The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

Troops pictured during the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War

First World War

Gallipoli: 5 reasons why the First World War campaign was a failure

Helen CarrThe Red Prince: John of Gaunt, the Father of Monarchy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of the Norman army, from the Bayeux Tapestry

Battle of Hastings quiz: how much do you know about the 1066 clash?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Napoleon: the rise and fall of a dictator

German troops and a Georgian ‘volunteer’ in action in 1942 or 43.

Texel: Europe's last battle of the Second World War

Battle of Culloden. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Your guide to the battle of Culloden – plus 7 myths busted

Newark Castle flanked by the river Trent. To say that King John's death here in 1216 was little-lamented is something of an understatement. "With John's foul deeds all England is stinking, as does hell, to which he is now sinking," wrote the chronicler Matthew Paris. (Getty Images)

King John and the French invasion. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Kate VigursThe women of SOE in WW2 France. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and known as the Kingmaker, meets his end at the battle of Barnet in 1471

Q&AWhy was Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker?

Battle of Barnet: This lively, if inaccurate, 15th- century illustration of the shows a coronet- wearing Edward skewering Warwick with his lance

The battle of Barnet, 1471: the Wars of the Roses clash that killed the Kingmaker

The Battle Of Towton, fought on 29 March 1461, was brutal clash in the driving snow fought during the Wars of the Roses

The battle of Towton: did the biggest, bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil take place during the Wars of the Roses?

The Thirty Years’ War: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Learning the hard way: soldiers struggle to move a field gun through the Flanders mud. The key to victory in the west was the Allies’ ability to effect one of the “most consequential technologies and tactical transformations in the history of war,” says Nick Lloyd. (Photo by Getty Images)

Revolution on the western front

The western front: a cauldron of innovation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The 'Alexander Mosaic' showing Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great: all you need to know about the empire builder and military genius

The Cold War: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A photograph of the battle of Moscow, 1942, first printed in Signal, a magazine published by the German Third Reich from 1940 to 1945. (Photo by Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Second World War

Operation Barbarossa: why Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union was his greatest mistake

Formidable dynasties of the Italian Renaissance. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Spitfires under construction at the Vickers Supermarine works in Southampton, around 1940

The difficult birth of the Spitfire – and how the WW2 fighter almost missed the battle of Britain

An engraving of the thin Red Line, depicting the 93rd Regiment at the battle of Balaklava

Q&AWhat was the Thin Red Line?

US marines advance up Iwo Jima's beaches

Second World War

The battle for Iwo Jima: why did it happen and why was it so hard fought?

A decoy rubber tank such as those used by the Allies during WW2.

Masters of disguise: the story of the Allies' WW2 'Ghost Army'

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. The tapestry was most likely embroidered by women in Norman England in a workshop setting using four embroidery stitches – stem stitch; split stitch; chain stitch; and laid work, sometimes called ‘Bayeux Stitch’, says Dr Alexandra Lester-Makin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Bayeux Tapestry: what is it, why was it made and what story does it tell?

Illustration of Despite being outnumbered, the Greeks gained vital supremacy at sea over the Persians at the battle of Salamis in 480 BC

The Peloponnesian War: Athens fights Sparta for dominance in ancient Greece

Otto von Bismarck, pictured on horseback, was instrumental in the creation of a unified German state and was among the most influential politicians of late 19th-century Europe.(Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Otto von Bismarck: a brief guide to the ‘founder of modern Germany’

Margaret MacMillan gives a lecture on the reasons for conflict throughout history – and how warfare has shaped the human story (Photo by Getty Images)

Why do we fight wars?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

QuizHow well do you know Year 9 history?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

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

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

Launching the First Crusade