Military

by Kenneth Stampp

The loss to the Turks of Constantinople, the ancient capital of the Eastern Empire, in 1453 had been a terrible blow to Christendom. It was the crusading dream of Charles V, argues Sinclair Atkins, to reconquer the Byzantine city.

Hitler's contribution to the history of the twentieth century has been one of destruction. The war he started in 1939, argues Jeremy Noakes, was to recast the pattern of our world irreparably.

'Monumentally bad diplomacy, worse strategy, chaotic military organisation and inept generalship' - Thomas Tulenko describes how great powers have failed in their attacks on Afghanistan. Penned as Soviet tanks rolled into Kabul in December 1979, the BBC's David Loyn offered his own analysis thirty years later.

Thomas Pakenham

Robin Fedden pays a historical visit to the monumental Frankish fortress, symbol of Christian dominance in the Holy Land for over a century.

Nineteenth-century Argentina and the United States shared similar frontier problems, but Argentina had both a northern and southern frontier to defend against Indians.