Articles Archive

British “New Army” infantrymen “go over the top” in a film made in 1916 about the Battle of the Somme, which began earlier in the year. The Allies had high hopes for the offensive.

A Sunlit Picture of Hell: Battle of the Somme

By O’Brien Brown

Early in the morning of July 1, 1916, a mist blanketed the lolling hills of the Somme region of northwestern France. Read more

Philip vs Edward at the Battle of Crécy

By Robert Suhr

Philip of Valois, for long have we made suit before you by embassies and all other ways which we knew to be reasonable, to the end that you should be willing to have restored unto us our right, our heritage of France, which you have long kept back and most wrongfully occupied.” Read more

The Gatling Gun: A Civil War Innovation

By A.B. Feuer

Richard Gatling was born in Hertford County, NC, on December 12, 1818. His father was a prosperous farmer and inventor, and the son was destined to inherit the “invention bug.” Read more

A U.S. PT boat goes up against a fleet of Japanese ships in the night action called the Battle of Surigao Strait. The Japanese ships were bent on destroying American forces assembled in the Philippines’ Leyte Gulf.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf: Oldendorf’s Textbook “Crossing the T”

By Donald J. Roberts II & Lawrence C. Schneider

In 1944, following the American victories in the South Pacific of operational commanders General Douglas MacArthur in western New Guinea and Admiral Chester Nimitz in the Marianas, American planners considered the next offensive against Japan’s empire. Read more

Byzantine Spies in the Byzantine–Sassanid Wars

By Arnold Blumberg

Byzantium, the successor state to ancient Rome, lasted over a thousand years. But it all could have been different because its first major enemy—Persia—was a fierce and determined competitor bent on the Empire’s demise. Read more

Rogers’ Rangers and the Battle of LaBarbue Creek

By John Mancini

In the fall of 1755, England and France were again at war for control of North America. The French believed that New France extended from Canada to Louisiana. Read more

Early 15th-century Italy was a caldron of warfare from which mercenaries like Bartolomeo Colleoni could make a name and a fortune. Below is a 1432 battle between Florentines and Sienese.

Bartolomeo Colleoni’s Art of War

By Jonathan North

Bartolomeo Colleoni was a Renaissance success story. A simple mercenary, he rose from obscurity to the most important position on the Italian peninsula: commander-in-chief of the armies of Venice. Read more

Philadelphia Military Artifacts

By Eric Niderost

Philadelphia is an historic city, rich in monuments dating from America’s colonial, Revolutionary, and early national periods. As every schoolchild knows, the Declaration of Independence was approved in Philadephia, and the city served as the nation’s capital from 1790 to 1800. Read more

As Allied troops attempt to slowly break out of the hedgerow country of France, several maintain watch over a defensive position, while another catches a few winks of sleep. Painting by Olin Davis.

Thomas D. Howie: The Major of St. Lô

By Stan Federman

In the late afternoon of July 18, 1944, in what was left of the main square of battle-scarred St. Read more

A procession of fatigued soldiers, refugees, trucks, and ambulances snakes its way along a muddy war-torn Italian hillside in this painting by Harry Davis.

My Battle Up the Boot: Paul McNelis in the Italian Campaign

By Richard A. Beranty

The U.S. 85th Infantry Division was one of the Allied workhorses in Italy during World War II. Read more

In this painting by John Hamilton, the devastation wrought in Narvik harbor by a marauding British naval squadron is readily apparent.

The Battles of Narvik & The Norwegian Campaign

by Thomas Haymes

The German mountain troops were dug into their shallow, frozen foxholes waiting for the enemy ski troops to appear across the horizon. Read more

The Battle of Hagerstown

By Daniel Murphy

Late in the evening of July 3, 1863, Major General James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart was summoned to the headquarters of Robert E. Read more

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Breaking out of Hell: The Korsun–Cherkassy Pocket

By Ludwig H. Dyck

On January 26, 1944, in the midst of the Ukrainian winter, the tanks of Gen. Ivan S. Read more

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.

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

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