The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

An image of Roman ruins, including tall structures with 6 columns in the background. There is a large curved wall in the foreground

Think you know everything about ancient Rome? These 25 facts will prove otherwise.

This late 15th-century illustration shows crusader forces besieging Damascus during the ill-fated Second Crusade in 1148. The armies of King Baldwin III of Jerusalem, Emperor Conrad III of Germany, and King Louis VII of France converge on the city, only for the campaign to collapse in defeat. Likely produced in Bruges for a chronicle of the Crusades, the image reflects how later medieval artists interpreted one of the crusading movement’s most damaging failures.

Who won the crusades? The causes, death toll, and number of medieval holy wars explained

After Franco: Spain's miraculous transition to democracy.

On 27 May 1954, Sir Winston Churchill addresses a meeting of the Women’s Conservative Association. Nearly a decade after leading Britain through the Second World War, the prime minister remained a commanding figure in British politics and public life.

Second World War

It was Operation Unthinkable: Churchill's "impossible" plan to start World War 3

Defendants at the Nuremberg Trials listen to proceedings in 1946. In the front row sit Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner; behind them are Karl Dönitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach, and Fritz Sauckel. Together they represent the senior leadership of the Nazi regime held to account for its crimes.

Second World War

“I hope I would have defended the Nazis at Nuremberg”

Hermann Göring in his office at the Reichstag, where he served as a leading figure of the Nazi regime. As Hitler’s deputy and head of the Luftwaffe, Göring wielded immense power during the Third Reich, later facing prosecution for war crimes at Nuremberg.

Second World War

Who was Hermann Göring? The truth about Hitler’s drug-fuelled enforcer who met his downfall at Nuremberg

Hermann Göring testifies in his own defense at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946. Once a leading figure of the Nazi regime, Göring faced prosecution alongside other high-ranking officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Second World War

The Nuremberg Trials: the real history behind the post-WW2 tribunal that brought Nazi leaders to justice

Episode 3Was Henry V really DESTINED for greatness?.

A black and white photograph of a large, smoky explosion on the sea

Terror in the deep: how Hitler's U-boats pushed Britain to the brink.

A tapestry scene showing a small figure dressed in a gold robe holding a large needle and thread. Below him, another man rides on the back of a black horse

Just how many Bayeux Tapestries were there?.

Episode 2BORN to be king!? Dan Jones and Helen Castor anatomise Henry IV.

A pair of swords in a cross shape, on top of an orange background that features warriors fighting on horses

The assassins' reign of terror: how these 12th-century killers spread fear in the Middle East.

Episode 1Was Richard II really a TYRANT?.

Four small terracotta masks in a line. The two in the middle have black hair and beards, one with a white face and the other with an orange face. The ones on either end are plain beige faces.

The making of Rome's monster.

A black and white photograph of three men in military uniform. The man in the middle, is holding his arm out pointing to something in the distance and to his left, is a man using binoculars

The Stalingrad of Africa: the story of the battle for Tunis.

After Hiroshima: the atomic plague.

A montage of images showing a man standing in the ruins of Hiroshima; a man dressed smartly wearing circular glasses; and a Japanese family with two parents sitting down with five children around them

Senkichi Awaya: the lost mayor of Hiroshima.

A black and white photograph shows two men standing with their faces very close together. They both have serious expressions on their faces and are staring down the lens of the camera. Across the bottom are the words KING & CONQUEROR

The wrong moustache in the Battle of Hastings.

A black and white photograph shows a group of Japanese military men on a train, while some young women prepare to get on the carriage. A young woman looks back over her shoulder

Kavita Puri on VJ Day: "We don't talk about the war in Asia – which was a messy, complicated conflict".

VJ Day: why don't we talk about WW2 in Asia?.

A woman dressed in a grey top and a green and orange bandana holds a black and white photograph of a young man against her chin. She stands in front of a plain, yellow wall

The Srebrenica massacre: the worst atrocity committed on European soil since the Second World War.

Episode 4Not just the Western Front: why we can't ignore the rest of the world.

Episode 5Lions led by donkeys: a World War One myth?.

Why World War One didn't end when you think it did.

Two men dressed in military uniform stand behind a barbed wire, looking into the camera. One wears a bandage around his head, covering one eye

Five things you (probably) didn’t know about the First World War.

J Robert Oppenheimer (left), and Cillian Murphy

Is Oppenheimer a true story? Meet the real Robert Oppenheimer, ‘father of the atomic bomb’

Flying ‘the hump’: the US pilots who navigated treacherous skies above the Himalayas in WW2.

Episode 3Beyond the trenches: untold stories of WW1.

Episode 1Did Franz Ferdinand's death really start World War One?.

British troops land in Normandy on 6 June 1944. D-Day, and the complex operations that followed, would not have been possible without Allied sailors (Photo by Photo 12/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

The seaborne invasion: why we must remember the forgotten heroes of D-Day and the battle for Normandy.