The invasion of Kuwait, home to one of the largest oilfields in the world, by Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 1990 was the catalyst for the Second Gulf War, which pitted Iraq against an international coalition. In Operation Desert Storm in early 1991, this coalition quickly drove the Iraqi army from Kuwait in the largest Allied mobilization since the Second World...
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Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003, during which time he developed a reputation for enforcing one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships. His regime was responsible for countless massacres, which targeted Kurds, Shia Muslims and opponents of the Ba’ath Party, among others. In just 50 minutes, you will find out about the events that led...
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The Battle of Marathon in 490 BC brought the first Greco-Persian War to a close and put a stop to the Persian king Darius I's attempt to extend his hegemony to the Aegean Sea and mainland Greece. Thanks to the courage and fighting skills of the Greek hoplites, who risked their lives to defend their land and maintain their independence, the Persian...
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The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the major battles of the Second World War, and saw the German Wehrmacht and Stalin's Red Army fight savagely, often in close quarters, for control of the city. The combat also involved civilians and was unprecedented in its scale; the Battle of Stalingrad is now widely regarded as one of the largest and bloodiest battles in history. It marked...
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The Crusades were a religious, political and miltary conflict between the three great powers of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries: Catholic Europe, the Muslim world and the Orthodox Byzantine Empire. The birth of Islam had a profound effect on the beginning of the Crusades, as the Muslim faith began to spread to the West and Muslim troops began to invade...
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The Fall of Constantinople in 1453 was a major turning point in European history: a fierce battle in this crucial trading city ended with the demise of the Byzantine Empire and the ascendency of the Ottoman Empire, which dominated the region in the following centuries. This transfer of power is essential for understanding the modern era in Western Europe, and is seen by...
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The Iran-Iraq War, which took place between 1980 and 1988, was one of the deadliest conflicts since the Second World War. It involved two ambitious and headstrong leaders: Saddam Hussein, who wanted to make his Republic of Iraq a powerful force in the region, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, who planned to export his Islamic Revolution beyond the borders of Iran....
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