The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

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?

A decoy rubber tank such as those used by the Allies during WW2.

Masters of disguise: the story of the Allies' WW2 'Ghost Army'.

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. The tapestry was most likely embroidered by women in Norman England in a workshop setting using four embroidery stitches – stem stitch; split stitch; chain stitch; and laid work, sometimes called ‘Bayeux Stitch’, says Dr Alexandra Lester-Makin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Bayeux Tapestry: what is it, why was it made and what story does it tell?

Illustration of Despite being outnumbered, the Greeks gained vital supremacy at sea over the Persians at the battle of Salamis in 480 BC

The Peloponnesian War: Athens fights Sparta for dominance in ancient Greece

Otto von Bismarck, pictured on horseback, was instrumental in the creation of a unified German state and was among the most influential politicians of late 19th-century Europe.(Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Otto von Bismarck: a brief guide to the ‘founder of modern Germany’

Margaret MacMillan gives a lecture on the reasons for conflict throughout history – and how warfare has shaped the human story (Photo by Getty Images)

Why do we fight wars?.

QuizHow well do you know Year 9 history?.

A guide to the Roman army, plus 10 facts about life in the legions.

Speech of Adolf Hitler to the Reichstag inthe Kroll Opera in Berlin after the Declaration of war to the USA, in addition to the lectern to the right: Press Chief Otto Dietrich and the personal adjutant of Hitler Albert Bormann the Brigade Commander o

Second World War

"One of the most puzzling decisions of WW2": Ian Kershaw on why Hitler declared war on America

A fanciful engraving imagines Peter the Hermit presenting Pope Urban II (centre) with a letter from Simeon II

Launching the First Crusade

Alphonse de Neuville's 1880 painting 'The Defence of Rorke's Drift'. The battle was to become a "supreme symbol of imperial heroism". (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

The battle of Rorke's Drift: a stand still clad in the "myths of empire".

An engraving depicting London's Piccadilly Circus heaving with crowds on their way to The Great Exhibition of 1851. A banner reading 'God save the Queen and Prince Albert' has been strung across the street. Within the Crystal Palace some 100,000 objects were displayed – taking up ten miles of space – the work of 15,000 contributors. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

From the Great Exhibition to the Festival of Britain: the decline and fall of the British empire

English cavalry attacking the Sikh at the Battle of Aliwal

Victoria the warrior queen.

Hitler and Stalin: tyrants at war.

Illustration of the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava during the Crimean War

Victorians and war: which conflicts were fought during the Victorian era?

Richard III

What if…Richard III had won at Bosworth?.

The collapse of the Third Reich.

The battle for Sicily, 1943.

German Jews in WW1.

Bonnie Prince Charlie: hero or coward?.

An East India Company official riding on an elephant

The East India Company: how a trading corporation became an imperial ruler

The Wars of the Roses: everything you wanted to know.

British from the 11th Brigade 4th division and German soldiers at Ploegsteert in Belgium on Christmas Day 1914. (Photo by The Art Archive/Alamy)

First World War

Did the First World War Christmas truce football match really happen?

Invention or adaptation: what did the Romans really do for us?.

Historian Margaret Macmillan

"To destroy a library is to erase part of the cultural memory of humankind": Margaret MacMillan on war.

The Huguenots vs France: who were the Huguenots and what did they believe?

Second World War

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

Robert Harris on V2, historical fiction and WW2.

US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, meeting during the Casablanca conference in 1943. (Photo by AFP/Getty Images)

Second World War

Churchill and D-Day: did the prime minister oppose the Normandy landings?

Laurence ReesHitler and Stalin: The Tyrants and the Second World War.