Military

The Battle of Britain: The Many and the Few

Richard Overy looks behind the myth of a vulnerable island defended by a small band of fighter pilots to give due credit to the courage of the redoubtable civilian population.

The Visigoths sack Rome

Richard Cavendish describes the attack, on August 24th 410, that signalled the beginning of the end of the Western Roman empire 

First World War: When Enemies United

Before the First World War, Irish Unionists and Nationalists were poised to fight each other over the imposition of Home Rule by the British. Then, remarkably, they fought and died side by side, writes Richard S. Grayson.

Cuba's African Adventure

In 1959 Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba after a masterly campaign of guerrilla warfare. Drawing on this success, Castro and his followers, including Che Guevara, sought to spread their revolution, as Clive Foss explains.

Eric Ravilious: The Art of War

One of Britain’s finest war artists, Eric Ravilious recorded the last days of the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious, which was sunk off Norway in June 1940 in controversial circumstances and with huge loss of life, writes Anthony Kelly.

Born in the USA: A New World of War

The American Civil War transformed the nature of conflict. Its opening salvos harked back to Waterloo; its end anticipated the industrial warfare of the 20th century, writes David White.