Military

When India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947, the region’s Princely States – including tiny Sikkim – became pawns in South Asia’s great power politics.

In the light of Parliament’s decision to approve military action in Syria, Rory Cox looks back to the classical and medieval world to ask: ‘What makes a just war?’

On the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, Britain found itself in need of a national myth to bolster enlistment and morale. The victory of 1415 was soon put to service by the army of 1915.

The contribution of Indian troops to one of the first major battles on the Western Front. 

Following the media rush to commemorate the First World War, Stephen Badsey is disappointed that television has so far failed to embrace the latest historical research on the conflict.

From the fifteenth century until the present day, under both British and Indian rulers, write George Woodcock, the Sikhs of the Punjab have made their distinctive contribution to Hindu civilization.

Wars have left their impact in Sheffield, and the Crimean War perhaps more than any. W.H.G. Armytage marks the metamorphosis of a large-scale industrial city

Before and after his surrender at Saratoga, writes Aram Bakshian Jr., Burgoyne had a lively career as a commander in Europe, a politician and dramatist in London, and a figure on the social scene.

The Yugoslav coup of 1941 marked a turning-point in the Second World War. Although the country was quickly overrun by German arms, writes A.W. Palmer, Hitler’s timetable for the invasion of Russia was seriously thrown out.

‘We shall never see his equal in any age’, wrote Madame de Sévigné of this simple and heroic soldier. By Aram Bakshian Jr.