The conquest of Java, now part of Indonesia, is one of the least known episodes of British imperialism. But this short interregnum influenced the governance of the Indian Raj and proved a significant stepping stone in the career of the founder of Singapore.
It is a deeply unfashionable thing to ask, says Tim Stanley, but might a nation's history be affected by the character of its people?
Richard Cavendish remembers the attempted coup against the president of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, in 1960.
The American soldiers who fought their way through the islands of the Pacific during the Second World War encountered fierce Japanese resistance but few local people. That all changed with the invasion of the Mariana Islands, says Matthew Hughes.
Richard Cavendish remembers how a former-British colony gained a long-serving leader.
Vietnamese troops faced little resistance when they entered Cambodia's capital on January 7th, 1979.
Viv Sanders takes issue with some all too common assumptions.
Mark Bryant looks at the cartoons published in imperial Japan during the Second World War.
Burma became independent in 1948. Ben Morris asks if Britain could have done more for this unhappy country.
The independent Federation of Malaya came into being on August 31st, 1957.
