Military History Archives

First Maine Cavalry shown skirmishing with Spencer carbines at an unnamed battle in drawing by Alfred Waud.

Military History

The Spencer Carbine

By Kelly Bell

Confederate soldiers bitterly called it “that damned Yankee carbine they load on Sunday, and then fire all week.” Read more

Military History

Napoleon Bonaparte’s Battle of Marengo

By Eric Niderost

On March 17, 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte closeted himself in his study at the Tuileries Palace in Paris and ordered his private secretary, Louis Fauvelet de Bourrienne, to unroll a large map of Italy and lay it on the floor. Read more

Test pilot Commander Frederick Trapnell flew the prototype for this U.S. Navy carrier-based F6F Hellcat and worked closely with Leroy Grumman as the fighter was rushed through production. Navy Hellcats shot down over 5,000 Japanese aircraft.

Military History

Test Pilot Frederick Trapnell

By Mark Carlson

Today, every U.S. naval aviator who straps into a cockpit owes a debt to a man they never met and few have even heard of—Vice Adm. Read more

Led by Charles VIII, the French enter Florence, Italy. Charles invaded Italy in September 1494, using his powerful artillery to reduce fortifications where he met resistance. The Army arrived at Pisa in November, followed by Florence, before reaching Naples in February 1495.

Military History

Battle of Fornovo: Rising to Crush an Invader

By Jonathan North

Fifteenth-century Renaissance Italian political life was a heady mix of intrigue, provocation and dispute, backed by limited wars and border raids. Read more

Marcus Licinius Crassus sought glory on the battlefield by following in the footsteps of his idol, Alexander III. It all came crashing down at Carrhae (in modern-day Turkey) at the hands of the Parthian Empire in 53 BCE.

Military History

Marcus Crassus, Alexander and the Battle of Carrhae

By Glenn Barnett

Alexander of Macedon, called “the Great,” died in June of 323 BCE having conquered the mightiest empire yet seen on earth. Read more

“The Hanging of Nathan Hale , New York 1776” by Don Troiani.

Military History

Continental Army Captain Nathan Hale

By Kevin Seabrooke

On the night of September 16, 1776, young Nathan Hale, a captain in the Continental Army, set out across Long Island Sound from his native Connecticut on the armed sloop Schuyler. Read more

Military History

Twelve Military History Book Reviews for Winter 2024

By Christopher Miskimon Full Reviews

Ukraine Volume 2: Russian Invasion, February 2022 (Tom Cooper, Adrien Fontanellaz, Edward Crowther & Milos Sipos, Helion Books, South Yorkshire UK, 2023, 76 pp., Read more

Comanche warriors ride into San Antonio, Texas, March 19, 1840, to discuss a potential peace treaty with representatives of the new Republic of Texas.

Military History

The Great Comanche Raid of 1840

By Eric Niderost

It was a colorful spectacle few citizens in San Antonio, Texas, had ever expected to see: a large delegation of Comanches coming in to discuss terms of a possible peace treaty. Read more

Military History

Troop Sergeant Major, 11th Hussars, “Prince Albert’s Own,” 1854

This British cavalry unit was raised in 1715 as Honeywood’s Regiment of Dragoons and continued in service through the 18th century before being renamed the 11th Regiment of Light Dragoons. Read more

Germans in their pickelhaube leather helmets and French in red and blue uniforms engage in a brutal skirmish in a wooded section of World War I’s Western Front during the early months of the war.

Military History

French Revenge at the First Battle of the Marne

By Joshua Shepherd

In the early morning hours of September 10, 1914, long lines of gray-clad German infantry formed up in a steady rain that only seemed to dampen spirits. Read more

Military History

Undisputed King: The Battle of Tewkesbury

By David Alan Johnson

King Edward IV could not have asked for better news. On the evening of May 3, 1471, his scouts reported that the army of his Lancastrian archrival, Queen Margaret of Anjou, was camped a few miles south of the abbey town of Tewkesbury with its back to the River Severn. Read more

Military History

Into the Valley of Death: The Battle of Balaklava

By Eric Niderost

When Lt. Col. Lord George Paget rose early in the morning of October 25, 1854, he had no inkling of, as he later put it, “the day’s work in store for us.” Read more

Military History

No Mercy! Remembering the Alamo

By Eric Niderost

On Friday, March 4, 1836, Generalissimo Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna Perez de Labron ordered a staff conference at his headquarters near San Antonio’s Military Plaza. Read more

Military History

The Betrayal of Viriathus of Spain

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

In 150 BC a young shepherd wandered down from the hills to surrender with others of his kind to the Romans. Read more

Military History

The Battle of Lepanto: “The Best Day’s Work in Centuries”

By William J. McPeak

For Europe, there was great news from Malta in August 1565. The Ottoman Turks had lifted their siege and made for home. Read more

A British fighter takes a pass at three Gotha bombers on a raid over central London. The German high command believed that bombing from such huge airplanes would demoralize the British citizenry.

Military History

Gothas: The German Bombers of World War I

by Jim Haviland

On May 25, 1917, a fleet of 21 bombers lumbered in a line at 12,000 feet over the English coast. Read more

Hearty soldiers from Normandy—descendants of Norsemen— looked for challenges and opportunities far from home and found some in Italy. They landed there in the early 11th century and began to assemble dominions for themselves.

Military History

Singing Swords & Charging Warhorses

By Terry Gore

Italy in the mid-11th century was in chaos. Ostensibly held together under the auspices of papal and Holy Roman Empire authority, the peninsula had become a collection of feuding city-states, each under its own local ruler or warlord. Read more

Napoleon kneels at the side of his ardent lieutenant Jean Lannes. The man who rose from common soldier to Marshal of the Empire was struck by cannon fire in May 1809.

Military History

Napoleon Bonaparte’s ‘Roland’: Marshal Jean Lannes

by Jeremy Green

Of all the celebrated generals commanding corps in the Grande Armée, none was more highly esteemed by Napoleon for his friendship, generalship, and personal bravery than Marshal Jean Lannes. Read more

Military History

Culloden Moor: Bonnie Prince Charlie vs. the Duke of Cumberland

By David Alan Johnson

John William O’Sullivan watched the Duke of Cumberland’s army as it stretched out in front of him, lined up in battle order on the northeastern side of Drummossie Moor, a mile or so from Culloden House. Read more

Prussians storm the cemetery at Saint Privat on the 18th of August. The French put up a fierce resistance and the Prussians lost 8,000 men in 20 minutes. However, the tide of fortune was already favoring the Kaiser’s efforts.

Military History

The Battle of Sedan: Napoleon III’s Empire in the Balance

By Robert Heege

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the nephew and namesake of the great Napoleon, once said, “March at the head of the ideas of your century, and these ideas follow you and support you. Read more

Military History

From Around the Network

Takeo Yoshikawa and the Spies Behind the Pearl Harbor Attack

Siege of Bastogne: The Battle for Noville

The Carro Veloce L 3/33

Race to Moscow