Military History

In this painting by Alonzo Chappel, Connecticut Patriot militia have lost all military order against the Loyalists fighting alongside warriors from the Iroquois Confederacy—as the Battle of Wyoming Valley turns into a massacre.

Military History

Blood Along the Susquehanna

By Kelly Bell

Dread gripped the Connecticut settlers of the Wyoming Valley, as the alarm guns boomed from Wilkes-Barre Fort. The sound of those cannons meant trouble and local militiamen grabbed their muskets and rifles and began to gather at Wilkes-Barre and other forts that dotted the valley. Read more

The 9th-century Oseberg ship in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo was excavated in the early 20th century from a burial mound in southern Norway. The karve-style, clinker-built ship with its broad hull is made almost entirely from oak.

Military History

The Viking Longship

By John Spindler

In the first week of October 844, Emir Abd ar-Rahman II of Cordoba learned disturbing news: Vikings had captured Seville. Read more

This scene depicting the Battle of Nineveh is part of the “Legend of the True Cross” fresco cycle by Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca. Chosroes II, near defeat, appears to be on his knees at the far right. The frescoes were painted in the 15th century in the Basilica of San Francesco (dedicated to St Francis of Assisi) in Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy.

Military History

The Last Epic Battle of Antiquity

By Michael D. Greaney

Though the Western Roman Empire had fallen with the deposition of Romulus Augustulus at Rome in 476, elements of the Empire remained, in fact and influence, for centuries to come. Read more

Marines maintain a M48A3 Patton tank parked in the rocky, red clay soil at Con Thien in a painting by Navy combat artist Verciell Tossey. The outpost was an anchor point in the defense of the northern border of South Vietnam.

Military History

Courageous Stand at Con Thien

By William E. Welsh

As the sun rose on May 8, 1967, it illuminated the 525-foot-high hill known as Con Thien where the Marine Corps had established a firebase two miles south of the Demilitarized Zone in South Vietnam. Read more

Indian lancers overrun an Ottoman position in the Valley of Armageddon on the second day of the Battle of Megiddo.

Military History

Fatal Blow at the Battle of Megiddo

By Richard Willis

The six-day Battle of Megiddo fought in September 1918 was a decisive climax to the struggle in Palestine between the Ottoman Empire, backed by the Germans, and Great Britain and her allies. Read more

Military History

Sabers, Scimitars, and Swords

By Victor Kamenir

On the coat of arms of Finland, a crowned lion tramples upon a curved sword with his hind paws while brandishing a straight sword in his right forepaw. Read more

Military History

A Bloody Sport Indeed

By Carole Butcher

One of the most enduring images of the Middle Ages is the tournament, with its knights in shining armor, heraldic devices on shields, fair damsels watching from the stands, and brightly colored banners flying in the breeze. Read more

The sky lit with explosions, the 3rd Australian Division moves out of the trenches at Messines. During the attack, Captain Jacka’s company captured three machine gun nests and an artillery position.

Military History

Australia’s Venerable Albert Jacka

By Thomas G. Bradbeer

He had the distinction of being the first Commonwealth soldier to receive the Victoria Cross for valor in World War I, and many observers felt that Australian-born Albert Jacka should have earned at least three of Great Britain’s highest award. Read more

Military History

Sergeant Amos Humiston at Gettysburg

By Kevin Hymel

Two brigades of Confederate soldiers crested a slight hill above a wheat field and looked down on the blue clad soldiers waiting for them in the brickyard below. Read more

The Duke of Villeroi committed the bulk of his cavalry in a fearsome counterattack on the open plain south of Ramillies late in the battle in a quest to shatter the Allied center.

Military History

Grand Alliance Triumph At Ramillies

By Joshua Shepherd

Late in the day on May 23, 1706, the troops of the Colonel William Borthwick’s regiment of Argyll’s Scots Brigade formed up for an unenviable assignment. Read more

A 17th-century cavalry- man charging into battle atop a white charger opens fire with his wheel lock pistol in this painting by Dutch artist Pieter Meulener.

Military History

The Wheel Lock: Birth of the Combat Pistol

By William J. McPeak

By the late 15th Century, early firearm designers were already looking at ideas for semi-automatic weapons. The matchlock had been the first mechanism to make a shoulder-aimed firearm, the arquebus, possible. Read more

Military History

Roncesvalles and the Birth of Chivalry

By Don Hollway

The Age of Chivalry brings to mind knights in shining armor and damsels in distress, along with traveling troubadours and minstrels singing chansons de geste, “songs of deeds,” telling of feats of arms and labors of love. Read more

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