A PRETTY KITTY

Welcome

German soldiers attack a Soviet position with a

CONTRIBUTORS

DAVID REYNOLDS David Reynolds is Professor Emeritus of

PRAM PATROL

Taken: 1981

AN UNHOLY BARRAGE

Taken: October, 1973

GRECO-PERSIAN WARS

The Persian Achaemenid Empire twice invades the Greek city states in a series of wars that decides the course of Western civilisation

LEADERS & COMMANDERS

The wars of the Greeks and Persians saw the rise of towering figures on both sides

BATTLE OF PLATAEA 479 BCE

This huge, drawn-out engagement saw a Greek army finally eject the might of the Persian Empire from mainland Greece

DID XERXES REALLY WIN?

Though some historians argue that the Persians succeeded by punishing Athens in 480 BCE, they allowed a deeper problem to go unresolved, with terrible consequences

THE GREEK TRIREME

The trireme was a sleek, fast war galley. Equipped with a bronze ram, propelled by oarsmen and guided by a skilled helmsman, it was a war-winning weapon against the invading Persians

DIEN BIEN PHU

An epic siege by the communist Viet Minh dashed French ambitions to restore their colonial empire in the Far East

1941 – 2021 OPERATION BARBAROSSA

Eighty years ago the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union shocked  the world and began the bloodiest front of the Second World War

“STALIN BROUGHT BARBAROSSA ON HIMSELF"

David Reynolds is Professor Emeritus of International History at Cambridge University. Here he discusses how Operation Barbarossa almost broke the Soviet dictator, before he transformed into a world statesman

“THE GREATEST MILITARY STRUGGLE”

INTERVIEW WITH JONATHAN DIMBLEBY

HOLOCAUST IN THE EAST

As the Germans marched towards Moscow, the Eastern Front became the scene of the most despicable war crimes in history

EINSATZGRUPPEN

Convicts, sadists and Nazi zealots: these were the men hand-picked to carry out the most heinous crimes in the history of war

CHAIN OF COMMAND

► REINHARD HEYDRICH Reinhard Heydrich was a leading

OSKAR DIRLEWANGER

“A MENTALLY UNSTABLE, VIOLENT FANATIC”

EDDIE RICKENBACKER

Proving he wouldn’t ask his pilots to do anything he wouldn’t do himself, this lieutenant flew a solo mission over Billy, France, on 25 September 1918, taking on seven enemy planes

SURVIVING MOUNT LONGDON

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR AND VETERAN JAMES O’CONNELL

ILYUSHIN IL-2 SHTURMOVIK

The ‘bread and air’ of the Soviet Air Force during World War II

HIGHWAYS TO NOWHERE  AMERICA’S LONGEST WARS

Will history judge the US and allied withdrawal from Afghanistan in September 2021 as an American failure comparable to the Vietnam War? Historian and former British Army Intelligence Corps officer Sergio Miller discusses some of the parallels between the conflicts

MUSEUMS & EVENTS

Discover the Royal Air Force Museum’s tribute to Jewish WWII personnel, the Tank Museum’s new exhibition &a circular walk connecting three mighty Welsh castles

JUNE 1941

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

TORNADO

IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

EAVESDROPPING ON THE EMPEROR

BRITAIN FOUGHT A LINGUISTIC AS WELL AS AN ARMED CONFLICT WITH JAPAN IN WORLD WAR II, ONE THAT REQUIRED BRITISH CODEBREAKERS AND INTERROGATORS TO DEAL WITH THE ENEMY IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE

THE BLITZ 80 TH ANNIVERSARY

EIGHT DECADES ON FROM ONE OF THE DARKEST CHAPTERS IN BRITAIN’S HISTORY, THIS INFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARY IS A POIGNANT REMINDER OF A NATION’S SUFFERING AND RESOLVE TO FIGHT ON

CREATORS, CONQUERORS & CITIZENS

THIS NEW FOLIO EDITION IS PACKED WITH STUNNING ILLUSTRATIONS

THE WAR BEAT, PACIFIC

THE AMERICAN MEDIA AT WAR AGAINST JAPAN

YOROI ARMOUR

This imposing but elaborate piece of Japanese samurai armour dates from the 14th century and was personally linked to the first shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate