The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

Beyond Normandy: the global war

British troops learn to swim in full kit on a training course in May 1944. "A blind man could see something big was about to happen," said one soldier. (Image by Getty Images)

D-Day: why the training was deadlier than the assault

Looking out across the Channel, shell craters pockmark Pointe du Hoc – a German artillery position seized by US Rangers. The promontory is one of many reminders of D-Day along the Normandy coastline. (Photo by Getty Images)

History explorer: D-Day beaches

The Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the second half of the 12th century. This military intervention had the backing of King Henry II of England and was authorised by Pope Adrian IV. Here you can see Henry II landing at Waterford in 1171. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland: 850 years on

Japanese troops celebrate the capture of a British artillery position, Hong Kong, December 1941 (Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

The lion and the rising sun: Britain and Japan's 400-year relationship

Australian troops (widely known as ‘Diggers’) at Anzac Cove in April 1915

The Gallipoli campaign: a defining moment in Australian history

British military behind a barricade, 1916. (Photo by ullstein picture via Getty Images)

The Easter Rising: when Ireland went to war

Anita Anand, photographed in London. "My grandfather was in Amritsar on the day of the massacre. This story has been woven into my DNA," she says. (Photography by Alastair Levy)

Books interview with Anita Anand: “Singh hoped that he would be the catalyst for a revolution”

Wilfred Thesiger in Oman, c1946. "He was able to cope without sleep, and aI don't think he knew pain," says Frank Gardner. (Image by Bridgeman)

My history hero: Frank Gardner chooses Wilfred Thesiger

A battle of wills: why the South lost the American Civil War

President Abraham Lincoln visiting soldiers encamped at the Civil War battlefield of Antietam in Maryland, 1 October 1862. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

The American Civil War: 7 facts and fictions

A US soldier teaching two junior 'rookie' recruits how to clean a gun during the First World War

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about America’s entry and involvement in the First World War

British Indian soldiers stand at attention prior to inspection at Singapore, December 1941. (Photo by Alamy)

World War Two’s ‘ordinary’ soldiers

Nationalist troops escort captured Republican militia during the Spanish Civil War. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

The Spanish Civil War: an avoidable tragedy

A young visitor looks at a painting depicting the Amritsar Massacre

Amritsar: day of shame

A Royal Air Force fighter squadron 'scrambles' after receiving the signal to engage the enemy during the Battle of Britain. (Photo by William Vandivert/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

A brief history of the Royal Air Force

Scottish soldier and Field Marshal Douglas Haig (1861 - 1928) visiting the troops during the First World War. (Central Press/Getty Images)

First World War

Field Marshal Haig: a man much misunderstood?

Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce in 'Outlaw King'. (Photo by Netfix / David Eustace)

Robert the Bruce: what do we know?

Prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

5 myths of the Second World War's Great Escape

A painting of the Amritsar massacre. While Churchill described the killings as "without precedent", MP Benjamin Spoor said: "Amritsar is not an isolated event, any more than General Dyer is an isolated officer." (Photo by AKG Images)

The Amritsar massacre: the British empire's darkest day

Bill Edwardes, who at the age of 16 joined the army to fight during WW2.

Second World War

The boys who lied about their age to fight in WW2

A colour illustration of First World War allies, the German Reich and Austria-Hungary, featuring soldiers shaking hands, their troops and national flags, c1915. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

First World War

Q&AWho was involved in the First World War? Who was on each side?

Captain James Lawrence of the Chesapeake is wounded

The capture of the Chesapeake: how the British Royal Navy rescued its reputation in the War of 1812

An example of the Zimmermann Telegram

First World War

The Zimmermann telegram: the telegram that brought America into the First World War

A sculpture of Genghis Kahn

The brutal brilliance of Genghis Khan

The crew of ‘Mi Amigo’. The pilot, 23-year-old Lt John Kriegshauser, can be seen in the front row, far left. (Photo courtesy of Sheffield County Council via American Air Museum in Britain)

Mi Amigo: the deadly WW2 bomber crash in Sheffield play park that killed 10 airmen

Battle of Verdun. French trench on the front lines, 1916. (Photo by Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Verdun

Code-breaking personnel at Bletchley Park, 1943. (Photo by Bletchley Park Trust/SSPL/Getty Images)

The evolution of British code-breaking

BBC Breakfast's Dan Walker with Tony Foulds, 82, who for nearly 75 years has tended the memorial of 10 US airmen who were killed when their B-17 crashed in Endcliffe Park in Sheffield in February 1944. Tony witnessed the crash as an eight-year-old boy. (Photo courtesy of Dan Walker)

Second World War

“We got Tony a fly-past”: how BBC’s Dan Walker organised tribute to WW2 plane crash heroes in Sheffield

Russian troops hoist the red banner of the Soviet Army after Stalingrad

Stalingrad: the crushing of the Reich