Military History
When Napoleon Bonaparte became First Consul of France in December 1799, he consolidated the two seperate guard bodies, one for the directory and one for the legislature, into the Guarde des Consuls. Read more
Military History
The stereotypical Viking and his method of warfare have long been etched in the popular mind. Images of hairy, axe-wielding, and horned-helmeted barbarians raiding coastlines amid a frenzy of rape and pillage have for centuries filled our collective consciousness, as well as our desire to be entertained. Read more
Military History
Petty Officer R. J. Thomas, a U.S. Navy SEAL, wound up in deep trouble one day in 1969. Read more
Military History
The lash bit into the flesh of the woman’s back, beaten raw by metal balls tied into the ends of leather thongs. Read more
Military History
As the sun dipped low in the west on August 13, 1799, Russian Field Marshal Count Alexander Suvorov rode slowly south towards the heights on which was perched the walled town of Novi, in Italy’s Piedmont region. Read more
Military History
In 491 bc, heralds sent by Persian Emperor Darius I traveled throughout Greece with a message for each of the city-states of the Greek peninsula. Read more
Military History
Frederick Barbarossa, Emperor of the Romans and one of the great rulers of the Middle Ages, was in the midst of a battle that might determine the fate of Northern Italy. Read more
Military History
The narrow barge drifted slowly along the Thames River on a muggy summer day in July 1258. Read more
Military History
King Frederick II “The Great” of Prussia faced a formidable challenge at the outset of the campaign season in 1759. Read more
Military History
As the Battle of Inkerman veered into chaos, British Maj. Gen. George Cathcart stepped into the role of a line officer, leading several hundred men to cut into the flank of an approaching Russian column. Read more
Military History
One of the “stranger than fiction” stories in military lore involves Charles Edward Stuart’s evasion of British forces following his defeat at Culloden on April, 16, 1746. Read more
Military History
The Ottoman army’s bombards played a key role in its successful conquest of Constantinople during the epic siege of 1453. In the 15th century the great powers of medieval Europe paid talented gunsmiths to build massive bombards to batter walls and shorten the length of sieges. Read more
Military History
The Ottoman janissary corps was recruited from military slaves. These slaves were either prisoners captured by Ottoman armies during the course of war or boys and young men conscripted from occupied Christian populations. Read more
Military History
It was the early-morning hours of June 13, 1917, when a group of German aircraft began its final preparations for a very special mission, which amounted to the first fixed-wing bombing of London. Read more
Military History
British soldiers fixed their bayonets and waited tensely in the trenches for the order to go over the top. Read more
Military History
Illustration by Peter Connolly
The Greek hoplite was a heavily armored infantryman who fought in a phalanx formation. Read more
Military History
The advance of long ranks of scimitar-wielding Nubian and robed Bedouin archers on foot signaled a dramatic change in Ayyubid Muslim tactics against the Frankish army marching south along the Palestinian coast from Acre towards Jaffa. Read more
Military History
Yes, the world is at war. A surprise attack we didn’t see coming: germ warfare on a worldwide scale by an enemy we can’t see. Read more
Military History
French Admiral Pierre-Andre de Suffren de Saint Tropez did not fit the image of a dashing naval officer. Read more
Military History
In the early weeks of the Second Boer War, General Jacobus Hercules De La Rey suggested a way to overhaul the tactics of his fellow Boers in a way that would prove devastating to his British opponents. Read more
Book Reviews