Military history

The battleship USS California following the attack at Pearl Harbor

Second World War

12 things you (probably) didn’t know about Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor sparked an aircraft-manufacturing drive – and, for the first time, allowed US women to perform jobs previously held only by men. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Pearl Harbor aftermath: the fallout from the attack

Few war leaders have been more profoundly steeped in history than Winston Churchill, who drew inspiration from his ancestor – and one of Britain's most celebrated generals – the Duke of Marlborough (left). (Images by Getty Images/Bridgeman

Second World War

Sending history into battle: the lessons that war leaders have tried to learn from the past

Lauren Bruner and Iyozo Fujita

Second World War

Pearl Harbor: 5 frontline stories from people who were there

Mixed signals: A shortwave radio listening post in California, set up to report and translate broadcasts from Asia. (Photo by AP/Shutterstock)

Second World War

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

The Trojan Horse – seen in the 2004 film Troy

How much of the legend of Troy is real?

A young American woman gazes at a human skull, sent to her by a boyfriend during WW2

Second World War

Opinion: Midway’s treatment of the Japanese enemy highlights the power and limits of empathy

(Illustration by Davide Bonazzi for BBC World Histories magazine)

Is the world still living in the shadow of the crusades?

The American aircraft carrier USS Yorktown is being bombed in the Battle of Midway, June 1942. (Photo by Corbis via Getty Images)

Second World War

Midway: the Pacific War on screen

A scene from 'They Shall Not Grow Old', showing how film director Peter Jackson digitally remastered footage of the First World War. (Photo courtesy of THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD/ WingNut Films/ Peter Jackson. Original black and white film © IWM)

First World War

“There was no feeling sorry for themselves”: director Peter Jackson on the soldiers of the First World War

London crowds celebrating the signing of the armistice at the end of the First World War. "The armistice brought church services and tears, but it was a day of joy, spontaneity, noise and fun," says Guy Cuthbertson. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

First World War

5 things you need to know about Armistice Day

11th November 1918: An army lorry in a London street on Armistice Day, carrying jubilant passengers. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

First World War

11 November 1918: The day the world turned upside down

A British officer stands alongside two of his Japanese counterparts in 1914 in Tsingtao (now Qingdao). Japanese troops played a key role in the capture of that strategic German concession in north-east China. (Photo by Getty Images)

First World War

First World War: beyond the western front

A detail from the Bayeux tapestry depicting the conquest of England by the Normans. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

9 medieval battles more significant than Agincourt

Agincourt was one of the major battles of the Hundred Years' War.

Agincourt: what really happened