Second World War

Clare Mulley takes issue with an article on Second World War resistance movements, first published in 1984.

Antony Beevor, author of a new account of the Second World War, talks to Roger Moorhouse about the importance of narrative and why he thinks new technology is not the future for history in a post-literate age.

Keith Lowe argues that in history, there is no weapon quite so powerful as a good statistic.

In the summer of 1941 a collection of paintings by serving members of the London Fire Brigade  was exhibited in the United States. Anthony Kelly describes the success of a little-known propaganda campaign celebrating Britain’s ‘spirit of civilian heroism’.

A public spat between a historian and a writer shows why some subject matter deserves special reverence, says Tim Stanley.

During the Second World War many cities were bombed from the air. However Rome, the centre of Christendom but also the capital of Fascism, was left untouched by the Allies until July 1943. Claudia Baldoli looks at the reasons why and examines the views of Italians towards the city.

Taylor Downing appreciates the continuing relevance of an article questioning the accuracy of popular views of the wartime RAF.

Rowena Hammal examines the evidence to assess civilian reactions to war in Britain from 1940 to 1945.

Winston Churchill’s four-year quest to sink Hitler’s capital ship Tirpitz saw Allied airmen and sailors run risks that would be hard to justify today.

Told by Churchill to ‘go and sing when the guns are firing’, Noël Coward aspired to do more during the Second World War than entertain the troops.