Military History

Military History

Uniform: Knight Templar 1240

By Johnny Shumate

The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, also known as the Order of the Temple, was the first religious military order of the Latin Church. Read more

Military History

Last Chance for Victory at Gujrat

By David A. Norris 

As 18 elephant-drawn heavy guns of the British East India Company’s Bengal Artillery opened fire, Major John Fordyce’s troop of the Bengal Horse Artillery rushed their 9-pounders ahead of the infantry. Read more

Military History

Prussian Blunder at Hochkirch

By David Norris

Cannons roared and muskets crackled in the darkness below the hill of Rodewitz, but King Frederick the Great of Prussia was in no hurry to move. Read more

Military History

The Great Viking Siege of Paris

By Victor Kamenir

Well before the great Viking siege of Paris, more than 300 islands dotted the length of the Seine River, reduced over the centuries by human impact and natural changes to slightly more than 100. Read more

Military History

The Essential Role of Navy PBR Boats in the Vietnam War

By William F. Floyd Jr.

The U.S. Navy deployed a variety of small boats to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, but perhaps the best known of these is the river patrol boat. Read more

Military History

How Winston Churchill Prolonged the Defense of Antwerp in World War I

By Eric Niderost

Joseph Mary Nagle Jefferies, a correspondent for Britain’s Daily Mail, was assigned to cover the opening phases of World War I in Belgium in October 1914. Read more

Military History

First Battle of the Naktong Bulge

By Robert L. Durham

A battalion of the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) crossed the Naktong River under cover of night on August 5, 1950. Read more

Military History

Medal of Honor Reflects America’s Diverse Ethnic Heritage

We tell the story of how Sergeant Roger Donlon earned the Congressional Medal of Honor in this issue. He was the first participant in the Vietnam War to receive the medal. Read more

Military History

Bloody Ambush on the Bozeman Trail

By David A. Norris

The U.S. cavalrymen posted at Fort Laramie in the Dakota Territory on Christmas Day 1866 celebrated the holiday with a full dress garrison ball despite subzero temperatures and more than a foot of snow on the ground. Read more

Military History

King Richard’s Chateau Gaillard

By William E. Welsh

In 1194 English King Richard I returned to England from his long absence on the Third Crusade and set about recovering the castles his younger brother John had taken in his absence. Read more

Military History

Siege of Lucknow: Sowing the Devil’s Wind

By Eric Niderost

On the evening of May 30, 1857, Julia Selina Inglis was preparing to go to bed when she heard an urgent knocking on her door. Read more

Military History

Quatre Bras: First Blood at Waterloo

By Don Hollway

In the face of disaster, few military commanders in history maintained the British stiff upper lip as well as Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Read more

Military History

Miracle at Minden

By David A. Norris

It did not seem possible for them to hold on, yet six regiments of British infantry, standing with three battalions of Hanoverians, withstood a heavy artillery barrage on August 1, 1759, on a plain next to the fortress of Minden in the Electorate of Hanover. Read more

Military History

Ancient Greek General Epaminondas

By Tim Miller

Astounding news swept through Greece in the summer of 371 bc. In Boeotia, a crossroads for armies that was usually littered with the dead of its own citizens, the invading Spartans had been beaten, and one of their two kings had been slain in battle. Read more

Military History

WWI’s Daring Cavalry Charge at Beersheba

By Alex Zakrzewski

In late 1917, the most successful cavalry charge of World War I took place not on the muddy killing fields of the Western Front, but at the foot of the Judean Hills in southern Palestine. Read more

Military History

Roman General Sulla

By Peter L. Boorn

When Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix was governor of Cilicia in 95 bc, he received an embassy from the Parthians. Read more

Military History

War of Sieges

By Eric Niderost

In the summer of 1216 a large French army appeared just outside the gates of Dover Castle, a magnificent fortress on the southeast coast of England. Read more

Military History

The M50A1 Ontos Anti-tank Vehicle

By William F. Floyd, Jr.

On January 30, 1968, eight battalions of North Vietnamese Army infantry infiltrated the city of Hue in South Vietnam. Read more

Military History

French Collapse at Maida

By Simon Rees

The soldiers of the French 1st Light Infantry surged forward toward the double line of the British Light Battalion. Read more

Military History

Bloody Stand at the Battle of Albuera

By Simon Rees

Amid gun smoke and squalls of rain, the men of 1st Battalion, 3rd Foot, known as the Buffs, were firing their weapons and listening for further orders. Read more