Europe on the eve of the first world war: Did you mean...?

WWI saw the birth of an entirely new form of combat: lone men engaging the enemy in aerial dogfights. The victors became heroes back home, but this was as deadly an occupation as it was an exhilarating one. One bullet, an engine or structural...

In the aftermath of the Second World War (1939–1945), Europe emerged physically devastated and politically polarized. As Allied cooperation gave way to rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin (rule 1924–1953...

This collection of maps tells the story of World War I (1914-1918), a global conflict that originated in Europe and emerged from a combination of militarism, alliance systems, imperial rivalries, and nationalist tensions among the major powers...

This map illustrates the geopolitical landscape of Europe in mid-November 1918, immediately after the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne (11 November 1918), which ended the First World War (1914–1918). The Great War, fought on an unprecedented...

A map illustrating the situation in Europe around May 1917, during the First World War (World War I or The Great War), as the conflict had already raged on for nearly three years. The United States had recently entered the war, beginning...

The Phoney War was the period from the start of the Second World War (1939-45) when Britain and France declared war against Germany on 3 September until the start of significant military action in the West in the spring of 1940. While Poland...

The Lydian Stater was the official coin of the Lydian Empire, introduced before the kingdom fell to the Persian Empire. The earliest staters are believed to date to around the second half of the 7th century BCE, during the reign of King Alyattes...

The arrival in Europe of the printing press with moveable metal type in the 1450s CE was an event which had enormous and long-lasting consequences. The German printer Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1398-1468 CE) is widely credited with the innovation...

The Mongol invasions of Russia and Eastern Europe occurred first with a brief sortie in 1223 CE and then again in a much larger campaign between 1237 CE and 1242 CE. The Mongols, seemingly coming from nowhere and quickly gaining a reputation...

The War of the Third Coalition (1805-1806) was a major European conflict during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). It was fought by an alliance of nations that included the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, Sweden, Naples, and Sicily, against...