Interactive timeline - Conflict
Battle of Plataea
Final major battle of the Greco-Persian Wars; ending the expansion of the Persian Empire into Greece.
Battle of 'Ain Jalut
'Ayn Jalut was a major world event. The first time a Mongol army was defeated in open battle.
Battle of Crécy
First land victory of the '100 Years War' for English infantry over French mounted knights.
Siege of Constantinople
The fall of Constantinople was the first great siege won with gunpowder artillery.
Battle of Pavia
First significant victory by infantry with firearms over fully armoured knights on the battlefield.
Battle of Panipat
A traditional Indian army with war elephants is beaten by artillery and infantry musketeers.
Defeat of Spanish Armada
Spain's attempt to invade England ended when English ships with superior guns defeated its Armada.
Battle of Sekigahara
100 years of civil war ends. Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu's dynasty rules Japan for the next 250 years.
Battle of Naseby
Charles I defeated. He is arrested, tried and executed. Parliament rules England as a republic.
Battle of Waterloo
Wellington described Napoleon's defeat as a 'close run thing'. The battle's outcome shaped Europe.
The Royal Armouries collection online is currently undergoing redevelopment and is not available to the public. We hope to launch our new collections search by the end of summer 2015.
The Royal Armouries collection consists of some 70,000 examples of arms, armour, and artillery dating from antiquity to the present day. It includes royal armour of the Tudor and Stuart kings; arms and armour of the English Civil Wars, including the Armoury from Littlecote House; British and foreign military weapons from the Board of Ordnance and MOD Pattern Room collections; hunting and sporting weapons; as well as an exceptional collection of oriental arms and armour.
Tower of London
The Royal Armouries also has a significant collection of fine and decorative arts, and a special collection of material relating to the Tower of London, including antique prints and drawings, paintings, early photographs, stereoscopes and lantern slides, and rare books.
The Royal Armouries library contains material relating to the history of the development and use of arms, armour, artillery, and fortifications, as well as the history of the Tower of London.
It has special collections of original military manuals, drill books, and fencing manuals. The collection amounts to some 30,000 books and pamphlets, 10,000 journals and magazines, and 6,000 auction sales catalogues.
In addition, now you can view our oil, acrylic and tempera paintings online at Your Paintings. Your Paintings is a joint initiative between the BBC, the Public Catalogue Foundation (a registered charity) and participating collections and museums from across the UK. Our artwork is located across our three sites, click on each link below to discover what is there:
The archives contain records relating to the history of the Tower of London and its institutions, the Tower Armouries (before 1 April 1984), the Royal Armouries (after 1 April 1984), and the history and development of arms and armour, including the design and manufacture of British military small arms. There are also a number of small collections and individual items relating to chivalry and knighthood, duelling, hunting and shooting, warfare and military science.
The image library contains high-resolution digital images of some of the finest items in the Royal Armouries collection. Copies of our images can be purchased, and licenses are available for commercial, editorial and academic use. Please contact the Royal Armouries image library directly at firstname.lastname@example.org or telephone 0113 220 1832.