Search Results: Operation barbarossa

The Holy Roman Empire officially lasted from 962 to 1806. It was one of Europe’s largest medieval and early modern states, but its power base was unstable and continually shifting. The Holy Roman Empire was not a unitary state, but a confederation...

This image, a miniature from the "Welfenchronik" (History of the Guelphs), which dates to the late twelfth century CE, shows Frederick I Barbarossa (r. 1152-1190 CE), flanked by his sons.

The Third Crusade (1189-1192 CE) was launched to retake Jerusalem after its fall to the Muslim leader Saladin in 1187 CE. The Crusade was led by three European monarchs, hence its other name of 'the Kings' Crusade'. The three leaders were...

Operation Gomorrah (aka the Battle of Hamburg or Hamburg Air Offensive) was a sustained area bombing campaign of the German port of Hamburg in four night attacks by the Royal Air Force and two daytime attacks by the United States Air Force...

Operation Chastise, the 'Dambusters' raid, was an attack by a squadron of RAF Lancaster bombers on the dams of the Ruhr basin in Germany in May 1943. Led by Squadron Leader Guy Gibson, the bombers breached two dams causing enormous flooding...

A map illustrating the impact of the Allied Strategic Bombing Operations against Germany from 1940 to 1945, a sustained aerial campaign conducted by the RAF and USAAF during World War II. Its primary objective was to cripple Germany's industrial...

The Supermarine Spitfire was a single-seater fighter plane, one of the most important aircraft of the Second World War (1939-45). Employed by the Royal Air Force in such crucial encounters as the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940, the...

The Avro 683 Lancaster bomber was a four-engine heavy bomber flown by the Royal Air Force and allies during the Second World War (1939-45). Lancasters were particularly used in nighttime bombing raids and could carry the heaviest bombs ever...

The Hawker Hurricane was a single-seat fighter plane, Britain's first monoplane, which fought in the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. Slower but more numerous than the Supermarine Spitfire, the Hurricane was used by the Royal Air...

A 1944 photograph of Guy Gibson, VC, DSO, DFC (1918-44), most famous as the Squadron Leader of Operation Chastise of the night of 16 May 1943. The operation, also known as the 'Dam Busters' Raid, was carried out by a squadron of British RAF...