Military History

Varangian leader Rurik and his sons arrive in the trading post of Staraya Ladoga in 862. About that same time Varangians began serving with forces protecting the frontiers of the Byzantine Empire.

Military History

The Byzantine Army’s Varangian Guard

By Erich B. Anderson

Byzantine Emperor Basil II suffered a massive defeat against the Bulgarians on August 17, 986, at a strategic mountain pass known as Trajan’s Gate in Bulgaria. Read more

The Battle of Narva was a resounding victory for Swedish King Charles XII over his Russian foe. The young monarch is shown at lower right in Alexander von Kotzebue’s romantic painting.

Military History

Swedish Gamble at the Battle of Narva

By Eric Niderost

Just after dawn on the morning of November 20, 1700, two figures stood atop Hermansburg, a small rise that overlooked the fortress town of Narva in the Baltic province of Estonia. Read more

Military History

Masterstroke at Friedland

By Coley Cowan

Friedland was burning. The darkening sky of late afternoon on June 14, 1807, was deepened further by the ashes swirling in the narrow streets. Read more

In her battle armor, Joan of Arc leads a rapturous army of French followers who believe her to be divinely inspired.

Military History

Joan of Arc’s Loire Campaign: The English Tide Recedes

By William Welsh

None of those present at the war council held on July 18, 1429, at Beaugency in central France seemed to object to the peculiar sight of an armor-clad young woman advising some of the greatest military captains of the age on how to proceed with the campaign to crown the Dauphin Charles king of France. Read more

South Vietnamese troops advance through waist-high grass toward North Vietnamese invaders in May 1972 following the NVA’s all-out Easter offensive of 1972.

Military History

The Easter Offensive of 1972

By John Walker

At noon on Good Friday, March 30, 1972, more than 25,000 North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers, backed by state-of-the-art Soviet tanks, artillery, and mobile antiaircraft missile platforms, poured across the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Vietnams. Read more

Military History

Jugurtha: Numidian King, Roman Enemy

By William Stroock

Jugurtha, king of the desert nation of Numidia, was a long-time antagonist of Republican Rome. Over more than a decade of war, he was a bold and cunning battlefield commander who used swiftness and determination to make fools of Roman consuls, even as the Romans were systematically conquering his country. Read more

A seemingly endless procession of trucks brings American soldiers and supplies to the front at Chateau-Thierry in May 1918. Painting by William James Aylward.

Military History

American Stand At Chateau-Thierry

By George T. Raach

For the hard-pressed German Empire, New Year’s Day 1918 brought a compendium of evils. The Allied naval blockade, increasingly effective, depressed industrial production and stoked a war weariness made manifest in strikes and bread riots. Read more

Yorkist troops led by the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of York storm through the streets of St. Albans on May 22, 1455. The rebels captured King Henry VI, killed the Duke of Somerset, and ignited the 30-year-long War of the Roses. Painting by Graham Turner.

Military History

Roses In The Snow

By Mike Phifer

On March 1, 1461, English Chancellor George Neville faced a large crowd of Londoners in St. John’s Field outside the city. Read more

Military History

Napoleon’s Triumph over Prussia

By Arnold Blumberg

At 4 am on October 14, 1806, 37-year-old Jean Lannes, Marshal of France in Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grande Armee and commander of that host’s V Corps, received his final instructions verbally from the emperor. Read more

Sailors and marines of the powerful Venetian Navy assault the seaward wall along the Golden Horn for a second time in April 1204. The Venetians suspended gangplanks from the masts and yard-arms of their galleys that served as flying bridges for marines to use in assaulting the tops of the city's walls.

Military History

Sack of Constantinople

By William E. Welsh

Dawn broke clear and hot over Constantinople on July 17, 1203.

All manner of war machines were clustered around the Latin crusaders’ fortified camp on a hill where the Monastery of Saints Cosmas and Damian was located. Read more

Mongol detachments conduct an amphibious assault at Hakata Bay in Kyushu in 1274 in a modern painting by Richard Hook. Mounted samurai supported by foot archers conduct a vigorous defense in an attempt to prevent the invaders from establishing a beachhead.

Military History

Divine Winds Triumphant

By Eric Niderost

In the early 13th century the legendary Mongol Genghis Khan laid the foundations for the greatest land empire in history. Read more

U.S. helicopters not only transported South Vietnamese troops to firebases inside Laos, but also carried them to Tchepone when the armored column stalled on Route 9. The March 6 air assault by elements of the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division was the largest helicopter assault of the war.

Military History

Mauled in Laos

By John Walker

The South Vietnamese rangers huddled in their trenches and bunkers at landing zone Ranger North throughout the day of February 19, 1971, as mortar shells crashed inside the perimeter. Read more

The British fleet (right) and the French fleet are shown engaged at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on September 5, 1781, in a modern painting by Patrick O’Brien. British Rear Admiral Graves made a number of questionable decisions during the battle that put his fleet at a distinct disadvantage.

Military History

Grand Clash on the Chesapeake

By David A. Norris

Under sunny skies, favorable winds pushed Captain Mark Robinson and the 74-gun ship of the line Shrewsbury on September 5, 1781, toward a stormy encounter with an old enemy. Read more

An Israeli tank passes scorched enemy vehicles during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Egypt deployed large numbers of missile-armed infantry in the Sinai that inflicted substantial losses on Israeli armor in the opening stage of the conflict.

Military History

Tank Clash in the Sinai

By Arnold Blumberg

During the afternoon of October 9, 1973, Colonel Amnon Reshef, the commander of the Israeli Defense Force’s (IDF) 14th Armored Brigade, conducted probes along the water’s edge of the Great Bitter Lake, a wide part of the Suez Canal. Read more

The Crusader vanguard composed of French and Burgundian knights penetrates the forward position of Bayezid’s army defended by skirmishers armed with bows.

Military History

Crusader Disaster At Nicopolis

By Louis Ciotola

In the late 14th century, a new and seemingly irresistible force was emerging in the East, the likes of which Europe had not seen for centuries. Read more

U.S. Marines unload a wounded fellow Marine from an Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter at Al Qaim, Iraq, in 2005.

Military History

American Medics and Military Doctors

By Richard A. Gabriel

The American military has been engaged almost continually in combat operations for the last 22 years. During this period, the United States has conducted combat operations in Iraq (1990-1991), Somalia (1992-1993), Iraq (2003-2012), and Afghanistan (2001-2021). Read more

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