Military History Archives

Union troops charge through D.R. Miller’s cornfield against the Confederate left flank at Antietam in a modern painting by Keith Rocco. The Union II Corps attack through William Roulette’s farm against the Confederate center held by Maj. Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill’s troops had the same intensity.

Military History

Lee’s Hard Fighter

By William E. Welsh

Two men rode forward from Sharpsburg, Maryland, on the morning of September 17, 1862. The one in front was of slight build with a scraggly beard, scrawny neck, sunken cheeks, and a high forehead. Read more

Luckner survived hazardous duty as a turret officer at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916.

Military History

Count Felix von Luckner, Captain of SMS Seeadler

By Blaine L. Pardoe

Count Felix von Luckner was known by many titles in his life: runaway, sailor, hero, braggart, fool—even spy. Read more

Sir Francis Drake’s pirates prepare to ambush a Spanish mule train transporting Peruvian silver across the Panamanian isthmus in 1573. Because of the size of the treasure, they had to leave most of it behind.

Military History

Thirst for Treasure: Privateer Navies of the New World

By Steven. M. Johnson

The English soldiers stepped out of their pinnaces into the foaming surf on the island of Hispaniola. Read more

Varangian leader Rurik and his sons arrive in the trading post of Staraya Ladoga in 862. About that same time Varangians began serving with forces protecting the frontiers of the Byzantine Empire.

Military History

The Byzantine Army’s Varangian Guard

By Erich B. Anderson

Byzantine Emperor Basil II suffered a massive defeat against the Bulgarians on August 17, 986, at a strategic mountain pass known as Trajan’s Gate in Bulgaria. Read more

The Battle of Narva was a resounding victory for Swedish King Charles XII over his Russian foe. The young monarch is shown at lower right in Alexander von Kotzebue’s romantic painting.

Military History

Swedish Gamble at the Battle of Narva

By Eric Niderost

Just after dawn on the morning of November 20, 1700, two figures stood atop Hermansburg, a small rise that overlooked the fortress town of Narva in the Baltic province of Estonia. Read more

Military History

Masterstroke at Friedland

By Coley Cowan

Friedland was burning. The darkening sky of late afternoon on June 14, 1807, was deepened further by the ashes swirling in the narrow streets. Read more

In her battle armor, Joan of Arc leads a rapturous army of French followers who believe her to be divinely inspired.

Military History

Joan of Arc’s Loire Campaign: The English Tide Recedes

By William Welsh

None of those present at the war council held on July 18, 1429, at Beaugency in central France seemed to object to the peculiar sight of an armor-clad young woman advising some of the greatest military captains of the age on how to proceed with the campaign to crown the Dauphin Charles king of France. Read more

Military History

Victoria Cross Recipient Private Henry Tandey

By Robert Barr Smith

Private Henry Tandey had a clear shot at the German soldier. He was so close that he could look his enemy in the eyes. Read more

New England militiamen disembark from British ships and row to shore at the beginning of the siege of Louisbourg in May 1745. The Americans were eager to capture the French fortress because it gave safe haven to privateers and French naval vessels that preyed on colonial maritime trade.

Military History

Cannonballs, Grapeshot, and Profanity

By David A. Norris

For nearly a month, 4,000 New England militia aided by the Royal Navy had surrounded the great fortress of Louisbourg, the key to French Canada. Read more

Military History

Turco-Mongol Emir Timur: Scourge of the East

By Victor Kamenir

Egyptian medieval chronicler Ibn Taghribirdi relates an incident that occurred following Turco-Mongol Emir Timur’s conquest of Aleppo in 1400. Read more

South Vietnamese troops advance through waist-high grass toward North Vietnamese invaders in May 1972 following the NVA’s all-out Easter offensive of 1972.

Military History

The Easter Offensive of 1972

By John Walker

At noon on Good Friday, March 30, 1972, more than 25,000 North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers, backed by state-of-the-art Soviet tanks, artillery, and mobile antiaircraft missile platforms, poured across the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Vietnams. Read more

Military History

Jugurtha: Numidian King, Roman Enemy

By William Stroock

Jugurtha, king of the desert nation of Numidia, was a long-time antagonist of Republican Rome. Over more than a decade of war, he was a bold and cunning battlefield commander who used swiftness and determination to make fools of Roman consuls, even as the Romans were systematically conquering his country. Read more

A seemingly endless procession of trucks brings American soldiers and supplies to the front at Chateau-Thierry in May 1918. Painting by William James Aylward.

Military History

American Stand At Chateau-Thierry

By George T. Raach

For the hard-pressed German Empire, New Year’s Day 1918 brought a compendium of evils. The Allied naval blockade, increasingly effective, depressed industrial production and stoked a war weariness made manifest in strikes and bread riots. Read more

Yorkist troops led by the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of York storm through the streets of St. Albans on May 22, 1455. The rebels captured King Henry VI, killed the Duke of Somerset, and ignited the 30-year-long War of the Roses. Painting by Graham Turner.

Military History

Roses In The Snow

By Mike Phifer

On March 1, 1461, English Chancellor George Neville faced a large crowd of Londoners in St. John’s Field outside the city. Read more

Military History

Napoleon’s Triumph over Prussia

By Arnold Blumberg

At 4 am on October 14, 1806, 37-year-old Jean Lannes, Marshal of France in Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grande Armee and commander of that host’s V Corps, received his final instructions verbally from the emperor. Read more

Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca enters an Italian village following a victory over the Romans in a contemporary painting by Peter Connolly. Hannibal invaded the Italian peninsula in 218 bc to keep the war away from Carthage and put the burden of sustaining the fight on his enemy’s lands.

Military History

Hannibal’s Cunning Ambush

By Chuck Lyons

When still a young boy, Hannibal once came upon his father, the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, who at the time was preparing to go to Iberia where Carthage was campaigning to expand its power. Read more

Lt. Col. John Eager Howard’s Continental infantry breaks up a British charge with a strong volley as Washington’s dragoons prepare to strike the British right flank.

Military History

Frontiersman Daniel Morgan

By Simon Rees

The lieutenant had reached the end of his tether. It was time to cut this impudent American wagoner down to size with the flat of his sword. Read more

Military History

World Airlines Flight 253: Hostage of the Soviet Union

By Adam Griffith

Nineteen-year-old U.S. Army Specialist E5 James Griffith wasn’t particularly nervous when he boarded Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253 at McChord Air Base in Tacoma, Washington, on June 30, 1968. Read more

Sailors and marines of the powerful Venetian Navy assault the seaward wall along the Golden Horn for a second time in April 1204. The Venetians suspended gangplanks from the masts and yard-arms of their galleys that served as flying bridges for marines to use in assaulting the tops of the city's walls.

Military History

Sack of Constantinople

By William E. Welsh

Dawn broke clear and hot over Constantinople on July 17, 1203.

All manner of war machines were clustered around the Latin crusaders’ fortified camp on a hill where the Monastery of Saints Cosmas and Damian was located. Read more