20th Century

Soldiers disembark a landing craft with a battle on the beach beyond

How to win a 20th-century battle

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Japanese boats approaching a 'black ship' of US Commodore Matthew C Perry. His arrival in Japan in 1853 forcibly introduced the modern west to the semi-self-isolated island nation (Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

From Meiji to modernity: how Japan reinvented itself through the 20th century

Workers lower the bodywork of a Standard Vanguard car onto its chassis in a factory

Britain’s motor city: how Coventry’s car industry roared to greatness – then went into reverse

German troops on horseback cross a bridge during the Poland campaign

The brutal blitzkrieg: the 1939 invasion of Poland

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From the rise of Christianity to the Russian Revolution, David Potter analyses the causes of huge events that transformed human history. (Image by Getty Images)

Why do things change? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

John F Kennedy with US Army officials during the Cuban missile crisis

“We are eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked”: how the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated

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As Tokyo hosts the summer Paralympics, Ian Brittain chronicles the history of competitive sport for disabled people. (Image by Getty Images)

The rise of the Paralympics . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Prince Charles with his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten at Windsor

Why was Lord Mountbatten, Prince Charles’s great-uncle, assassinated?

Migrants at a detention centre in Texas, March 2019

The complex history of concentration camps

Joep de Beer of Holland throws a javelin at the Stoke Mandeville Games

Q&A When and where were the first Paralympics held?

Ruined buildings in the village of Mitlino, one of at least 20 settlements evacuated after the Mayak explosion. Radioactive particles spread across an estimated area of over 23,000 sq km (SVF2/Getty Images)

Before Chernobyl: the secrets that paved the way for disaster

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Chris Williams responds to your questions on law enforcement in Britain over the past 300 years. (Image by Getty Images)

British police history: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Andrew Lownie discusses the opulent and eccentric lifestyle of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson after the abdication crisis of 1936. (Image by Getty Images)

The Windsors in exile . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Hester Barron and Claire Langhamer reveal what we can learn from essays written by Bolton schoolgirls in 1937. (Image by Getty Images)

Working-class girlhood in 1930s Bolton . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Nikita Khrushchev visits President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1964

Snuffed out democracies and poisoned toothpaste: how the Cold War wreaked havoc in post-colonial Africa