CATEGORIES

TIMELINE OF THE...MONGOL INVASIONS OF JAPAN

The Mongol ruler Kublai Khan leads several attacks on the Japanese islands and is met by ferocious resistance

THE KHAN'S MARCH TO WAR

In the late 13th century, the ruler of the vast Mongol Empire set his sights east in search of new lands to conquer

PETAIN VERDUN HERO OR VICHY TRAITOR?

Philippe Pétain, Marshal of France and hero of Verdun during WWI, tarnished his reputation beyond redemption as a collaborator with the Nazis during WWII and head of the puppet Vichy government

Heroes of the Victoria Cross TUL BAHADUR PUN

In June 1944, as Allied forces began re-establishing dominance in Burma, a Gurkha Chindit stormed Japanese positions on a railway bridge to save his comrades, earning him the British Empire’s highest military honour

ECHOES OF THE PAST

THIS DISTURBING AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING STUDY OF MEMORY AND LOSS SHINES A LIGHT ON A DARK CHAPTER IN GREEK HISTORY

BENEDICTION

A SOMBRE AND HEART-WRENCHING BIOPIC ABOUT THE TRAUMATISED WORLD WAR I POET SIEGFRIED SASSOON

William Wilberforce 1759-1833

Former Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, chooses

JAPAN'S ROAD TO WAR

Less than a century after emerging from cultural and economic isolation, Imperial Japan’s expansion led to a confrontation with the nation that had first disturbed its solitude

THE DEMISE OF BRAVO TWO ZERO

During the 1991 Gulf War, an SAS operation in the Iraqi desert went terribly wrong

JAMES ALLEN WARD

In July 1941, 13,000ft above the Dutch coastline in a severely damaged Wellington bomber, this New Zealand airman clambered onto his aircraft’s wing to put out a fire and save his comrades

TURNING THE TIDE - Q&A WITH HISTORIAN JOHN WUKOVITS

Though Imperial Japan began on the front foot in 1941, several critical battles sealed victory for the Allies in 1945

MUSEUMS & EVENTS

Discover the Imperial War Museum’s new all-day festival, renovations happening to the Scapa Flow Museum, and Chatham Historic Dockyard’s exhibition about the wreck of HMS Invincible

FROM PEARL HARBOR TO GUADALCANAL

After the disaster in Hawaii, the US employed an island-hopping strategy in the Pacific, carefully choosing where to strike in order to suffocate Japan’s sprawling occupation of the theatre

PLATAEA

2,500 years ago an alliance of a few Greek city-states defeated the invading army of the mighty Persian empire, saving Greece and securing the future of European civilisation

HITLER'S TIGER ACE

Michael Wittmann, aka the Black Baron, was a hugely successful panzer commander and propaganda icon for the Nazis. His role in the Waffen-SS left a dark legacy

DOWNFALL - THE INVASION OF JAPAN

Without a swift end to the war in sight, the Allies planned a gruelling campaign on the Japanese home islands – a potentially costly operation avoided only by the use of nuclear weapons and Japan’s surrender

AMERICA'S FIRST COMMANDER IN CHIEF

A Founding Father, military hero of the revolution and the nation’s first president – but how much of his story is fact, and how much fiction?

Lodging with Mozart (and Shelley, Franklin and Byron)

It may seem strange in our home-owning obsessed times, but thousands of Georgians – from modest milliners to world-famous poets – chose renting a room over gaining a toehold on the property ladder. Gillian Williamson explains why

In Search of Unity

Richard Jevans is unconvinced by a new study that is focused on the idea of finishing the “European project” and based on the testimonies of esteemed thinkers over the centuries

The Good Fight

Diane Atkinson applauds an insightful and inspiring history of political and social action by women around the turn of the 19th century

Discover Slate Country

The epic ruins of North Wales’ once-great slate industry are now a Unesco World Heritage Site. Julie Brominicks marvels at the spectacle

Alfred Fagon - A Unique Caribbean Voice

Having migrated from Jamaica as a teenager, Alfred Fagon emerged as a powerful playwright who created African-Caribbean characters to speak truths about the challenges facing black people in Britain. Stephen Bourne introduces a writer who helped transform black British theatre in the 1970s and 80s

What Makes a Greek?

Michael Scott enjoys an informed and entertaining journey through the history of Greek-speaking people, but takes issue with the framing of the book

A National Institution

As it approached its second decade, the BBC's happy-go-lucky attitude was fading fast. And, as David Hendy reveals in the second instalment of our 13-part series tracing the corporation's cultural impact, the government was now taking a keen interest

The Tower of London in Bloom

If you're able to get to London this year then why not come and celebrate the space and Queen at the Tower of London, where a spectacular, colourful, vibrant field of flowers will fill and transform the Tower's moat.

Fight for a Nation

Costas Douzinas on a study of the revolution by which Greece freed itself from the Ottoman empire and was transformed into a self-ruling nation-state

Battle of Wills

Mark White commends a wide-ranging investigation into the psychological dimensions of the Cold War and the crucial role fear played in shaping American and Soviet strategies

Emily Soldene - Actress, writer, rebel

As the darling of London’s opera scene, and then as a journalist printing scandalous revelations about the cream of society, Emily Soldene thrived in the limelight. HELEN BATTEN explains why this trendsetting, rule-breaking, genre-hopping Victorian celebrity deserves to take centre stage once more

Meet the boss

Ever wondered who is behind the scenes, bringing the nation’s most popular factual programme to our screens every week? Annabel Ross meets Countryfile’s series editor Jane Lomas

Sara Maitland

Snobby social attitudes undervalue manual labour – especially in the countryside