Military History
Solferino: Birth of a Nation
By Eric NiderostLong columns of blue-clad French troops marched east though the sun-baked plains of northern Italy in late June 1859. Read more
Military History
Military History
Polish Prince Joseph Poniatowski
By Jeremy GreenPolish Prince Joseph Poniatowski, a great hero of Napoleonic legend, ultimately was a man without a country. Born on May 7, 1762, the prince at first enjoyed the luxurious life of a nobleman because of his ties to the ruling family of Poland. Read more
Military History
Death at the Hawthorn Hedge: Poitiers, 1356
By William E. WelshThe Black Death that ravaged England and France for a half-dozen years in the mid-14th century served merely as a brief intermission between the first and second acts of the painfully protracted struggle known as the Hundred Years’ War. Read more
Military History
Death Penalty for Desertion
By John W. Osborn, Jr.British Army privates Thomas Highgate, Ernest Jackson, and Louis Harris shared a distinction in World War I that they undoubtedly would rather not have had. Read more
Military History
Benedict Arnold’s Invasion of Canada
By Earl EchelberryFresh from his capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Colonel Benedict Arnold in the summer of 1775 lobbied hard to the Continental Congress for authorization to lead an expedition to the lower St. Read more
Military History
Charles Russell Lowell Memorials
By Helen HannonThe unique persona of Charles Russell Lowell, a gifted Union cavalry officer from Massachusetts, inspired a series of memorials in his honor, ranging from famous monuments to obscure frontier forts. Read more
Military History
The Battle of Buena Vista: Old Rough and Ready in Mexico
By Mike HaskewIt was the spring of 1846, roughly nine months before the Battle of Buena Vista. It had become apparent to everyone at this point that a Mexican-American War was inevitable, and diplomatic efforts between the two countries had failed. Read more
Military History
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
By Eric NiderostOn Friday, July 29, 1588, a group of English gentlemen decided to play a friendly game of bowls after a hearty midday meal. Read more
Military History
Baptism or Death: The Wendish Crusade, 1147-1185
By Kirk FreemanBy the middle of the 12th century, much of western Europe had settled into a tenuous, often interrupted peace, and many modern nation-states had begun to emerge. Read more
Military History
Blaise de Monluc
By William McPeakA hundred miles north of the mountainous region near the Pyrenees was the rolling land of the Garonne River, home of the Gascon noble families. Read more
Military History
Roosevelt’s Crowded Hour
By John WukovitsBy mid-June 1898, a potent American military conglomeration had assembled off the extreme southeastern coast of Cuba. Thirty-two troop transports brought 819 officers and 15,058 enlisted men to Cuba from Florida, along with 89 newspaper correspondents, 11 foreign military observers, and 10 million pounds of rations. Read more
Military History
Military Dioramas
By Peter SuciuThe scene appears to be one of utter chaos, as several dozen soldiers react to an enemy attack on their troop train. Read more
Military History
The Symbolism of the Berlin Wall During the Cold War
By Bruce L. BragerIn June 1961, Walter Ulbrecht, longtime Communist party leader of East Germany, denied that his government had any intention of building the Berlin Wall, which would separate East and West Berlin. Read more
Military History
Hernándo Cortés on the plains of Cintla
By Charles HilbertIn March 1519, a small square of 400 Spanish adventurers under the command of Hernándo Cortés stood at bay on the plain of Cintla in Tabasco, Mexico. Read more
Military History
The Battle of Edgehill: Halting the Royalist March on London
By William E. WelshRobert Devereux, the third Earl of Essex, was on his way to church in the small village of Kineton in Warwickshire on the morning of October 23, 1642, when he received word that the enemy was at hand. Read more
Military History
The UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” Helicopter
By Ignacio PullumAs an icon of the Vietnam War and an angel of mercy for American troops who fought there, the Bell UH-1 Iroquois, affectionately known as the “Huey,” has gone on to become the most recognizable helicopter in the world. Read more
Military History
Could Custer have been saved at Little Bighorn?
By Adam LynchWe can never know what frantic thoughts raced through George Armstrong Custer’s mind in the last hour of his life. Read more
Military History
King Arthur Saves Britain
By Robert Barr SmithBritain was a battleground in the last years of the fifth century. The occupying, and in some sense stabilizing, Roman legions long since had gone, never to return, and the native Britons found themselves locked in a long, heartbreaking struggle against waves of brutal North German invaders—Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—who delighted in bloodshed, rape, and murder. Read more
Military History
Bairnsfather’s “Fragments from France”
By Robert WhiterYou should send that into one of the illustrated papers or magazines,” said a young subaltern, looking over the shoulder of an officer who was sitting in front of a makeshift table finishing a pen-and-ink drawing. Read more
Military History
The Battle of Mollwitz: Opening Move For Prussian Expansion
By Arnold BlumbergOn October 20, 1740, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of Austria, died, leaving his vast holdings and titles to his 23-year-old daughter, Maria Theresa. Read more
