History of War

From the conquering legions of Ancient Rome to the thunderous tank battles of World War II and beyond, History of War takes you deeper inside the minds of history’s fighting men, further under the bonnets of some of the world’s most devastating war machines, and higher above the battlefield to see the broad sweep of conflict as it happened.

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WAR in FOCUS

TIMELINE OF THE ALGERIAN WAR • Algerians battle the French Army and rebellious pieds-noirs paramilitaries during their pursuit of independence from colonial rule

ROOTS OF REVOLUTION • A century of French occupation led to a genocide in Algeria that provoked one of the bloodiest showdowns of the modern age

THE RISE OF ALGERIAN RESISTANCE • How the anti-colonialist struggle around the globe helped inspire Algeria’s liberation movement to organise and fight back

BATTLE OF ALGIERS • When the Front de libération nationale (FLN) took its war to the streets of the capital, France’s military responded with merciless wrath

COUPS & CHAOS • How the French armed forces lost the war in Algeria and almost destroyed French democracy in the process

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AIRBORNE UNDER SIEGE ARNHEM • For nine days the heroic 1st Airborne fought desperately, waiting vainly for relief that never came

WHO WAS TO BLAME? • For eight decades, the causes and culprits responsible for the disaster at Arnhem have been widely and often controversially debated

CREATING THE “WITCHES’ CAULDRON”

AIRSPEED HORSA GLIDER • This aircraft was the one-way transport for thousands of troops during airborne operations in Sicily, Normandy, the Netherlands and beyond

DWIGHT W BIRDWELL • In the opening hours of the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive, this Specialist Five led his armoured cavalry detachment in repulsing a fierce communist assault against Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon

THE FIVE STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP • Phillips O’Brien discusses how this quintet of national leaders impacted the course of the Second World War

DON’T MENTION THE WAR! •  Named “one of the greatest domestic politicians in American history” by O’Brien, Roosevelt coaxed his reluctant population into the conflict

FORGING A NEW WORLD ORDER • Across conference tables in Tehran and Yalta, the Allied strategists battled to shape the post-war order

FLODDEN • On the morning of 9 September 1513, King James IV of Scotland stood atop Flodden Hill with what seemed an insurmountable advantage over the English. Yet by the day’s end he would lay slain and his army shattered

FERDINAND ‘THE BLOODY’ • Known for his brutal martial punishment and execution of his own men, Ferdinand Schörner’s ruthlessness was matched only by his devotion to Nazi ideology

HITLER’S DOGMATIC ‘YES MAN’? • He was denigrated by his comrades as ‘the Fuhrer’s lacky’, but Schörner sometimes disobeyed his leader

HOME FRONT

BREAKING HISTORY’S WORST SIEGE Q&A WITH PRIT BUTTAR • In 1943-44 the Wehrmacht had to be levered out of formidable defences in a monumental sacrifice to free Leningrad

LENINGRADERS VS STALINIST HISTORIOGRAPHY • The official Soviet line pulled a veil over the civilians’ true experiences of the siege

MUSEUMS & EVENTS • New releases on Churchill, the restoration of a Cold War icon and how young Ukrainians use social media to document their wartime experiences

SEPTEMBER 1944 • To commemorate 80 years since the Second World War, History of War will be taking a look at some of the key events taking place during each month of the conflict

REVIEWS • Our pick of the latest military history books

IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN • How the remains of an...