The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

Croydon Aerodome, pictured in 1926. Two years earlier, Matthews’ threat to sell his ‘Death Ray’ to a French party had sparked a dash to this airfield by investors determined to stop him. (Photo by Getty Images)

Amazing livesHarry Grindell Matthews: the strangely inventive mind behind the aerophone and Death Ray.

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Kingdom Come Deliverance: Two medieval soldiers figthing

Best medieval videogames for history enthusiasts in 2025

Former Soviet Colonel Stanislav Petrov at his home in 2004.

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A 19th-century painting of Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army storming Basing House in 1645 (Photo by Artepics/Alamy Stock Photo)

The siege of Basing House: how the Civil War was won.

Congo, Cold War & CIA plotting: the 1961 assassination that shook Africa

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A Chinese tank nears the city of Lang Son in Vietnam, 1979 and (right) Chinese and Vietnamese ministers meet for talks, 1991. Rana Mitter highlights the role of diplomacy in bringing war between Vietnam and China to an end.

Historians debate: how do intractable conflicts come to an end?.

The Iranian embassy siege: an SAS hostage drama in London.

The 1943 battle of Kursk – and its present-day echoes.

Portrait of Oliver Cromwell

The Western Design: Oliver Cromwell's disastrous campaign in the Caribbean.

Video podcastThe Battle of Megiddo: ancient Egypt's greatest victory?.

Women of the Greco-Persian Wars.

Crusader criminals: how the Holy Land became a hotbed of lawlessness.

German tank at the battle of Kursk, 1943. (Photo by Roger Viollet via Getty Images)

Second World War

The 1943 battle of Kursk: was it the biggest tank battle in history?

Henry Cavill as Gus March-Phillipps in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Second World War

Is The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare based on a true story? The audacious real history of Operation Postmaster

Soldiers of the English infantry in France, running out of their trenches at the signal to assault.

The ultimate First World War quiz.

A silhouette of troops of the 1st Australian Division during the First World War.

First World War

QuizHow much do you know about WW1?

Anne Frank: life of the week.

The West Africa Squadron: Britain's war on slave ships.

Dismemberment & disgrace: the grisly fate of Simon de Montfort.

Has imperial history become too politicised?.

Second World War

Airborne assault: the spearhead of the D-Day invasion.

Video podcastBritish Redcoats: everything you wanted to know.

King Robert I of Scotland statue at Stirling Castle.

The man, the myth, the murderer: how Robert the Bruce slaughtered his way to the throne.

William III of England at the Battle of the Boyne

The battle of the Boyne: what happened at the July 1690 clash and why is it commemorated on ‘the Twelfth’?

The Normandy campaign's forgotten naval heroes.

How the Dreyfus Affair tore France apart.

A depiction of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence. John Adams, Roger Sherman Robert R Livingston, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

Your guide to the 1776 American Declaration of Independence

How Stalin ran rings round the west.