Military History
The Composite Bow: The Medieval Precursor to the Rifle
By O’Brien BrowneOrderly rows of Sumerian soldiers stretched across the grassy plain, their conical bronze helmets hard and bright under the sizzling sun. Read more
Military History
Military History
The Battle of Chosin Reservoir: The Korean War’s Hills of Hell
By Eric HammelThe 1st Marine Division was on the move toward the Yalu River. With any luck, if the weather cooperated, the Korean War, or rather, the United Nations police action in Korea, would be over in weeks. Read more
Military History
World War I’s Second Battle of Ypres: Salient of Death
By Mike PhiferDespite the incessant German shelling that had been hammering away at the French lines to their immediate left near the rubble-strewn city of Ypres in northwestern Belgium, the largely untested soldiers of the Canadian 1st Division found the early spring day of April 22, 1915, surprisingly warm and pleasant. Read more
Military History
Weapons of the Middle Ages: the Medieval Catapult
By Robert HeegeIt was the spring of 1097 and the Turks guarding the walls of Nicaea were in a confident mood. Read more
Military History
Siege of Tyre: Alexander the Great’s Assault on the Persians
By Marc G. De SantisIt was the autumn of 333 bc and Alexander the Great stood triumphant on the battlefield of Issus. Read more
Military History
Famous Soldiers: Shih Huang-ti
By Ludwig Heinrich DyckWhen rebel peasants under a charismatic army deserter named Liu Pang descended on the capital city of Hsien Yang in 206 bc, they did so under the considerable shadow of the Ch’in dynasty’s former ruler, Shih Huang-ti. Read more
Military History
Stately Minuet of Death: Maurice de Saxe at Fontenoy
By Vince HawkinsIn the Age of Reason, even wars were fought reasonably. Well-ordered marches, carefully dressed ranks of impeccably turned-out soldiers, and elaborately sketched battle plans were the order of the day in the so-called “lace wars” of the mid-18th century. Read more
Military History
King Charles I: Decision at Naseby
By Arnold BlumbergBy the spring of 1645, the open warfare between King Charles I and his rebellious Parliament had dragged on for nearly three years, with no apparent end in sight. Read more
Military History
Militaria: WWI Helmets from French Troops
By Peter SuciuThick metal helmets were used since ancient times to offer protection to their wearers in combat and are among the earliest forms of armor. Read more
Military History
George Washington and Lord Cornwallis at Germantown
By Eric NiderostOn a gloomy Friday morning, September 26, 1777, an advance party of the British Army marched into Philadelphia to take possession of the city. Read more
Military History
Bridegrooms of Death: The Spanish Foreign Legion
by John W. Osborn, Jr.Spanish Legionaries charged into battle crying, “Long Live Death.” They sang of being “the Bridegrooms of Death” and proved they meant it with over 10,000 killed and 35,000 wounded. Read more
Military History
Australia’s Venerable Albert Jacka
By Thomas G. BradbeerHe 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
Indian Rebellion of 1857: Two Years of Massacre and Reprisal
By John BrownThree months before the Indian Rebellion of 1857, British East India Company officials manning outstations in the northwestern provinces of India began to notice the revival of a strange and disturbing local custom. Read more
Military History
The U.S. Splinter Fleet
By A.B. FeuerWhen the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the nation’s Navy was shockingly short of combat ships—particularly the submarine chasers that would be vital to combating the German U-boat menace. Read more
Military History
Shaky Stand at Bladensburg
By Blaine TaylorThe British Army of soldiers, Royal Marines and naval infantry—actually sailors from His Majesty’s Navy fighting on dry land with musket, pike and cutlass—were marching full-tilt for the capital of the United States this hot, sweltering August 24, 1814. Read more
Military History
Revolutionary War Weapons: The American Long Rifle
By David Alan JohnsonBy the mid-1700’s, the American long rifle had acquired an almost supernatural reputation. To the British troops who were unfortunate enough to come up against it in combat during the Revolutionary War, the rifle was more an affliction than a weapon. Read more
Military History
Julius Caesar’s Expedition to Brittania
By Ludwig DyckBy the summer of 55 bc, 45-year-old Roman proconsul Gaius Julius Caesar was a veteran military campaigner. For the past three years, under his lead, the tramp of hobnailed sandals had resounded across the countryside of Gaul, the westernmost province of the Roman empire. Read more
Military History
Last-Ditch Roadblock at Hanau
By Matthew R. LamotheTired, hungry, and typhoid-ridden, the French veterans in the Grand Army of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte staggered through the Fulda Gap in central Germany on October 27, 1813. Read more
Military History
The Duke of Marlborough at Malplaquet
by Herman T. VoelknerEngland’s survival hung in the balance. She had only recently clashed with an imposing Continental alliance, in a futile war characterized by unprecedented slaughter on obscure fields in Flanders. Read more
Military History
King Gustavus Adolphus, Breitenfeld, and the Birthplace of Modern War
By Louis CiotolaOn a hot, dusty September morning in 1631, the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor rested easily on the plains outside the village of Breitenfield, six miles north of Leipzig, Saxony. Read more
