Military

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

So bloody was Francis I’s defeat of the Swiss at the Battle of Marignano in 1515 that it made previous battles resemble ‘children’s games’. Robert J. Knecht traces the French king’s route across the Alps towards war in Italy.

In the light of Parliament’s decision to approve military action in Syria, Rory Cox looks back to the classical and medieval world to ask: ‘What makes a just war?’

On the 500th anniversary of Henry V’s victory, British troops were once more struggling against overwhelming odds in northern France. Stephen Cooper looks at how Britons of the Great War found inspiration in the events of St Crispin’s Day, 1415.

The contribution of Indian troops to one of the first major battles on the Western Front. 

Following the media rush to commemorate the First World War, Stephen Badsey is disappointed that television has so far failed to embrace the latest historical research on the conflict.

From the fifteenth century until the present day, under both British and Indian rulers, write George Woodcock, the Sikhs of the Punjab have made their distinctive contribution to Hindu civilization.

Wars have left their impact in Sheffield, and the Crimean War perhaps more than any. W.H.G. Armytage marks the metamorphosis of a large-scale industrial city

Before and after his surrender at Saratoga, writes Aram Bakshian Jr., Burgoyne had a lively career as a commander in Europe, a politician and dramatist in London, and a figure on the social scene.

The Yugoslav coup of 1941 marked a turning-point in the Second World War. Although the country was quickly overrun by German arms, writes A.W. Palmer, Hitler’s timetable for the invasion of Russia was seriously thrown out.