CATEGORIES

THE MIGHTY METEOR

On 5 March it will be the 80th anniversary of the Gloster Meteor’s maiden flight.

Avid Bird Watchers

Small, gentle and well-spoken, John Bird, who died in December 2022 at the age of 86, might not have seemed like an obvious figure to terrorise the political establishment.

IN THE FRAME

From the first appearance of the pedal-driven bicycle, sometime in the 1860s, to the end of the 19th century, the bicycle underwent considerable changes in design, largely to accommodate the various inventions that improved the machine.

1848 & 1864: SCHLESWIG WARS

Prussian leader Otto von Bismarck's first roll of the iron dice came in a war against two duchies controlled in part by Denmark

BOMBER COMMAND: THEIR FINEST HOUR

In June 1944, the Allied invasion fleet launched to begin the liberation of Occupied Europe did so in a cocoon of protective air power. Fighters swept ahead and above; maritime patrol aircraft shielded the flanks; and vast fleets of transport aircraft carried the paratroopers who would seize bridges and causeways behind enemy lines. An often overlooked contribution to Operation Overlord was the role of the heavy bombers, who attacked the Nazi shore defences and carried out several other critical missions that paved the way for Allied success

VIETNAM’S 'BAND OF BROTHERS': Q&A WITH IAN GARDNER

How 3rd Battalion, 506th Airborne overcame adversity in the jungles of Southeast Asia, continuing the legacy of their WWII forebears

HO CHI MINH’S ART OF WAR

The leadership of North Vietnam’s revolutionary premier succeeded in defeating the colonial French state, and later South Vietnam and its Western allies

1870: FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR

Defeating their powerful neighbour to the west was the crowning glory for the Confederation and signalled the birth of the German Empire

PETER BADCOE

This major of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam displayed conspicuous bravery on three separate occasions, leading members of the territorial forces of South Vietnam in Thua Thiên-Hué Province

CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE

After dissolving the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon established a pro-French military alliance of German states that loosely resembled a united Germany

SHREWSBURY

In 1403, English archers faced each other in battle for the first time as rebels sought to topple Henry IV

1866: AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR

The main opponent to Bismarck's plan for unification was defeated in just seven weeks

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BLACK DEATH

Professor John Hatcher answers keys questions about the global spread, symptoms and long-term impact of plague

INFANTRY BRANCH

Of the three branches of the Machine Gun Corps, the largest was the Infantry. Initially formed in each infantry brigade, a machine gun company took on the role of machine gun support to the infantry battalions

THE MAN WITH MIRACULOUS HANDS

THE REMARKABLE STORY OF HEINRICH HIMMLER’S PHYSICIAN, FELIX KERSTEN, WHO SAVED MANY NAZI VICTIMS FROM THE FANATICAL BUTCHER AND FORCED HIM TO BETRAY ADOLF HITLER

RUSSIA'S WAR ON EVERYBODY

THE STORY OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION AND HOW AND WHY MOSCOW PUSHES FOR POWER AND INFLUENCE FAR BEYOND UKRAINE

Alexander Selkirk is finally rescued

Marooned on a remote desert island for more than four years, Scottish mariner Alexander Selkirk survived against all the odds, gaining fame, fortune and a lasting influence on popular culture

Pauli Murray: civil rights lawyer

Trailblazing attorney Pauli Murray devoted her legal career to tackling racial and gender discrimination in the US. But what drove the civil rights icon and LGBTQ+ pioneer to take up the fight in the first place?

The French Wars of Religion

In the late 16th century, France was torn apart by a series of violent religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, with several noble families competing for mastery over the kingdom's salvation

THE DEVIL'S PORRIDGE

During World War I, Britain's female workforce rallied to the war effort, joining munitions and weapons factories. Some of this work was notoriously hazardous...

LEGACY OF THE CORPS

Despite being at its largest in December 1918, the MGC reduced significantly and swiftly after the armistice and subsequent treaty

SHIROYAMA

A final showdown pitting a rebellious samurai clan against a Westernised army of Japanese conscripts launches a new Asian empire

HOW TO FIGHT A WAR Q+A WITH DR MIKE MARTIN

The former British Army officer and senior visiting fellow at King's College London reveals how and why wars are fought, from the ancient world to Ukraine and beyond

WWII THIS MONTH...FEBRUARY 1943

To commemorate 80 years since the Second World War, History of War is taking a look at some of the key events during each month of the conflict

'WE HAVE THE MAXIM'

Early machine guns were used by British forces during the 'Scramble for Africa' but the British Army was slow to fully realise their lethal potential

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF...T.E. LAWRENCE

In late 1916, a little-known archaeologist arrived in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. What started as a trouble-shooting mission would transform the Middle East

GOING INTO LOCKDOWN

Helen Carr explores the measures used across the centuries to curb the spread of the deadliest disease in human history

WHAT IF...HANNIBAL HAD TAKEN ROME?

Professor Greg Woolf talks to Nige Tassell about what might have happened to Rome and the Romans had the Carthaginian military mastermind managed to conquer the city

PUNISHMENT FROM ON HIGH

An unshakeable certainty that the plague was God's punishment for sin led to desperate, and terrible, measures

SHERMAN THE MAKING OF A WAR WINNER

The M4 Sherman medium tank was produced in huge numbers during WWII and became the Allies' most prominent yet controversial land weapon of the conflict