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

The jungle warfare in the Far East was both a tactical and political challenge for British forces in WWII

ORTONA, ITALY 20-27 DECEMBER 1943

A prolonged conflict, a modified Treaty of Versailles and no League of Nations may have transpired without direct American involvement

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