Military history

This second-century AD column shows Romans beheading German nobles. Armed with the lethal gladius (short sword), Roman soldiers were feared throughout the empire. (Image by Bridgeman)

A guide to the Roman army, plus 10 facts about life in the legions

Adolf Hitler photographed with British politician Henry Vane-Tempest Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry (left) and Joachim von Ribbentrop (right), minister of foreign affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. (Photo litzy ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Making friends with Hitler: Britain’s pre-war admiration for the Nazi dictator

Speech of Adolf Hitler to the Reichstag inthe Kroll Opera in Berlin after the Declaration of war to the USA, in addition to the lectern to the right: Press Chief Otto Dietrich and the personal adjutant of Hitler Albert Bormann the Brigade Commander o

Second World War

“One of the most puzzling decisions of WW2”: Ian Kershaw on why Hitler declared war on America

Did Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler (pictured) ever meet? (Photos by Getty Images)

Second World War

Q&A Did Churchill and Hitler ever meet?

A fanciful engraving imagines Peter the Hermit presenting Pope Urban II (centre) with a letter from Simeon II

Launching the First Crusade

Alphonse de Neuville's 1880 painting 'The Defence of Rorke's Drift'. The battle was to become a

The battle of Rorke’s Drift: a stand still clad in the “myths of empire”

An engraving depicting London's Piccadilly Circus heaving with crowds on their way to The Great Exhibition of 1851. A banner reading 'God save the Queen and Prince Albert' has been strung across the street. Within the Crystal Palace some 100,000 objects were displayed – taking up ten miles of space – the work of 15,000 contributors. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

From the Great Exhibition to the Festival of Britain: the decline and fall of the British empire

Hitler and Stalin: Laurence Rees compares the actions of the two dictators over the course of the Second World War. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

Hitler and Stalin: tyrants at war

Illustration of the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava during the Crimean War

Victorians and war: which conflicts were fought during the Victorian era?

Richard III

What if… Richard III had won at Bosworth?

Frank McDonough discusses his new book charting the demise of Hitler’s Germany from 1940-45. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

The collapse of the Third Reich

James Holland tells the story of the dramatic Allied assault on the island of Sicily in the Second World War. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

The battle for Sicily, 1943

Tim Grady gives a lecture exploring the varied experiences of German Jews in the First World War. (Image by Getty Images)

First World War

German Jews in WW1

Jacqueline Riding considers whether the Jacobite prince was a valiant freedom fighter, or a haughty coward. (Image by Getty Images)

Bonnie Prince Charlie: hero or coward?

An East India Company official riding on an elephant

The East India Company: how a trading corporation became an imperial ruler