Military History

Pikemen participate in a re-enactment of the pitched battle. Parliamentary forces fought with great professionalism in a slugfest marked by heavy casualties on both sides.

Military History

Savage Action at Newbury

By Robert L. Durham

Prince Rupert eyed the Parliamentarian position atop the low ridge south of the village of Newbury on the morning of September 20, 1643, with deep concern. Read more

Military History

Collecting Vintage Grenades

By Peter Suciu

Even now, six decades after the end of World War II, the words “potato masher” just as easily conjure images of the legendary German hand grenade as they do kitchen utensils. Read more

Military History

Disaster at Nicopolis

By William E. Welsh

Thick black smoke rose skyward from burning villages on the southern frontier of the Hungarian Kingdom in the spring of 1395. Read more

Polish cavalry operates in rough terrain against German forces. Not surprisingly, elite Polish cavalry units were among the last to surrender to the Germans in October 1939.

Military History

WWII Polish Cavalryman: Lance-Wielding Anachronism?

By Alex Zakrzewski

In the late afternoon of September 1, 1939, the 18th Uhlan Regiment of the Pomorska Cavalry Brigade was holding its position along Poland’s heavily forested northwest frontier when orders arrived to attack the flank of the advancing German 20th Motorized Infantry Division. Read more

Prussian grenadiers advance at Leuthen. After his victory at Rossbach, Frederick the Great sought to drive the Austrians from Silesia.

Military History

Covered in Glory at Leuthen

By Joshua Shepherd

In the early afternoon of December 5, 1757, the men of Prussia’s 26th Infantry Regiment were drawn up in assault formation just south of the Silesian village of Leuthen. 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

A Russian flying column of mounted infantry, dragoons, and horse artillery attacked the Swedish convoy in a forested region in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Military History

Sweden’s Desperate Stand at Lesnaya

By Eric Niderost

Colonel Axel Gyllenkrok had had a lot on his mind in recent weeks. It was the autumn of 1708, and as the Swedish Army’s general quartermaster he was not only responsible for supplying its needs on campaign, but he also functioned as an operational manager. Read more

Military History

Teutonic Fury

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

As part of tribal obligations to appease Rome, Segimer, the powerful Cherusci chief, surrendered his sons Arminius and Flavus to the Roman emperor Augustus. Read more

A U.S. Navy SEAL trains on a MK-12 special purpose rifle, one of the four sniper rifles that Kyle used, which is similar to an M-16 but with a shorter barrel. Kyle often carried an MK-12 while clearing buildings in Iraq’s most dangerous cities.

Military History

Chris Kyle’s Precision Rifles

By Christopher Miskimon

From the sniper’s perch, the city of Fallujah, Iraq, on November 7, 2004, looked dusty and brown. Most of the buildings were squat, two-story affairs, with the occasional minaret or domed mosque sitting above them. Read more

Marines manning a fighting top on the USS Bonhomme Richard fire on British seamen while another prepares to hurl a grenade at the Serapis.

Military History

Triumph Off Flamborough Head

By Eric Niderost

Standing on the quarterdeck of his flagship Bonhomme Richard, Commodore John Paul Jones took his telescope and trained it northwards, sweeping the instrument to the left and right to see what his lookouts were reporting at midafternoon on September 23, 1779. Read more

British Lt. Gen. George Augustus Eliott points to the rescue of defeated Spanish sailors on when the British destroyed the Franco-Spanish fleet's floating batteries late in the siege in a painting by John Singleton Copley.

Military History

Grand Assault On Gibraltar

By David A. Norris

Great Britain’s war with her rebellious American colonies was about to conclude as diplomats crafted a peace treaty. Read more

Thick black smoke seen in the distance beyond a burned-out Iraqi tank streams skyward after Iraqi forces withdrawing from Kuwait set fire to the Arab emirate’s oil fields.

Military History

Lightning Victory In The Persian Gulf

By Victor Kamenir

IN November 1990 the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq if it failed to withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991. Read more

Justin of Nassau hands the keys to the city of Breda to Ambrogio Spinola in 1625 following his successful siege of a city that was considered impregnable at the time.

Military History

Ambrogio di Spinola

By William E. Welsh

The crown of Spain and the wealthy banking families of Genoa had a symbiotic relationship during the Renaissance. 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

The French Imperial Guard advances on Magenta. Stiff Austrian resistance and the confined nature of the terrain combined to slow the French advance toward Austrian-held Milan.

Military History

Triumph of Spirit

By Eric Niderost

On April 20, 1859, Emperor Franz Josef paid a respectful visit to Prince Klemens Wensel von Metternich’s place at Rennweg in Vienna. Read more

Military History

Army Combat Engineer Paul Ray Smith

By William E. Welsh

T he lead elements of the First Brigade of the U.S. Third Infantry Division became heavily engaged against Iraqi forces at the Saddam International Airport on the southwest outskirts of Baghdad on April 3, 2003, but by the end of the day they had secured it. Read more

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