Second World War

The unexploded shell, fired by HMS Malaya, in the nave of Genoa Cathedral

The First Dambusters

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

The Children’s War

Juliet Gardiner discusses a new exhibition on the experiences of children in the Second World War, which opens at the Imperial War Museum on March 18th.

Aneurin Bevan (right) with the future prime minister Harold Wilson at the Labour party conference, September 1953.

Churchill and the Reality of Politics in Wartime Britain

Mihir Bose challenges the perception of Winston Churchill as a demi-god who was essential to Britain's war effort.

Muslims in Hitler's War

The Nazis believed that Islamic forces would prove crucial wartime allies. But, as David Motadel shows, the Muslim world was unwilling to be swayed by the Third Reich's advances.

Agence Rol press photograph of HMS Glorious viewed from the bows, c. 1930.

HMS Glorious: History of a Sinking and a Controversy

On 8 June 1940, British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious was sunk. Philip Weir revisits the controversy surrounding the mysterious events of that fateful day.

Saved From Dunkirk

Roger Hudson detailes how 122,000 French troops were evacuated from Dunkirk to Britain in May 1940.

‘Bugsy’ Siegel and the plot to assassinate Göring

Larry Gragg investigates the evidence behind ‘Bugsy’ Siegel’s claim that he planned to kill the high-ranking Nazi in 1939.

Patriotic postcard from Canada, c.1943. (Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection)

The Battle for Britain

Andrew Stewart investigates the forgotten role of those ‘ideal soldiers of democracy’, troops from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, who arrived to defend Britain from invasion.