Military

Unpicking a tangle of history, myth and misunderstanding reveals why, for so long, we believed King Harold was shot through the eye at the Battle of Hastings.

The epic German offensive to take the strategically crucial fortress in north-east France reached its bloody end in September 1916. Robert Foley looks at how and why Erich von Falkenhayn, the Chief of the German General Staff, sought to break the deadlock on the Western Front.

The appearance of a Short Stirling Bomber near St Paul's Cathedral prompts Roger Hudson to recall the Wings for Victory campaign.

On its 75th anniversary, Philip Weir remembers Britain’s first attempt to smash a major hydroelectric dam: the bombardment of Genoa in 1941.

So bloody was Francis I’s defeat of the Swiss at the Battle of Marignano in 1515 that it made previous battles resemble ‘children’s games’. Robert J. Knecht traces the French king’s route across the Alps towards war in Italy.

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 Henry V’s victory, British troops were once more struggling against overwhelming odds in northern France. Stephen Cooper looks at how Britons of the Great War found inspiration in the events of St Crispin’s Day, 1415.

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.