The ‘gateway to the West’ has for years become a relative sanctuary from the onslaught on Ukraine’s frontline. But the city and region’s long history has seen it at the centre of countless conquests

By spring 1941, the Afrika Korps was advancing across eastern Libya towards Egypt and the Suez Canal. But a dusty port town lay in their path

Leading historians share the texts that have inspired and informed their work

Civilian reactors have become strategic cover for Russian forces during their invasion of Ukraine

Europe’s frozen northeast became a new sacred frontier of holy war, forced conversion and occupation against Europe’s last pagans

The Germans possessed two monstrous M-Gerät howitzer guns nicknamed ‘Big Bertha’ – but they were barely finished and had undergone no testing when the First World War broke out. Even so, on 2 August 1