The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

From Allies to enemies. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

William the Conqueror (1027–87), king of England from 1066 when he beat Harold II at the battle of Hastings. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

9 surprising facts about William the Conqueror and the Norman conquest

A vintage colour postcard, possibly produced to send Christmas greetings from the frontline, somewhere on the Western Front, during the First World War, c1918. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Christmas10 ways Christmas was celebrated during the First World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Stretcher bearers at Passchendaele

The forgotten triumphs of Passchendaele. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

German submarine on mission in the Atlantic ocean, 1942/1943 (Photo by ullstein bild via Getty Images)

World War Two’s secret heroes. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Few war leaders have been more profoundly steeped in history than Winston Churchill, who drew inspiration from his ancestor – and one of Britain's most celebrated generals – the Duke of Marlborough (left). (Images by Getty Images/Bridgeman

Sending history into battle: the lessons that war leaders have tried to learn from the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Lauren Bruner and Iyozo Fujita

Pearl Harbor: 5 frontline stories from people who were there. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A young American woman gazes at a human skull, sent to her by a boyfriend during WW2

Opinion: Midway’s treatment of the Japanese enemy highlights the power and limits of empathy

Is the world still living in the shadow of the crusades?

Midway: the Pacific War on screen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A scene from 'They Shall Not Grow Old', showing how film director Peter Jackson digitally remastered footage of the First World War. (Photo courtesy of THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD/ WingNut Films/ Peter Jackson. Original black and white film © IWM)

"There was no feeling sorry for themselves": director Peter Jackson on the soldiers of the First World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

11th November 1918: An army lorry in a London street on Armistice Day, carrying jubilant passengers. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

11 November 1918: The day the world turned upside down

A British officer stands alongside two of his Japanese counterparts in 1914 in Tsingtao (now Qingdao). Japanese troops played a key role in the capture of that strategic German concession in north-east China. (Photo by Getty Images)

First World War: beyond the western front

A detail from the Bayeux tapestry depicting the conquest of England by the Normans. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

9 medieval battles more significant than Agincourt

Agincourt was one of the major battles of the Hundred Years' War.

Agincourt: what really happened

'Yorktown' sustains a hit during the battle of Midway. The US aircraft carrier sank three days later but, by then, the Japanese had accepted that their attempt to land a war-winning blow had failed. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

How miraculous was the battle of Midway?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Black and white image of Russian soldiers using a canon

Trial by fire: how a fortress siege changed the course of World War One. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Fortress: An epic battle of World War I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A c1860 depiction of Wentworth Works steel manufacturer in Sheffield

Why Britain punched above its weight

Simon the cat

10 top cats in history

Britons. Join Your Country's Army! (Photo by Alfred Leete/ Imperial War Museums via Getty Images)

The death of Kitchener: a World War One mystery. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A visit to the Churchill War Rooms, London. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Inside the fort was a famous spring, St Helen’s Well, today Robin Hood’s Well. (© Bill Henderson)

Brunanburh: Where did the battle that saved England take place?

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the death of King Harold II during the battle of Hastings in 1066. (Photo by Getty Images)

Where did the battle of Hastings actually take place? 8 facts about the 1066 battle

Margaret Thatcher surrounded by British soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Royal Hampshire Regiment, during a surprise visit to the Falkland Islands, January 1983. Britain has "ceased to be a nation in retreat," declared the prime minister in the wake of the victory over Argentine forces.

How the Falklands War fired up Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration by Davide Bonazzi.

The WW2 obsession: why the world can't move on from 1945. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Max Hastings by Fran Monks

Max Hastings on the Dambusters. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Soldiers at the battle of Arnhem

Second World War

9 things you (probably) didn’t know about the battle of Arnhem

The wrecked remains of an Allied glider that participated in Market Garden

Second World War

Why Operation Market Garden, the Allies' battle for Arnhem, was a disaster in the planning

Jan Žižka, the general whose peasant army defied the Holy Roman Empire in the 1420s.

Christ’s communists: the radical religious sect that challenged the Holy Roman Empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.