Britain’s near-death experience

When we think of the U-boat campaign during the Second World War, images often arise of silent predators gliding beneath the waves, steely and lethal, striking fear into Allied convoys. The myth of th

On the night of 13 March 1944, the Greekregistered steamship SS Peleus was en route from Freetown to Buenos Aires when she was hit amidships by two torpedoes, launched by a German U-boat, U-852. The t

How the Red Army pushed back German forces and what they discovered in their wake as WWII turned

The forced landing of a shot-up Junkers Ju 88A bomber of Kampfgeschwader (KG) 77 on the north Kent coast in late September 1940, during one of the bloodiest days of the Battle of Britain, gave rise to

I n 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. That, at least, is what the famous rhyme tells us. Memorising such dates is a common experience of being taught history – a cliché superbly lampooned by the w

ourworldindata.org A century ago, all you needed to get behind the wheel of a car legally was a paper licence, which cost the equivalent of about 25p today, says Hannah Ritchie. No driving lessons or