Second World War

Italian Fascist scouts meet a member of the Hitler Youth in Padua, October 1940: a picture explained by Roger Hudson.

Carole Chapman argues that Britain’s refusal to play the role assigned to her by the Führer had a vital impact on Hitler’s strategy.

Richard Wilkinson charts the highs and lows of Winston Churchill in 1940-45.

Greg Carleton explains how disastrous defeats for the Soviet Union and the US in 1941 were transformed into positive national narratives by the two emerging superpowers.

Taylor Downing tells the story of the Central Interpretation Unit at Medmenham, Buckinghamshire, where the RAF’s aerial photo interpreters played a critical role in Britain’s wartime struggle.

Lindsay Pollick reviews changing interpretations.

Operation 'Rutter' was launched on August 19th, 1942. Here, M.R.D. Foot reassesses views of the Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe.

The Battle of Britain began on August 8th, 1940. Richard Overy looks behind the myth of a vulnerable island defended by a band of fighter pilots to give due credit to the courage of the civilian population.

The 50th anniversary of the trial and execution of the Final Solution’s master bureaucrat has inspired a number of books, exhibitions and films. David Cesarani assesses their contribution to our understanding of both the event and the man.

Richard Cavendish describes how Adolf Eichmann was captured in Argentina on May 11th, 1960.

The Second World War formally ended on May 8th, 1945. Here, Adam Tooze examines the events in Germany that ignited the Second World War. Did Hitler intend to provoke a general war over Poland in September 1939?

Roger Moorhouse revisits a perceptive article by John Erickson on the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, first published in History Today in 2001, its insights born of a brief period of Russian openness.

What was it like to grow up in Nazi Germany in a family quietly opposed to National Socialism? Giles Milton describes one boy’s experience.