Military History
As the first rays of sunlight chased away the shadows from the base of the high walls surrounding the village of Ravenna in northern Italy on Easter Sunday, April 11, 1512, the French army besieging the town began to form into columns. Read more
Military History
On January 18, ad 532, a 54-year-old eunuch by the name of Narses, described by Agathias, a contemporary chronicler, as “small in stature and of abnormal thinness,” entered alone into the Hippodrome of Constantinople carrying a bag of gold. Read more
Military History
On a sweltering evening in early July 1553, the late King Henry VIII’s only legitimate son, the sickly 15-year-old Edward VI, died an agonizing death from tuberculosis, possibly complicated by measles. Read more
Military History
On a sultry summer night in 9 BC, 29-year-old commander of Augustus Caesar ’s army in Germania bolted upright in his cot, dripping with sweat. Read more
Military History
Maharaja Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sikh empire in northern India, was dead. Under his intrepid leadership, starting in 1799, Afghan control over Punjab, or Five Rivers Land, was thrown off and the Sikh empire flourished over the next 40 years. Read more
Military History
Just a few days after Britain and Germany declared war in August 1914, their territories in East Africa declared peace. Read more
Military History
In the darkness and driving rain on August 29, 1918, German artillery shells smashed down on American artillerymen fighting on a fir-clad slope in the Vosges Mountains in Alsace. Read more
Military History
For nearly 200 years, India was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. Untold wealth flowed from such cities as Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, supplying Great Britain with much of what made it possible to construct its world empire. Read more
Military History
Tired, battered, and bruised, the Spaniards had put up a brave fight, but the enemy had proven too powerful. Read more
Military History
Brimming with gale force winds, uncharted reefs, and a force of 21 enemy ships of the line, the bay seemed to be a deathtrap for the flagship Royal George. Read more
Military History
On December 12, 1466, a small group of horsemen led by an old man with a long white beard rode up to the gates of Rome. Read more
Military History
Duke Philip III “The Good” of Burgundy took responsibility in the early 15th century for overseeing intelligence missions to the Near East to assess the strength of the Ottoman Empire relative to the relief of the beleaguered Byzantines, as well as the possible recovery of Jerusalem. Read more
Military History
An army of redcoat regulars and militia gazed up the contours of Vinegar Hill in County Wexford, Ireland. Read more
Military History
It sounds like it might have been a scene from the Middle Ages. A king of England with sword in hand led his forces against their longtime enemies, the French. Read more
Military History
An event of great significance in early medieval Europe occurred in 753, when newly ensconced Pope Stephen II decided to journey north to Metz to confer with Frankish King Pepin III (known as “The Short”). Read more
Military History
The maxim “an army marches on its stomach,” attributed to both Napoleon and Frederick the Great rings true when considering the fate of Maj. Read more
Military History
It is not always the actions of the brave and mighty that determine a battle’s outcome—victory or defeat can hinge on the most mundane of events. Read more
Military History
Ignoring the scorching summer heat, Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Wellesley climbed one of the towers on the ruined estate of Casa de Salinas 80 miles southwest of Madrid, Spain, to survey the surrounding countryside. Read more
Military History
Driven and energetic in his youth, by the late 1860s French Emperor Napoleon III was a shadow of his former self. Read more
Military History
In one of those ironic twists of history, French Vice Admiral Count Charles Henri Hector d’Estaing, who led the first French fleet to North America in 1778 to assist the Americans during their revolt against the British crown, never met George Washington. Read more
