The charge of the light, battle illustration

Military history

Chair used for the last execution at the Tower of London, c1940. Wooden chair on which the German Corporal Josef Jakobs was seated when he was shot as a spy in the Tower of London in August 1941. Two of the spindles have been shot away and the frame broken by bullets. Jakobs, who was seated due to an injured leg, was the last person to be executed at the Tower of London. (Credit: The Board of Trustees of the Armouries / HIP / TopFoto)

Q&A: Why was Josef Jakobs the only WW2 spy to be shot rather than hanged?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Second World War

Operation Garbo: The Personal Story of the Most Successful Spy of World War II

An illustration of Nikephoros II. (Photo by INTERFOTO/Alamy Stock Photo)

A big day in history: the all-conquering Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II loses his head. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Guy Gibson (centre) with members of his squadron. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

The triumph of the Dambusters. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III. Famous for being the location of the ‘Great Escape’, it was home to Ron Last for ten months. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The long road home. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Francisco Pizarro seizing the Inca of Peru John Everett Millais. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

A big day in history: Francisco Pizarro's tiny Spanish army takes a mighty Incan leader hostage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-forgotten Europe

Dambusters. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

English soldiers in the ruins of Palmyre in charge of taking over the Syrian Territory occupied by Vichy’s France. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

The untold Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

Perilous Glory: The Rise of Western Military Power

BBC History Magazine

Battle numbers

In his last official photo, Adolf Hitler leaves the safety of his bunker to award decorations to members of Hitler Youth. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images)

Why did the Nazis fight to the death?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

Imperial Endgame

Back to school and Hitler's schemes for war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Clean-up crews salvaging what they can from the ruins of buildings in Hornsey, a north London suburb, 1944. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Hitler's secret weapon. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Saracen attack on Crusaders, from the French manuscript 'Chroniques de Saint Denis', c1200. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Traders and crusaders. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

The British Confederate

Second World War

Aerial bombing

Operation Barbarossa, which began on 22 June 1941, saw more than three million German troops surge into the Soviet Union along a front of more than 1,000 miles. (Photo by Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Barbarossa and Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Saint-Quentin canal, part of the Germans’ Hindenburg Line, which the Allies broke through on Sunday 29 September 1918. (Photo by 2nd Lt. D McLellan/ IWM via Getty Images)

The LibraryWhy didn’t the Allies march on Berlin in 1918?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

German Spring Offensive: reserve troops in Saint Quentin on their way to the front, March 1918. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

How the war was won. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

In search of the Dunkirk spirit. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

News for the BBC's Domesday Project and the future of the National Archives. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

Acclaimed military historian Professor Richard Holmes has died

A colossus at war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Q&A: Why didn’t Britain attempt to hinder Italy’s 1935 invasion of Abyssinia by preventing the Italian fleet from using the Suez Canal?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

Reprobates: The Cavaliers of the English Civil War

My history hero: Douglas Bader (1910–82)

Civil rights and the Civil War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.