Military History Archives

Military History

Viking Tide: Alfred the Great during the Danish Invasions

By Eric Niderost

It was the custom for King Alfred of Wessex to celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas at his royal palace at Dorchester, in the county of Dorset. Read more

U-2 flights over the Soviet Union began in the mid-1950s. U-2s had extraordinary range and could fly 14 miles high while photographing in astonishing detail. A major objective: the extent of Soviet nuclear weaponry.

Military History

The U-2 Spy Plane’s Cold War Missions

By John D. Gresham

Movies and novels about spies and espionage usually portray brave and sexy secret agents going deep behind enemy lines to grab some invaluable and potentially destabilizing piece of information. Read more

Weaker in many ways, but passionate for their independence, the Dutch pounce on a Spanish fleet even under the protective British guns at Dover.

Military History

The Battle of the Downs & the Eighty Years’ War

By Keith Milton

Vice-Admiral Sir John Pennington’s jolly-boat nudged against the accommodation ladder that had been rigged aboard the Santiago, flagship of Admiral Don Rafael d’Oquendo’s Spanish fleet. Read more

Military History

The History of Mobile Artillery

By Arnold Blumberg

“It is with artillery that one makes war.” So declared Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the Great Captains of military history and a born gunner himself. Read more

A gold quiver from the tomb of King Philip II of Macedon shows lines of warriors in battle. Philip fell upon the Greeks with a fury.

Military History

The Rise of Macedon

By Jonas Goldstein

The city-states of ancient Greece were rich in culture and history. But following the Peloponnesian War, which lasted 27 years, they were exhausted, their best young men dead, Attica’s farms ruined. Read more

Move and countermove led the leaders of opposing armies to come face to face in Shingen’s newly set up camp. Swords flew among the tents in one of the largest battles in Japanese history.

Military History

The Battle of Kawanakajima

By Vince Hawkins

In 1490 Japan entered a crucial period of its history known as the sengoku-jidai, or the “Age of the Country at War.” Read more

Reenactors heft medieval bills in anticipation of an attack by men on horse. Bills were favored by the English but were more effective on mail than on plate armor.

Military History

Polearms

By Michael Kluever

The medieval polearm was the Colt Pistol equalizer of the Middle Ages. it placed the common infantry soldier on par with the heavily armored horseman. Read more

Military History

Angus McBride

By David W. Rickman

Unmistakable—that is what Angus McBride’s illustrations are. They reconstruct a past that is filled with drama and danger, as well as wonder and humor. Read more

Native Americans demostrated extraordinary service, honor, and heroism during World War I. Anglo officers revered them for their abilities, but no one early on thought their language would help confound the Germans.

Military History

Choctaw Code Talkers in World War I

By Richard L. Hayes

The affection that Europeans have for the Great American West is well known, so it shouldn’t be surprising that several traveling Wild West Shows happened to be in enemy territory when World War I broke out. Read more

Military History

The Battle of Milvian Bridge: Battle for the Western Empire

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

In ad 305, there occurred an event unprecedented in the history of the Roman Empire. Emperor Diocletian voluntarily abdicated to live the simple life of a farmer on his country estate. Read more

Orlando Norie captured a grisly moment following the Indian rebellion of 1857-1858. Some mutineers were executed by being tied to cannon and then blown in half.

Military History

POW: Art and the Image of The Prisoner

By Peter Harrington

War produces casualties … and captives. Much “war art” concerns itself with the heroics and clash of battle, the sway of forces, and the turns of history. Read more

Having heard that the Russians claimed a victory, Napoleon commissioned a painting showing that he was the victor. The results depict the Emperor visiting the frozen field of the struggle, surrounded by the defeated begging for mercy.

Military History

The Battle of Eylau: A Massacre Without Results

By Vince Hawkins

Following the French Army’s brilliant victories at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstadt on October 14, 1806, the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte subsequently launched his Grande Armée in a devastating pursuit of the remnants of the Prussian Army. Read more

Lt. Benjamin Foulois and Orville Wright fly over Virginia countryside in 1909, testing a Wright flier for the U.S. Army. The test was successful and Foulois began a lifetime of promoting U.S. airpower.

Military History

Benny Delahauf Foulois

By Michael D. Hull

Resembling a “collection of bamboo poles more or less indefinitely attached to a gasoline engine,” the U.S. Read more

Military History

The Dade Battle: Ambush in Florida

By Donald J. Roberts II

The road that stretched through the pine and palmetto woodlands of central Florida was void of the usual animal chitter-chatter on the cool morning of December 28, 1835. Read more

Benedict Arnold tells British Major André to hide military papers in his boot. Washington’s spy ring helped foil the pair’s plot to capture West Point.

Military History

The Culper Spy Ring: The American Revolution’s Great Secret

By Peter Kross

The American Revolution was a proving ground for American spy operations. General George Washington’s use of deception, covert activities, secret inks, and informers was a model for future spymasters. Read more

Military History

Cavalry Clash at the Hook

By Joshua Shepherd

Early on the morning of October 3, 1781, a detachment of French hussars trotted down a sandy road in Gloucester County, Virginia. Read more

Military History

Retained English Longbowman, 1350-1425

The English longbow, originally adopted from the Welsh, was made from a single piece of Yew wood, and required skill to make and use. Read more

Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel in his staff car in North Africa in 1941. Arriving in Tripoli in February 1941, he was quickly on the advance, forcing British troops to retreat back into Eqypt.

Military History

Rommel in the Desert

By David H. Lippman

Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, a rising star in Germany’s equally rising war effort, was tasked with saving Italy, Germany’s key ally, from a grave disaster in North Africa. Read more

Military History

Confederate Major John Pelham’s flying battery made him a hero when he was only 23.

By Nat R. Louis

During the Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia, in May 1862, General Joseph Hooker’s Union forces were in pursuit of the withdrawing Confederates. Read more

First Lieutenant Israel Greene leads his Marines into the engine house, as depicted in this diorama at the National Museum of the Marine Corps Heritage Center in Virginia.

Military History

John Brown’s Bloody Abolitionist Crusade

By Eric Niderost

Agroup of insurgents, probably abolitionists fiercely dedicated to ending slavery, had seized the Federal Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry—that was the news Charles W. Read more

Military History

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