History of War
NICKEL GRASS THE GREAT AIRLIFT
With the IDF suffering multiple setbacks in the first week of the war, Israel’s leadership faced a terrifying possibility. Was this the last great struggle in their country’s brief existence?
3 min |
Issue 118
History of War
CAMP DAVID ACCORDS
Efforts to officially end the Yom Kippur War and wider conflict between Egypt and Israel finally concluded with an historic summit in the US
3 min |
Issue 118
History of War
OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR
Eleanor Dickens, curator at the British Library, reveals how 60 years ago a radical Stage musical changed perceptions of the First World War
5 min |
Issue 118
History of War
MUSEUMS & EVENTS
Discover The Tank Museum's centenary celebrations, the Rijksmuseum's acclaimed Vermeer exhibition and Newcastle-upon-Tyne's formidable namesake fortress
4 min |
Issue 118
History of War
DAVID CURRIE
In August 1944, as Allied forces attempted to close the Falaise Gap, a Canadian major led a small battlegroup into a French village to prevent the enemy escaping
6 min |
Issue 118
Best of British
POSTCARD FROM GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Bob Barton takes up a new hobby of waterway spotting, is tempted to run away with the circus, goes to jail and discovers where a hit record producer was born
6 min |
March 2023
Best of British
Keeping the Receipt
Claire Saul learns about \"Mrs\" Crocombe, Audley End House & Gardens' Victorian cook who has become a global culinary sensation
3 min |
March 2023
Best of British
A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE
Jenny Seagrove has famously starred in television series such as A Woman of Substance and Judge John Deed, films like Local Hero and Another Mother's Son, not to mention countless touring and West End plays.
4 min |
March 2023
Best of British
Summer Wine and Worzel Weather
For some actors, their first steps into the profession are often hindered by their parents’ desire for them to “get a proper job”. Not so Sarah Thomas, who played Glenda in the sitcom Last of the Summer Wine.
10 min |
March 2023
Best of British
Kate's Lasting Legacy
Artist Kate Greenaway managed to influence fashion in two separate centuries, as Susan Brewer reveals
4 min |
March 2023
Best of British
In Loving Memory
Caroline Roope remembers the comic and dramatic acting abilities of the much-loved Dame Thora Hird
5 min |
March 2023
Best of British
THE MIGHTY METEOR
On 5 March it will be the 80th anniversary of the Gloster Meteor’s maiden flight.
5 min |
March 2023
Best of British
Avid Bird Watchers
Small, gentle and well-spoken, John Bird, who died in December 2022 at the age of 86, might not have seemed like an obvious figure to terrorise the political establishment.
5 min |
March 2023
Best of British
IN THE FRAME
From the first appearance of the pedal-driven bicycle, sometime in the 1860s, to the end of the 19th century, the bicycle underwent considerable changes in design, largely to accommodate the various inventions that improved the machine.
5 min |
March 2023
History of War
1848 & 1864: SCHLESWIG WARS
Prussian leader Otto von Bismarck's first roll of the iron dice came in a war against two duchies controlled in part by Denmark
3 min |
Issue 117
History of War
BOMBER COMMAND: THEIR FINEST HOUR
In June 1944, the Allied invasion fleet launched to begin the liberation of Occupied Europe did so in a cocoon of protective air power. Fighters swept ahead and above; maritime patrol aircraft shielded the flanks; and vast fleets of transport aircraft carried the paratroopers who would seize bridges and causeways behind enemy lines. An often overlooked contribution to Operation Overlord was the role of the heavy bombers, who attacked the Nazi shore defences and carried out several other critical missions that paved the way for Allied success
10+ min |
Issue 117
History of War
VIETNAM’S 'BAND OF BROTHERS': Q&A WITH IAN GARDNER
How 3rd Battalion, 506th Airborne overcame adversity in the jungles of Southeast Asia, continuing the legacy of their WWII forebears
10+ min |
Issue 117
History of War
HO CHI MINH’S ART OF WAR
The leadership of North Vietnam’s revolutionary premier succeeded in defeating the colonial French state, and later South Vietnam and its Western allies
10 min |
Issue 117
History of War
1870: FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR
Defeating their powerful neighbour to the west was the crowning glory for the Confederation and signalled the birth of the German Empire
3 min |
Issue 117
History of War
PETER BADCOE
This major of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam displayed conspicuous bravery on three separate occasions, leading members of the territorial forces of South Vietnam in Thua Thiên-Hué Province
6 min |
Issue 117
History of War
CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE
After dissolving the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon established a pro-French military alliance of German states that loosely resembled a united Germany
3 min |
Issue 117
History of War
SHREWSBURY
In 1403, English archers faced each other in battle for the first time as rebels sought to topple Henry IV
10+ min |
Issue 117
History of War
1866: AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR
The main opponent to Bismarck's plan for unification was defeated in just seven weeks
3 min |
Issue 117
History Revealed
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BLACK DEATH
Professor John Hatcher answers keys questions about the global spread, symptoms and long-term impact of plague
10+ min |
February 2023
History of War
INFANTRY BRANCH
Of the three branches of the Machine Gun Corps, the largest was the Infantry. Initially formed in each infantry brigade, a machine gun company took on the role of machine gun support to the infantry battalions
3 min |
Issue 116
History of War
THE MAN WITH MIRACULOUS HANDS
THE REMARKABLE STORY OF HEINRICH HIMMLER’S PHYSICIAN, FELIX KERSTEN, WHO SAVED MANY NAZI VICTIMS FROM THE FANATICAL BUTCHER AND FORCED HIM TO BETRAY ADOLF HITLER
1 min |
Issue 116
History of War
RUSSIA'S WAR ON EVERYBODY
THE STORY OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION AND HOW AND WHY MOSCOW PUSHES FOR POWER AND INFLUENCE FAR BEYOND UKRAINE
1 min |
Issue 116
History Revealed
Alexander Selkirk is finally rescued
Marooned on a remote desert island for more than four years, Scottish mariner Alexander Selkirk survived against all the odds, gaining fame, fortune and a lasting influence on popular culture
3 min |
February 2023
History Revealed
Pauli Murray: civil rights lawyer
Trailblazing attorney Pauli Murray devoted her legal career to tackling racial and gender discrimination in the US. But what drove the civil rights icon and LGBTQ+ pioneer to take up the fight in the first place?
4 min |
February 2023
History Revealed
The French Wars of Religion
In the late 16th century, France was torn apart by a series of violent religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, with several noble families competing for mastery over the kingdom's salvation
4 min |