Military

Marble bust of Thucydides. Totontonian new/Alamy Stock Photo.

The Ancient Greek World at War

For the ancient Greeks, the Peloponnesian War was a conflict involving the entire world. For Thucydides, it was a lesson in the realities of human nature

Napoleon III receiving Queen Victoria on board La Bretagne, 6 August 1858, at the port of Cherbourg, by Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio, 1859. Heritage Images/TopFoto.

Ship Shape: British Naval Strategy After Napoleon

British military engagement in northwest Europe did not pause after Waterloo and resume in 1914. The intervening century saw fluctuations in French power – and the creation of a strategic system to control it.

Italian-American emigrants returning to Italy, 1915. Fototeca Gilardi/akg-images.

Italian Emigrant Soldiers in the First World War

Italy’s entry into the Great War in 1915 prompted 300,000 men to return to their homeland to join the fight. Were they Italian enough for Italy?

The Siege of Antioch, from the Chronicle of William of Tyre, 14th century. Heritage Images/TopFoto.

Cannibal Crusaders

Reports from the First Crusade brought tales of victorious Christian soldiers eating dead bodies.

A German soldier sleeps in a railway wagon on his way to the Eastern Front, by Franz Grasser, 1943. Deutsche Fotothek. Public Domain.

‘Hitler’s Deserters’ by Douglas Carl Peifer review

Hitler’s Deserters: Breaking Ranks with the Wehrmacht by Douglas Carl Peifer surfaces the stories of those who sought to sit out the Second World War.

Refugees from Hue arrive on a cargo ship at Da Nang, March 1975. MarkGodfrey/TopFoto.

The Fall of Saigon

The Vietnam War effectively ended on 30 April 1975 with the arrival of the North Vietnamese army in Saigon. Thousands fled the city, but many more were left behind.

Supermarine Spitfire prototype K5054, 1936. Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo.

Maiden Flight of the Spitfire

On 5 March 1936 the prototype Spitfire made its maiden flight. Its creator R.J. Mitchell would not live to see its finest hour.

The Siege of Malta, detail from the Vatican Gallery of Maps, 16th century. Adam Eastland Art + Architecture / Alamy Stock Photo.

‘The Great Siege of Malta’ by Marcus Bull review

The Great Siege of Malta by Marcus Bull upends the myth of the Knights of Malta and their last stand of 1565.

Ginza, Tokyo in the aftermath of the firebombing, March 1945. NARA. Public Domain.

The Firebombing of Tokyo

American air raids on Japan’s capital burned the city in March 1945, killing 80,000 people in one night alone. ‘Had to be done’, said the general who ordered it.