Military History

Military History

Triumph of “The Nelson Touch”

By Jonas L. Goldstein

When the Treaty of Amiens was signed on April 1, 1802, bringing peace between France and Great Britain after nearly a decade of war, there was wild rejoicing in England. Read more

German troops man a real tripod- mounted MG-34 machine gun fitted with long-range sights.

Military History

WWII Nonfiring Automatic Weapons

By Peter Suciu

World War II saw great advancements in firearms technology. Many nations that entered the conflict with bolt-action rifles ended the war with a variety of complex submachine guns and assault rifles. Read more

Under General Benedict Arnold, Patriot forces drive off Hessian mercenaries at Breyman’s Redoubt during the Battle of Saratoga.

Military History

The Hessians Are Coming!

By Joseph C. Salamida

­“He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny,” Thomas Jefferson said of King George III in the Declaration of Independence. Read more

Military History

The Corporal M2 Missile

By Peter A. Goetz

Six days after the Allies’ D-Day landings on the coast of Normandy in June 1944, Germany retaliated by launching its first Vergeltungswaffe, or Vengeance Weapon, at the city of London. Read more

Napoleon Bonaparte with Polish Prince Joseph Poniatowski at the Battle of Leipzig. Poniatowski was killed later that day.

Military History

Polish Prince Joseph Poniatowski

By Jeremy Green

­Polish Prince Joseph Poniatowski, a great hero of Napoleonic legend, ultimately was a man without a country. Born on May 7, 1762, the prince at first enjoyed the luxurious life of a nobleman because of his ties to the ruling family of Poland. Read more

Bare-headed, French King John II leads a swirling melee at the climax of the Battle of Poitiers in this 1830 painting by Eugene Delacroix.

Military History

Death at the Hawthorn Hedge: Poitiers, 1356

By William E. Welsh

­The Black Death that ravaged England and France for a half-dozen years in the mid-14th century served merely as a brief intermission between the first and second acts of the painfully protracted struggle known as the Hundred Years’ War. Read more

Military History

Death Penalty for Desertion

By John W. Osborn, Jr.

British Army privates Thomas Highgate, Ernest Jackson, and Louis Harris shared a distinction in World War I that they undoubtedly would rather not have had. Read more

Military History

Benedict Arnold’s Invasion of Canada

By Earl Echelberry

Fresh from his capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Colonel Benedict Arnold in the summer of 1775 lobbied hard to the Continental Congress for authorization to lead an expedition to the lower St. Read more

The Union cavalry’s final charge at Winchester in 1864. Lowell rides a white horse, with his sword raised. Custer is on his left and Captain Theodore Rodenbough is on his right.

Military History

Charles Russell Lowell Memorials

By Helen Hannon

The unique persona of Charles Russell Lowell, a gifted Union cavalry officer from Massachusetts, inspired a series of memorials in his honor, ranging from famous monuments to obscure frontier forts. Read more

Military History

Blaise de Monluc

By William McPeak

A hundred miles north of the mountainous region near the Pyrenees was the rolling land of the Garonne River, home of the Gascon noble families. Read more

Western artist Frederick Remington’s romantic painting, Charge of the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill, did much to make Theodore Roosevelt famous. Courtesy Frederick Remington Art Museum, Ogdensburg, NY

Military History

Roosevelt’s Crowded Hour

By John Wukovits

By mid-June 1898, a potent American military conglomeration had assembled off the extreme southeastern coast of Cuba. Thirty-two troop transports brought 819 officers and 15,058 enlisted men to Cuba from Florida, along with 89 newspaper correspondents, 11 foreign military observers, and 10 million pounds of rations. Read more

While it doesn’t take an army to produce, the scene is the result of many working together.

Military History

Military Dioramas

By Peter Suciu

The scene appears to be one of utter chaos, as several dozen soldiers react to an enemy attack on their troop train. Read more