The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I.

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

Two members of the BEF (British Expeditionary Forces)

Indian soldiers at Dunkirk. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The US cutter Spencer attacks U-boat U-175

The Battle of the Atlantic: why Britain almost lost to Hitler's U-boats. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A scene from the Smithfield Decretals depicting a rabbit beheading a man. Rabbits seem to have a strange place in medieval imagery – and are depicted as having strangely violent tendencies. "It’s the sort of thing to give you nightmares," says David Musgrove. (Photo by Album/British Library/Alamy Stock Photo)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #5: chivalry, medieval killer rabbits and prisoners of war in the 15th century. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

King John II made prisoner at the Battle of Poitiers by the English during the Hundred Years War, 1356. Illustration

Medieval prisoners of war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles Cundall’s painting ‘The Withdrawal From Dunkirk, June 1940’

Second World War

9 things you (probably) didn’t know about Dunkirk

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

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague explained

British ships on convoy duty in the North Atlantic

Danger in the deep: key questions about the Battle of the Atlantic answered. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Battle of the Atlantic: the "desperate" WW2 campaign featured in Tom Hanks film Greyhound. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Members of 617 squadron, known as the Dambusters

Second World War

How successful was the Dambusters raid?

Henry III during the Second Barons' War

Simon de Montfort and the barons’ crusade: why rebel lords waged holy war against Henry III. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Britain at War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Miners work hard in cramped conditions at the pit face in Ellington Colliery, Northumberland, 1951 (Photo by Getty Images)

The Northumbrians: from Bede to Geordie Shore. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

8 May 1945: Crowds celebrate VE Day in London, at the end of World War 2. (Photo by Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

"Hooray! The war is ended": 5 people's recollections of VE Day. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Expelled Germans leaving Poland's western territories

"The war without an end": what happened in Europe after VE Day?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ill mannered discussions: Chinese leader General Chiang Kai-shek, US president Franklin D Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill meet at the Cairo Conference in November 1943. (Photo by Getty Images)

VE Day at 75Preparing for peace: why WW2 felt like a war without an end. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Detail of the carved portal of Hylestad stave church, 12th century. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

5 forgotten Viking battles that shaped Britain's destiny. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Flying the flag: A sailor signals a merchant ship in the Thames Estuary, 1939. Allied maritime capacity was paramount in the final victory. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Second World War

WW2: Why did the Allies win the Second World War?

Crowds in Piccadilly Circus in London celebrate VE Day

Countdown to VE Day: the week World War 2 ended in Europe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Edward the Confessor

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Anglo-Saxons

Harold Godwinson is proclaimed king of England in the Bayeux Tapestry. It may have been commissioned by a Norman but this magnificent artwork repeatedly acknowledges the English leader’s piety and courage. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Editor's pick11 fascinating articles on the Normans you can read right now

Illustration of Alexander the Great marching to war (Illustration by Sue Gent_

What if…Alexander the Great had lived longer?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

American soldiers head towards the French coast, June 1944. (Photo by Getty Images)

D-Day: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hollow victory: Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French, attends Paris VE Day celebrations. But many faced privation and uncertainty as the war drew to a close. (Photo by Getty Images)

VE Day at 75The bitter taste of victory: why May 1945 was not a time of celebration for everyone. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of the Norman army, from the Bayeux Tapestry

Everything you wanted to know about the 1066 Norman invasion and the battle of Hastings – but were afraid to ask

Illustration of Elizabeth I in a cage

What if...The Spanish Armada had landed?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of Boudica, victorious over the Romans

What if…Boudica had defeated the Romans?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An oil portrait of Charlemagne (c747–814), King of the Franks, by 15th/16th-century artist Albrecht Durer. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)

The legacy of Charlemagne: how the king of the Franks continues to cast a shadow over Europe

Steve McQueen stars in the 1963 film that turned the 'Great Escape' into a symbol of Allied pluck and ingenuity. (Image by Alamy)

The not-so Great Escape. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.