo by A Renard/ullstein image via Getty Images)

First World War

Jutland: the battle that won the First World War

The German battleship Bismarck of the German Kriegsmarine during early World War II

Second World War

Bismarck: why was the WW2 German battleship so feared? Plus 9 things you didn’t know about its only mission

Aidan Turner as Leonardo da Vinci

The best historical TV shows and movies to stream in 2021

A photograph of the battle of Moscow, 1942, first printed in Signal, a magazine published by the German Third Reich from 1940 to 1945. (Photo by Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Second World War

Operation Barbarossa: why Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union was his greatest mistake

US marines advance up Iwo Jima's beaches

Second World War

The battle for Iwo Jima: why did it happen and why was it so hard fought?

Mixed signals: A shortwave radio listening post in California, set up to report and translate broadcasts from Asia. (Photo by AP/Shutterstock)

Second World War

Caught off guard: why didn’t America see Pearl Harbor coming?

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?

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