Military History

The statue of famed samurai warrior Kusunoki Masashige at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo pays homage to his legacy as the embodiment of samurai loyalty.

Military History

Samurai Kusunoki Masashige

By Charles Hilbert

Fourteenth-century Japan was ruled by an emperor who traced his descent back to the sun goddess Amateratsu. However, the emperor took his orders from the retired or cloistered emperor (usually the father of the emperor), who in turn took his orders from the Sei-I Tai Shogun, who took his orders from the kampaku, or regent. Read more

August Willich was one of the premier brigadier generals in the Union Army of the Cumberland. His performance leading the 32nd Indiana at Shiloh merited a promotion to brigade command.

Military History

Union General August Willich

By Frank Jastrzembski

“A soldier in every phrase of the term, able and skillful, on many a bloody field he demonstrated his ability and courage,” Brig. Read more

U.S. Marines unload a wounded fellow Marine from an Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter at Al Qaim, Iraq, in 2005.

Military History

American Medics and Military Doctors

By Richard A. Gabriel

The American military has been engaged almost continually in combat operations for the last 22 years. During this period, the United States has conducted combat operations in Iraq (1990-1991), Somalia (1992-1993), Iraq (2003-2012), and Afghanistan (2001-2021). Read more

Military History

Hammer of the Normans

By William E. Welsh

Bright sunshine flooded the sedge-covered, damp ground in Sussex on the morning of October 14, 1066. Having attended mass at sunrise, Duke William of Normandy shouted commands to his senior officers outlining their positions for the coming battle with English King Harold II Godwinson’s army. Read more

Military History

The Frigate USS Confederacy

By William B. Allmon

The British frigates HMS Orpheus and Roebuck, on April 20, 1781, escorted their prize—the Continental Navy frigate USS Confederacy—with the Union Jack flying above the Stars and Stripes, to New York harbor, thus ending Confederacy’s two-year service to the American rebels. Read more

Military History

Jacobite Victory at Prestonpans

By David A. Norris

Before dawn on September 21, 1745, the dragoons and infantry of King George II stood in line of battle in a freshly harvested wheat field. Read more

Military History

Napoleon’s Stunning Debut: The Italian Campaign

By Dana Lombardy

Barthélemy Schérer, commander of the French Army, gazed at the new military orders from Paris in disbelief. The grandoise strategy, detailing an advance on three fronts with the armies uniting in Tyrol for a concentrated thrust at Vienna, were far beyond the capabilities of the starving southern army he commanded along the French Riveria against the combined forces of Austria and Sardinia. Read more

A modern illustration shows Roman legionnaires on the march. The front ranks typically charged into battle, stopping to hurl their pilum before closing with the enemy using their gladius. In the melee, they used their scutum to knock their opponents off balance.

Military History

Roman Armageddon at Pharsalus

By William E. Welsh

The snow-capped peaks of the Ceraunian Mountains stared down on the sturdy barks hunting for a suitable place to land on the coast of Epirus on January 5, 48 bc. Read more

A Canadian soldier fires his country’s version of the FN-FAL rifle. In 1956, Canada became the first country to adopt the versatile light automatic rifle made by FN Herstal of Belgium.

Military History

Military Weapons: NATO’s FN FAL Rifle

By Christopher Miskimon

British Corporal Steven Newland crept through the inky darkness toward an Argentine sniper who had pinned his troop of Royal Marines on the slopes of Mount Harriet on East Falkland Island. Read more

Alexander the Great’s soldiers are shown attacking Tyre in a modern illustration. Simultaneous attacks by Alexander’s fleet on both of the city’s harbors after six months of fighting put an impossible strain on the Tyrians’ resources.

Military History

The Fall of Tyre

By Alexander Zakrzewski

As Alexander the Great marched his army south along the Levantine coast in January 332 bc, he must have felt as if the fates were unquestionably on his side. Read more

Military History

A Flash of Sabers

By Alexander Zakrzewski

On­ the foggy morning of November 30, 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, watched impatiently as his Grande Armée lumbered up the rocky slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains of central Spain. Read more

A 19th-century print offers a fanciful depiction of the desperate fighting along the Orange Plank on the second day of the Battle of the Wilderness. Although the battle ended in a draw with both sides suffering heavy casualties, the Army of the Potomac under the watchful eye of Commander-in-Chief Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant chose not to retreat, but continue south.

Military History

James Longstreet’s Daring Advance

By Arnold Blumberg

The column of Confederates marched east as quietly as possible along the bed of an unfinished railroad that knifed through the Wilderness south of the Rapidan River shortly before midday on May 6, 1864. Read more

Soldiers with the pro-Western Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) on patrol during the Bush War. A communist push into southeastern Angola in 1897 triggered a major ground response from South Africa.

Military History

Bloody Clash On The Lomba

By William Stroock

With its pro-Western ally in southern Angola facing destruction by an all-out communist offensive in 1987, Apartheid South African President P.W. Read more

Military History

Russia’s Four Immortal Generals

By Victor Kamenir

In 1242, Russian Prince Alexander Nevsky faced the armored might of the Teutonic knights. Generals Alexander Suvorov and Peter Kotlyarevski were Napoleon’s contemporaries, while General Mikhail Skobelev exemplified the panache of the Victorian Era. Read more

A U.S. airman belonging to a security squadron trains with an M-79. Although most commonly associated with the Vietnam War, the sturdy grenade launcher also saw action in the 1982 Falklands War and is still in the inventory of many armed forces around the globe.

Military History

The M79 Grenade Launcher

By Blaine Taylor

I fired the M79 grenade launcher in advanced infantry training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in 1965, and had one on the back seat of my machine-gun jeep during my tour of duty in South Vietnam in 1966-1967 as a member of the U.S. Read more

From Around the Network

  • Following a brutal assault, conquering Japanese troops parade triumphantly through the Chungshan gate that leads into Nanking, the capital of China.

    WWII

    The Japanese Army’s “Rape of Nanking”
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  • The secret expedition in November 1864 to rescue Confederate prisoners at Johnson’s Island collapsed when one of those involved in the plot alerted authorities.

    Military History

    Intelligence: Confederate Spies Used Newspapers to Communicate
    Read More
  • A kamikaze pilot salutes as he receives his orders for a “divine wind” mission. It is estimated that over 1,200 pilots (out of 2,314) lost their lives on such missions.

    WWII

    Japan’s Kamikaze Pilots Hit Hundreds of Ships
    Read More
  • A view of an E-3 aircraft with AWACS radome mounted on top.

    Military History

    The E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System
    Read More