The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

Portrait of Ian Morris

Books interview with Ian Morris: "War can be a productive force in that it produces larger, more peaceful societies".

Canadian troops returning from the combined operations raid at Dieppe. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

The LibraryBritain and France: Empires under fire.

The value of war and the rail revolution.

A scene from the 1963 film 'Naked Among Wolves', depicting a Nazi concentration camp

The long shadow of Adolf Hitler.

BBC History Magazine

Command and Control

A view of Þingvellir National Park in western Iceland. It was here, in AD 930, that Viking settlers established the first pan-Icelandic assembly – possibly the oldest parliamentary body in the world. (© Dreamstime)

Vikings: A land without kings.

Photo of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie

Q&AHow did the world go to war in 1914?.

Escaping the Blitz and recording the First World War.

A group of survivors from the Long March after their arrival in Shenxi in 1934. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

The LibraryMao: the legend of the Long March.

Picture depicting the Battle of Waterloo

Q&AWho was the bravest man at Waterloo?

Watercolour painting of the Battle of Agincourt

Q&AWho paid for the arrows in the Battle of Agincourt?

Picture of the charge of the 4th Hussars at the battle of Friedland

Q&AWhat were hussar regiments?

1,138: The number of London children recorded as dying of “teeth” in 1685. (Illustration: James Albon for BBC History Magazine)

History’s most surprising statistics.

A depiction of the battle of Naseby

Did Roundheads and Cavaliers really dress so differently?.

Army recruits take the oath in White City, London, December 1914. “Creating an army more or less from scratch was a recipe for disastrous losses,” claims Niall Ferguson. (Getty Images)

“Britain should have stayed out of the First World War” says Niall Ferguson.

A recruitment poster used during the First World War, c1915.

Why Britain was right to go to war in 1914.

First World War

Gary Sheffield on First World War debate: 'A German victory would have been a disaster for Britain'

First World War

Niall Ferguson: “Britain should have stayed out of First World War”

Paxman on World War One.

Pillage of Jerusalem

Crusading for God and gold.

Troops on a night raid during the First World War

Jeremy Paxman: "The war finished Britain off in many respects".

Is Blackadder bad for First World War history?.

Khudadad Khan

My history hero: Khudadad Khan (1888-1971).

This detail from the Gundestrup Cauldron – a richly decorated silver vessel thought to date from the second-century BC – depicts a Celtic god or druid surrounded by beasts. (Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

The genius of the Celts.

Chinese irregular cavalry and infantry from the north-western provinces move towards the front during the 1894–95 war

China's wars

Renewed debate over battle of Hastings location

Sport offered the two sides the perfect stage on which to get one over on the 'enemy', says Dominic Sandbrook. Pictured here is a queue for a football match between Arsenal and Dynamo Moscow. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Cold War in your living room.

"Nobody could have held their nerve in Normandy like Monty did," says Al Murray of the wartime general. (Photo by Mark Kauffman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

My history hero: Bernard Montgomery.

Books interview: Margaret MacMillan on the First World War.

© Imperial War Museum

Q&AHow old was the youngest known soldier to fight in WW1?.