Military history

c1190 A scene from the Third Crusade depicting the surrender of Acre to the armies of King Richard I of England and Philippe Auguste of France. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

What were the crusades? Your top questions answered

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Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I.

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

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Two members of the BEF (British Expeditionary Forces)

Indian soldiers at Dunkirk . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The US cutter Spencer attacks U-boat U-175

The Battle of the Atlantic: why Britain almost lost to Hitler’s U-boats . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A scene from the Smithfield Decretals depicting a rabbit beheading a man. Rabbits seem to have a strange place in medieval imagery – and are depicted as having strangely violent tendencies.

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #5: chivalry, medieval killer rabbits and prisoners of war in the 15th century

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King John II made prisoner at the Battle of Poitiers by the English during the Hundred Years War, 1356. Illustration

Medieval prisoners of war . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles Cundall’s painting ‘The Withdrawal From Dunkirk, June 1940’

Second World War

9 things you (probably) didn’t know about Dunkirk

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First Crusade, Siege of Antioch, c1097,14th-century illustration (Photo by Getty Images)

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

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague explained

British ships on convoy duty in the North Atlantic

Danger in the deep: key questions about the Battle of the Atlantic answered

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Welcome home: the cruiser 'Exeter' arrives back at Plymouth, c15 February 1940, after taking part in the battle of the River Plate. The action resulted in the scuttling of the German pocket battleship 'Admiral Graf Spee', which had sent several British merchant ships to the bottom of the Atlantic. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Battle of the Atlantic: the “desperate” WW2 campaign featured in Tom Hanks film Greyhound

Members of 617 squadron, known as the Dambusters

Second World War

How successful was the Dambusters raid?

Henry III during the Second Barons' War

Simon de Montfort and the barons’ crusade: why rebel lords waged holy war against Henry III

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The German chief of staff General Alfred Jodl signs an unconditional surrender to the Allies in Reims, France, 7 May 1945 (Photo by Getty Images)

Britain at War . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Miners work hard in cramped conditions at the pit face in Ellington Colliery, Northumberland, 1951 (Photo by Getty Images)

The Northumbrians: from Bede to Geordie Shore . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.