Military history

French cuirassiers charging a British infantry square at the battle of Waterloo, 1815 (1906). From Cassell's Illustrated History of England, Vol. V. (Cassell and Company Limited, London, Paris, New York, Melbourne). Artist P Jazet. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

How the French won the battle of Waterloo (or think they did)

The battle of Stoke Field – German mercenary Martin Schwarz made a famous last stand in the thick of the fighting even as other elements of the rebel army turned and fled

The battle of Stoke Field, 1487 – the real last battle of the Wars of the Roses

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

The battle of Sandwich: England’s medieval Trafalgar

Leah Garrett tells the story of X-troop, a group of Jewish commandos who became one of Britain’s most potent weapons against the Nazis. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

Britain’s secret Jewish commandos

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

Bodiam Castle. (Getty Images)

How to build a medieval castle: 9 top tips

Henry I proclaims Matilda as his heir

Your guide to… The Anarchy

US NATO Army on training in Germany

Able Archer 83: the Nato war-game that nearly spelled nuclear disaster

Italian prisoners of war being escorted under armed guard to work on a farm, September 1941. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Second World War

Prisoners of war in Britain during WW2: where were they held?

Professor Michael Wert responds to listener questions and online search queries about the samurai of feudal Japan. (Image by Getty Images)

Samurai: everything you wanted to know

Portrait of Sarah Gristwood for BBC History Magazine

History explorer: Tewkesbury Abbey and four more places linked to the Wars of the Roses

Once allies, Adolf Hitler and Ernst Röhm (sitting to his left) had a colossal falling out over ideology

The Night of the Long Knives: the bloody purge that secured Hitler’s power

Mark Atwood Lawrence responds to readers’ questions about the United States’ failure to stem the advance of communism in Vietnam. (Image by Getty Images)

The Vietnam War: everything you wanted to know

Soldiers from the Women's Royal Army Corps

Second World War

A brief guide to VE Day

This caricature of those meetings depicts proceedings turning to chaos, thanks to the arrival of Napoleon – freshly escaped from his exile on Elba before 'the cake' (Europe) has even been cut

Europe after Napoleon: what the Congress of Vienna meant for the coalition powers