Military History Archives

Orlando Norie captured a grisly moment following the Indian rebellion of 1857-1858. Some mutineers were executed by being tied to cannon and then blown in half.

Military History

POW: Art and the Image of The Prisoner

By Peter Harrington

War produces casualties … and captives. Much “war art” concerns itself with the heroics and clash of battle, the sway of forces, and the turns of history. Read more

Having heard that the Russians claimed a victory, Napoleon commissioned a painting showing that he was the victor. The results depict the Emperor visiting the frozen field of the struggle, surrounded by the defeated begging for mercy.

Military History

The Battle of Eylau: A Massacre Without Results

By Vince Hawkins

Following the French Army’s brilliant victories at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstadt on October 14, 1806, the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte subsequently launched his Grande Armée in a devastating pursuit of the remnants of the Prussian Army. Read more

Lt. Benjamin Foulois and Orville Wright fly over Virginia countryside in 1909, testing a Wright flier for the U.S. Army. The test was successful and Foulois began a lifetime of promoting U.S. airpower.

Military History

Benny Delahauf Foulois

By Michael D. Hull

Resembling a “collection of bamboo poles more or less indefinitely attached to a gasoline engine,” the U.S. Read more

Military History

The Dade Battle: Ambush in Florida

By Donald J. Roberts II

The road that stretched through the pine and palmetto woodlands of central Florida was void of the usual animal chitter-chatter on the cool morning of December 28, 1835. Read more

Benedict Arnold tells British Major André to hide military papers in his boot. Washington’s spy ring helped foil the pair’s plot to capture West Point.

Military History

The Culper Spy Ring: The American Revolution’s Great Secret

By Peter Kross

The American Revolution was a proving ground for American spy operations. General George Washington’s use of deception, covert activities, secret inks, and informers was a model for future spymasters. Read more

Military History

Cavalry Clash at the Hook

By Joshua Shepherd

Early on the morning of October 3, 1781, a detachment of French hussars trotted down a sandy road in Gloucester County, Virginia. Read more

Military History

Retained English Longbowman, 1350-1425

The English longbow, originally adopted from the Welsh, was made from a single piece of Yew wood, and required skill to make and use. Read more

Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel in his staff car in North Africa in 1941. Arriving in Tripoli in February 1941, he was quickly on the advance, forcing British troops to retreat back into Eqypt.

Military History

Rommel in the Desert

By David H. Lippman

Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, a rising star in Germany’s equally rising war effort, was tasked with saving Italy, Germany’s key ally, from a grave disaster in North Africa. Read more

Military History

Confederate Major John Pelham’s flying battery made him a hero when he was only 23.

By Nat R. Louis

During the Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia, in May 1862, General Joseph Hooker’s Union forces were in pursuit of the withdrawing Confederates. Read more

First Lieutenant Israel Greene leads his Marines into the engine house, as depicted in this diorama at the National Museum of the Marine Corps Heritage Center in Virginia.

Military History

John Brown’s Bloody Abolitionist Crusade

By Eric Niderost

Agroup of insurgents, probably abolitionists fiercely dedicated to ending slavery, had seized the Federal Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry—that was the news Charles W. Read more

“The Catapult,” by Edward John Poynter (British, 1836-1919) depicts a siege engine manned by Roman soldiers at the walls of Carthage during the Third Punic War. “Carthage must be destroyed” (Delenda est Carthago), the words of Cato the Elder as quoted in Pultarch's “Life of Cato,” are carved on one of its massive beams.

Military History

The Siege of Carthage: Death of an Empire

By David A. Norris

According to legend, Carthage was founded by Dido, daughter of the king of the Phoenician city of Tyre. Read more

Military History

Machine Guns In The Sky

By Mark Carlson

Since the early days of the Great War, when pilots and observers brought rifles and pistols into the skies to shoot at enemy observation planes, the world of air combat has been a rapidly changing arena of technology and innovation. Read more

In January 1953, tracked armored vehicles support infantry movements during Operation Lorraine, the largest French offensive in Vietnam.

Military History

Operation Lorraine: French Launch Offensive to Regain Territory in Vietnam

By John E. Spindler

On the evening of October 29, 1952, a group of French combat engineers worked feverishly to repair a ferry ramp on the Red River across from the village of Trung Ha in French Indochina. Read more

Military History

Nine Military History Book Reviews for Spring 2024

By Christopher Miskimon Full Reviews

Battle for the Island Kingdom: England’s Destiny 1000–1066 (Don Holloway, Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2023, 432 pp., Read more

Military History

The Battle of Loos: Mired in the Trenches

By Victor Kamenir

Ajubilant British populace joyfully greeted the declaration of war on Germany on August 4, 1914. “I remember when war was declared, going outside Buckingham Palace and cheering with all the crowds as the king and queen came out on the balcony and being frightfully excited and thinking it was splendid that we were going into the war and all the rest of it,” recalled Londoner Angela Limerick. Read more

Military History

Thundering Clash at Lewes

By Terry Gore

Royalist knights under the command of Prince Edward of England rode with furious speed toward the thousands of London militia who had been sent to set fire to the town of Lewes. Read more

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England

Military History

The Battle of Copenhagen

By Keith Milton

With muffled oars, the longboat sent by Admiral Horatio Nelson glided silently through the darkness of the enemy’s anchorage—at one point its sailors were close enough to the Danish ships to overhear the conversations of the sentinels. Read more

Military History

Greek Fire

By Robert Heege

The year was ad 678, 46 years after the death of the prophet Mohammed. Now the Mohammedans, determined to bring the light of Islam to Arabia and beyond, were streaking across the whole of the Middle East like a comet. Read more