By Michael E. Haskew
For three centuries, feudal Japan remained comfortably isolated from the rest of the world. By order of the Tokugawa Shogunate, foreigners landing on Japanese shores risked immediate execution. Read more
Throughout his lifetime, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover always boasted that no enemy agent, either spy or saboteur, ever operated at large in the United States during World War II. Read more
In March 1953, a battle-scarred United Nations outpost called “Old Baldy” was attacked by elements of the Chinese Army and captured from the Colombian soldiers occupying it. Read more
World War II had been in progress for six weeks when on the evening of October 12, 1939, the German submarine U-47 surfaced off the Orkney Islands at the northern tip of Scotland. Read more
Like bees guarding their hive, the royal host of King Richard III swarmed atop 400-foot-high Ambion Hill near the Leicestershire village of Market Bosworth on the morning of August 22, 1485. Read more
In truth, it really was not a combat operation. For every airplane lost to enemy action, a hundred were destroyed in accidents. Read more
On August 4, 1790, at the urging of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, the United States Congress authorized the construction of 10 armed revenue cutters. Read more
By December 1943, the phrase “sunny Italy” had evolved from being a travel agent’s selling point to becoming an ugly joke for the British and American troops of the Allied Fifth Army, advancing north from Naples to Rome. Read more
When Texas seceded from the Union on February 1, 1861, it did not take long for the new Confederate government to realize that the state’s 385-mile coastline was extremely vulnerable to enemy assaults. Read more
A hard-hitting novel that inspired a classic war film, 12 O’Clock High was a very personal project for co-authors Beirne Lay, Jr., Read more
Ever since Julius Caesar’s legions conquered Gaul, opposing armies have built temporary fortifications, or fieldworks, during campaigns in the open countryside. Read more
Benito Mussolini dreamed of a new Roman Empire centered around the modern nation of Italy. “The Mediterranean will be turned into an Italian lake,” he said. Read more
In late 1776, the Continental Army was in a desperate position. In August, they retreated from Long Island to Manhattan; in November they withdrew into New Jersey and soon after into Pennsylvania. Read more
Dr. Till Paasche and Shaun Murray were from different countries, but they came together in Syria. Shaun was just a child when the 9/11 attacks occurred, and by the time he was old enough to serve, the war in Iraq was winding down. Read more
A group of Israeli divers quietly came ashore at an Egyptian-held island at the south entrance of the Suez Canal in 1969. Read more
The American patrol had spent hours dismounted from their armored Humvees, walking along fields, canals and roads. They found two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), defused them and then decided to use their vehicles to get to the final patrol location. Read more
By February 1945, the green Allied formations that landed on D-Day had become hard professional armies. Army, corps, and division commands had been shaken down and were operating efficiently. Read more
A major dilemma confronted Alexander the Great and his 35,000-man Macedonian army in the summer of 334 bc, as they moved to secure the northwestern corner of Asia Minor. Read more
On the night of November 13, 1941, the British submarine Torbay, accompanied by the Talisman, broke the surface of the Mediterranean off the Cyrenaican coast of Libya and rolled violently in the running seas. Read more
To millions of people, the name Dracula is synonymous with horror. The mere mention of Dracula invokes terrifying images of bats, Gothic castles and, of course, vampires. Read more
