Military History

John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, directs the Allied attack against Malplaquet on France's northern frontier. At far left, a camp follower strips clothing from the dead. The bloody clash was known for its heavy casualties.

Military History

“A Very Murdering Battle”

By Eric Niderost

Peter Drake was a cavalryman, but at the moment he was standing near his horse’s head, holding his mount’s bridle and calming the beast when the animal grew restless after a night of inactivity. Read more

Military History

Morgan’s Northern Strike

By David A. Norris

Stepping off of two captured river steamboats, the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry and the 9th Tennessee Cavalry set foot in Indiana on July 8, 1863. Read more

Indian lancers overrun an Ottoman position in the Valley of Armageddon on the second day of the Battle of Megiddo.

Military History

Fatal Blow at the Battle of Megiddo

By Richard Willis

The six-day Battle of Megiddo fought in September 1918 was a decisive climax to the struggle in Palestine between the Ottoman Empire, backed by the Germans, and Great Britain and her allies. Read more

Mockern-1813.

Military History

Napoleon’s Last Victory

By Arnold Blumberg

At 2:30 am on June 15, 1815, tens of thousands of French soldiers around the town of Beaumont, France, were roused from their bivouacs. Read more

Military History

Killing Ground at Colenso

By Alex Zakrzewski

On the morning of December 15, 1899, the serene, windswept wilderness of northern Natal was punctuated by the sound of 18,000 British soldiers trudging north to relieve the besieged town of Ladysmith. Read more

French soldiers launch a ferocious bayonets assault against German defenders inside Fort Douaumont in a successful counterattack against the strongpoint in October 1916.

Military History

Heroic Stand at Verdun

By Mark Carlson

The morning of June 23, 1916, dawned over the broad crenellated valley of the Meuse River in northeastern France. Read more

Military History

Royalist Reckoning at Naseby

By Joshua Shepherd

Late on the evening of June 13, 1645, King Charles I convened a hurried council with senior officers of the Royalist army at the village of Market Harborough in England’s East Midlands. Read more

Oneida warriors Han Yerry and his wife, Two Kettles, fight alongside the Patriots during the height of the ambush at Oriskany in a modern painting by Don Troiani.

Military History

Ambush at Oriskany

By Eric Niderost

The young Oneida warrior paused, tensing as he spotted some activity in the forest just in front of him. Read more

Cortes and his Spanish conquistadors defeated a mighty Aztec army at Otumba in July 1520. The victory occurred one week after the Night of Sorrows, when the Spanish suffered heavy casualties while fleeing the Aztec capital.

Military History

Cortés Exacts His Revenge

By John Walker

As the year 1520 drew to a close, the half-starved inhabitants of Tenochtitlan, the magnificent capital city of the most powerful city-state in the Aztec Empire, found that they were threatened by a massive host of enemies, both foreign and indigenous, which was led by Spanish Captain-General Hernán Cortés and his small band of conquistadors. Read more

Parthian cataphracts armed with long spears known as kontos assail Roman legionaries at Carrhae.

Military History

Roman Disaster at Carrhae

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

Gigantic clouds of dust rose from the sun-baked plain. The ground shook under the hoofs of thousands of cavalry. Read more