The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

First World War

In pictures: WWI submarines

BBC History Magazine

In pictures: Newark's National Civil War Centre

Second World War

Second World War heroes ‘had most sex appeal’

Shakespeare and war in the Middle East.

A still from a 1960 film about the Alamo, showing the chapel being covered by troops

Remember the Alamo! What happened in the 1836 siege and battle?

First World War

How did WW1 end?

A British major pictured in German captivity

"How I fell captive to the Germans": the experience of First World War PoWs.

A demonstrator vents his spleen at police officers during an anti-Vietnam War rally in London's Grosvenor Square

Britain at war over Vietnam.

Living through the Crusades: 3 poems and songs that reveal how medieval people felt about the holy war.

Huts in Lambeth built for bombed-out families, 1945. (Getty)

Britain in 1945: Life in the shadow of victory.

Napoleon’s surrender: letter begging Prince Regent for mercy after Waterloo defeat to go on show in Windsor

Hitler and his general staff

1945: The race for Berlin.

Illustration of Chartist riot

Q&AWhen was the last armed revolt in Britain?.

View of a sham fight on the Serpentine, Hyde Park, London, 1814

The year when fear of Napoleon stalked the land.

Second World War

Kamikaze pilots and Captain John Smith.

A Kamikaze pilot scores a direct hit on a US aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean, c1942. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

The reluctant kamikaze of the Second World War.

Photo of bees

First World War

Q&AWhat was the Battle of the Bees?

First World War

In WW1, what did the Allies want to achieve?

Picture depicting the Dogger Bank Incident

Q&AWhat was the 'North Sea Outrage'?

American forces advance through the Ardennes forest during the battle of the Bulge. (Photo by George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

The battle of the Bulge: Hitler’s final gamble.

Photo of the Cenotaph in London

First World War

Q&AWhen were the wreaths first laid at the Cenotaph?

Photo of a remembrance poppy

First World War

Q&AWhere do the red poppies come from?

A 19th-century illustration depicting the battle of Agincourt.

Books interview with Ranulph Fiennes: "The Hundred Years' War was caused by my ancestor's advice being ignored".

A portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte

Why Napoleon merits the title 'the Great'.

7 maps that changed history.

A portrait of Joan of Arc,

The real Joan of Arc

The battle of Agincourt and the Spanish communists.

Red Army tank drivers on a street in the city of Rakov, Poland

1939: When Poland was torn to pieces.

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Churchill’s secret Second World War warriors.

First World War

Why is WW1 called the 'Great War'?