The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

A statue of Oliver Cromwell stares downwards, against a red background

The dark truth about Oliver Cromwell

John of Gaunt shown in a c16th-century portrait

John of Gaunt: The man who would be king. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of the French colonial army departing to fight under Colonel Marchand

What if...Britain and France went to war during the 1898 Fashoda Incident?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tostig Godwinson, brother of King Harold II of England, and King Harald Hardrada of Norway receive the submission of the city of York

Hastings, Stamford Bridge and Gate Fulford: three battles that lost England

The Spartan king Leonidas at the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The conflict has become the archetype for the courageous last stand, pitting around 200,000 Persians against 7,000 Spartans.

Your guide to the battle of Thermopylae

Neil Faulkner reveals how the Anglo-Arab Wars of 1870-1920 helped give rise to the first modern jihad

Jihad and the British empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A trieme is rowed towards a naval battle in a scene depicting the battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC

The ancient Greeks at war: hoplites, the phalanx and the greatest battles

Vanguard-class submarine HMS Vigilant, the top above water

Britain’s nuclear deterrent: a brief history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Hawker Hurricane of Fighter Command on its way to intercept German bombers as they crossed the south coast of England during the Battle of Britain, 1940. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 Battle of Britain myths. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An Israeli pilot after the raid on Entebbe

Operation Thunderbolt: Was the 1976 'raid on Entebbe' a brilliant rescue?

Two Hitler Youth who have surrendered to Allied Forces, Germany, 1945. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

First World War

Innocence under fire: how children were used in warfare of the past

Allied convoy PQ 17 is attacked by a German torpedo aircraft on its way across the Arctic Ocean, c1942. (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“The worst journey in the world”: the Arctic convoys of the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

US secretary of state William Seward (seated left) signs the agreement to buy Alaska from Russia in 1867

America’s hidden empire: the USA's forgotten imperial expansion. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Soldiers disembark a landing craft with a battle on the beach beyond

How to win a 20th-century battle

In partnership with Gaijin War Thunder

German troops on horseback cross a bridge during the Poland campaign

The brutal blitzkrieg: the 1939 invasion of Poland. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

John F Kennedy with US Army officials during the Cuban missile crisis

“We are eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked”: how the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of English admiral Lord Horatio Nelson

Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson: a rebel with a cause

Nikita Khrushchev visits President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1964

Snuffed out democracies and poisoned toothpaste: how the Cold War wreaked havoc in post-colonial Africa

A plaque which decorated the palace of the Benin Obas, The Obas butchers sacrificing a cow, the most prestigious animal sacrifice

Benin: a kingdom cast in bronze, brought to ruin by Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Byzantines and a flamethrower

General ancient history

Q&AWhat was Greek fire?

Brazilian peacekeepers under UN command in Haiti during general election 2006

When should countries intervene in others’ affairs?

Concerned that Russia was expanding its influence in the region, Britain invaded Afghanistan in 1839, ousting ruler Dost Mohammad and replacing him with Shah Shuja, who had been king from 1803–10. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Britain's first war in Afghanistan: what happened and why?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Witnesses to the Berlin Wall. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

VJ Day: turning the tide in the east. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Robespierre’s brutal downfall. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Building utopia after WW1. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Saladin (1560) by Cristofano Dell Altissimo.

Why does Saladin have such an enduring reputation?

The Ottoman empire: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Scientists Frederic Joliot-Curie and his wife, Irene, at work in their Paris laboratory in December 1932. The couple were among a wide-ranging group of scientists whose work paved the way for the atomic bomb. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Hiroshima: the race to the atomic bomb. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The transformation of India’s glamorous golden couple. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.