Capturing the immediacy of fighting and the writhing bodies of soldiers, as well as keeping narrative clarity, proved enormously difficult for painters depicting battles before the advent of photography. Michael Hall reveals how they rose to the challenge

Robert Hutton on Cinema SAM TAYLOR/NATIONAL THEATRE ● ...

Our pick of the latest military history books

BBC Two and BBC iPlayer Late November TBC More than a quarter of the world’s countries are former British colonies. The British Empire was one of the greatest powers the world has ever known, and its

Clint: The Man and the Movies Shawn Levy ...

Over a long career, John Hardman has specialised to great effect in teasing out, from speeches, decrees, minutes, memoranda, letters, diaries and unsent drafts, the varied moods of French political de