20th Century

Vasily Grossman with the Red Army in Schwerin, Germany, 1945. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

A war of words

The front page of the first edition of The Sun newspaper. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

A big day in history: The Sun first appeared on shelves in newsagents

Hans Litten (centre) in court while representing communists, 25 August 1932. Litten’s decision to subpoena Hitler a year earlier was to cost him his life. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Hitler in the dock

Schoolchildren helping workmen construct a new estate of pre-fabricated houses in Watford, Hertfordshire in 1946 following the devastation of the Second World War. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images)

Postwar squatters: a very British uprising

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Sir Alec Clegg was the founder of Bretton Hall College (pictured), a West Yorkshire college specialising in arts and performance. (Photo by Memitina/Getty Images)

My history hero: Sir Alec Clegg (1909-86) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Christmas Day 1991: Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev broadcasts a message to his people announcing his resignation and the imminent dissolution of the USSR. (TV GRAB/AFP/Getty Images)

Does Russia need an iron fist?

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Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He

My history hero: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Britain's decision to join the Common Market made front page news in the early Seventies. (Photo by Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)

A big day in history: the debate on whether Britain should join the European Community

Douglas Bader.

My history hero: Douglas Bader (1910–82)

A historical image from the iron and steel industry in Teeside

Industrial revolution

175 years of iron and steel

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Aftermath of a smash-and-grab raid at a shop in London, c1929. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Ruby Sparks: the smash-and-grab gangster . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Trawler crew, c1900. (Photo by Past Pix/SSPL/Getty Images)

Toilers of the deep: the lives of Edwardian deep sea fishermen

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Rebellion and terrorism . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A bus makes its way down Fleet Street towards Ludgate Hill Circus and St Paul's Cathedral, London, c1888. (Photo by London Stereoscopic Company/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A history of the high street

American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) who wrote under the pseudonym of Mark Twain, standing outside on a porch. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Mark Twain: America’s historical conscience?