Military History Archives

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

By David A. Norris

The Herald, like other major New York newspapers, was packed with classified ads on November 1, 1863. Read more

Military History

Sailing Ships and Artillery

By Eric Niderost

The Battle of the Nile, August 1-3, 1798, represents the apogee of the Age of Fighting Sail, a peak that was confirmed at Trafalgar seven years later. Read more

Military History

Geronimo: Ruthless Apache Chief

By John Walker

On March 5, 1851, a group of Mexican soldiers from Sonora plundered a lightly guarded Apache camp outside the village of Janos in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua 75 miles south of the U.S.-Mexican Read more

Military History

Operation Gold: The CIA’s Berlin Tunnel

By Peter Kross

No sooner had the last shot of World War II been fired than a new, different kind of conflict began. Read more

Wary Marines in a jeep watch the air war erupt above them in another diorama in the World War II Gallery.

Military History

The National Museum of the Marine Corps

By Al Hemingway

Twenty miles outside Washington, D.C., at Quantico, Virginia, motorists traveling on Interstate 95 will come upon an unusual building that is clearly visible, day or night. Read more

Military History

The Christmas Truce of 1914: Fact and Fiction

The German offensive into France and Belgium had ground to a halt as armies on both sides constructed sophisticated trenches to escape the murderous artillery and machine guns of a 20th c. Read more

Military History

Roman Disaster at Adrianople

By Alex Zakrzewski

After five hours of continuous slaughter, an eerie calm descended on the blood-soaked plain near the Roman city of Adrianople. Read more

Military History

Archduke Charles: Napoleon’s Worthy Opponent

To say the Austrians despised the French after they were vanquished by them in 1805 at Ulm and Austerlitz is an understatement. Read more

Military History

King John the Tyrant

The tension between the king and his barons always seemed to be ready to explode into civil war during the reign of the three Angevin kings of England. Read more

Military History

Bunker Hill: “Lick Them Once More Boys!”

By Arnold Blumberg

A stark dichotomy was evident among the Americans defending Breed’s Hill on June 17, 1775. One type of provincial soldier stood ready to give his life in defense of liberty that day. Read more

The Japanese ashigaru, or foot soldier, was of a lower class than the samurai, but their status subtlety changed over the 16th century.

Military History

Japanese Ashigaru: The “Samurai of the Land”

By Eric Niderost

In the 17th century samurai were elite warriors, members of Japan’s ruling class. They were born, not made; you had to come from a samurai family to be considered samurai. Read more

Whereas European warfare depending increasingly on professional armies, the Colonial American military relied heavily on “citizen-soldiers”, or militia.

Military History

The Citizen-Soldier: Militia in Early America

by Donald Roberts II

British colonization of the New World transplanted many British institutions to America. Besides the political and social beliefs seeded in the colonies, military ideals were also implemented. Read more

A broad perspective of the rush of the third battalion of Garde upon a churchyard defended by Austrians in the afternoon phase of the battle.

Military History

Frederick the Great at Leuthen: The Oblique Order

by Vince Hawkins

Usually considered to be a single maneuver, Frederick the Great’s “oblique attack” or “oblique order” was in fact two distinct grand tactical maneuvers, each of which could be executed separately or in combination as demonstrated at Leuthen. Read more

One regiment that stands out for its number of African American Revolutionary War heroes is the 1st Rhode Island regiment, colloquially referred to as the "black regiment."

Military History

African American Revolutionary War Heroes: Boston to Yorktown

by Mike Haskew

Although a large number of colonial slaves fled their condition of involuntary servitude seeking freedom through service to the British Army, an estimated 5,000 African Americans served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Read more

In the 15th Century, the Swiss relied on shock tactics, seeking to deliver an abrupt and brutal assault to win their battles.

Military History

The History of Swiss Pikemen

By Jonathan North

Fighting mainly as pikemen, the Swiss of the 15th Century used their iconic 10-foot pikes in an offensive capacity. Read more

Military History

Hasan ibn al-Sabbah and the Assassins of the Middle East

by Robert Suhr

Saladin was one of the few leaders in the Mideast during the Crusades to incur the wrath of the infamous cult of Assassins, and survive. Read more

Military History

The Battle of White Mountain, 1620

By William E. Welsh

In the valley south of the hill known in Czech as Bitna Hora, a vast host assembled by the Austrian Hapsburgs advanced toward the ranks of the Protestant rebels blocking the path to Prague, the capital of Bohemia. Read more

Military History

Capturing Louisbourg: How British Firepower Prevailed

by William Welsh

The crews of the British longboats had to fight the elements as much as the French to get ashore at Cormorandiere Cove a short distance southwest of the fortress of Louisbourg on June 8, 1758, but somehow they completed their mission, thanks to the gifted leadership of Brig. Read more

Military History

Three Key Battles Before the Siege of Orleans

Following English King Henry V’s decisive victory over the French at Agincourt in 1415, the tide of the Hundred Years War in France remained in England’s favor until the Siege of Orleans. Read more