Military History Archives

Viking longboats cut through the sea while on expedition. King Harald’s nickname was “Hardradi,” meaning “the ruthless;” something his enemies could surely attest to.

Military History

Harald “Land Waster” Hardradi

by Kenneth Cline

For many history buffs, the date 1066 conjures up an image of Norman knights breaking through the shield wall of the ax-wielding Anglo-Saxons at Senlac Hill. Read more

An M-29 Davy Crockett mobile missile launcher on display. The M-29 was capable of delivering either conventional or nuclear warheads.

Military History

Military Weapons: The Davy Crockett Mobile Missile Launcher

By Peter A. Goetz

Design work for a minimum-size atomic warhead called the XW-51 began at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in the mid 1950s. Read more

With the rising Shangani River behind them, Major Allan Wilson and his 32 hard-pressed troopers make a desperate last stand against King Lobengula’s 1,000 Matabele warriors in southeast Africa.

Military History

Death of the Shangani Patrol

By Robert Barr Smith

On the banks of the rain-swollen Shangani River, a small force of white militiamen closed ranks as hundreds of Matabele warriors swarmed around them. Read more

Military History

Collecting Tanker Helmets

By Peter Suciu

Since the first tanks rolled across the battlefield in World War I, armored crews have required specialized equipment to protect them inside the giant metal beasts. Read more

Italian traveler Marco Polo, shown in this medieval painting leading his 13th-century caravan across Asia, crossed paths briefly with the much-dreaded Assassins. Unlike many, Polo lived to tell about it.

Military History

Blood in the Sand: Shiite Assassins

By Mark S. Longo

Their name has been synonymous with murder for almost a thousand years, but few people know the full truth about the enigmatic organization known as the Assassins. Read more

Military History

Famous Marines: Smedley Butler

By Edward L. Bimberg

The annals of the United States Marine Corps are filled with the names of mavericks known not only for their fighting skills, but for their offbeat personalities as well. Read more

Israeli-upgraded Centurion main battle tanks (Sho’t Kal) advancing into Syria on October 11, 1973. Having withstood the initial four-day assault of the Yom Kippur War and retaken the Golan Heights, Israeli leaders immediately decided to invade Syria and knock them out of the war.

Military History

Lieutenant Zvi “Zvicka” Greengold raced back to Nafakh, commanding his fifth or sixth Sho’t Kal, an Israeli-upgraded Centurion main battle tank, having had the previous ones knocked out beneath him. Read more

Two Grumman F9F-2 Panther fighters dump fuel as they fly past the carrier USS Princeton, during Korean War operations in May 1951. Some 18 months later, U.S. Navy pilot Lieutenant E. Royce Williams would take on seven Soviet MiG-15s, downing four of them, diminishing the aircraft’s reputation as invincible.

Military History

U.S. Navy pilot Lieutenant E. Royce Williams

By Mark Carlson

One of the most remarkable events in modern naval aviation was kept a secret for almost half a century. Read more

Military History

Britannia Triumphant at the Nile

By Joshua Shepherd

Smoke drifted across the quarterdeck of H.M.S. Vanguard, occasionally obscuring the figure of a slender officer bowed with battle wounds and outright exhaustion. Read more

Marines of Company D, 3rd Platoon, rush to take defensive positions around Con Thien as they encounter heavy North Vietnamese gunfire.

Military History

Con Thien: Hell on the Hill of Angels

By Al Hemingway

Lieutenant General Lewis Walt was not a happy man. The burly III Marine Amphibious Force commander had just been ordered by Commanding General William C. Read more

Sporting the blood-red “Rising Sun” flag of Imperial Japan, a Japanese torpedo boat scores a direct hit on a Russian battleship at the height of the Battle of Tsushima Strait.

Military History

Rising Sun and Russian Bear

By Michael E. Haskew

For three centuries, feudal Japan remained comfortably isolated from the rest of the world. By order of the Tokugawa Shogunate, foreigners landing on Japanese shores risked immediate execution. Read more

An artillery battery stationed in the Korean hills provides support fire for forward-positioned infantry units.

Military History

The Korean War’s Counterfire Platoons

By Richard E. Ecker

In March 1953, a battle-scarred United Nations outpost called “Old Baldy” was attacked by elements of the Chinese Army and captured from the Colombian soldiers occupying it. Read more

A golden crown atop his helmet, Richard III impales Henry’s standard bearer, William Brandon, with his lance at the climax of the Battle of Bosworth Field. Painting by noted military artist Graham Turner.

Military History

The Dragon and the Boar: The Battle of Bosworth Field

By William E. Welsh

Like bees guarding their hive, the royal host of King Richard III swarmed atop 400-foot-high Ambion Hill near the Leicestershire village of Market Bosworth on the morning of August 22, 1485. Read more

Military History

The History of the U.S. Coast Guard

By Blaine Taylor

On August 4, 1790, at the urging of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, the United States Congress authorized the construction of 10 armed revenue cutters. Read more

Alexander’s army of 35,000 dealt the Persians a crushing blow at the Battle of Granicus in 334 bc. The Persians lost 15,000 men to a mere 100 Greeks.

Military History

A Storm of Terrors: Alexander the Great at Halicarnassus

By Jeffrey A. Easton

A major dilemma confronted Alexander the Great and his 35,000-man Macedonian army in the summer of 334 bc, as they moved to secure the northwestern corner of Asia Minor. Read more

Military History

The Origins of Dracula: Vlad the Impaler

By Mark S. Longo

To millions of people, the name Dracula is synonymous with horror. The mere mention of Dracula invokes terrifying images of bats, Gothic castles and, of course, vampires. Read more

With Frederick exhorting his troops from atop his famous white charger, the Prussian cavalry charges into the exhausted Russian line at Zorndorf.

Military History

Frederick the Great at Zorndorf: Mauled by the Russian Bear

By Eric Niderost

On December 5, 1757, Prussian King Frederick II crushed the Austrian Army at Leuthen, Silesia, a masterpiece of military skill and maneuver that established Fredrick’s reputation as one of the great commanders of the 18th century. Read more

An Israeli pilot in an American-made F-16 fighter jet cruises at low altitude over the Tigris River en route to the al- Tuwaitha nuclear facility near Baghdad.

Military History

Operation Babylon: Israel’s Strike on al-Tuwaitha

By Kate Cooch

In the late 1970s, it became clear to the international community that Iraq, under the despotic leadership of Saddam Hussein, was attempting to acquire nuclear weapons through the guise of buying nuclear reactors for power generators. Read more

Piloting David Bushnell’s Turtle submarine, Sergeant Ezra Lee attacks ships in New York Harbor.

Military History

David Bushnell’s Turtle: The World’s First Submarine

By Brandt Heatherington

The world’s first combat submarine was something of an afterthought on the part of its creator. The revolutionary craft, known as the Turtle for its odd profile, was the progeny of David Bushnell, who was born in 1742 in West Saybrook, Conn. Read more