Military History Archives

A British fighter takes a pass at three Gotha bombers on a raid over central London. The German high command believed that bombing from such huge airplanes would demoralize the British citizenry.

Military History

Gothas: The German Bombers of World War I

by Jim Haviland

On May 25, 1917, a fleet of 21 bombers lumbered in a line at 12,000 feet over the English coast. Read more

Hearty soldiers from Normandy—descendants of Norsemen— looked for challenges and opportunities far from home and found some in Italy. They landed there in the early 11th century and began to assemble dominions for themselves.

Military History

Singing Swords & Charging Warhorses

By Terry Gore

Italy in the mid-11th century was in chaos. Ostensibly held together under the auspices of papal and Holy Roman Empire authority, the peninsula had become a collection of feuding city-states, each under its own local ruler or warlord. Read more

Napoleon kneels at the side of his ardent lieutenant Jean Lannes. The man who rose from common soldier to Marshal of the Empire was struck by cannon fire in May 1809.

Military History

Napoleon Bonaparte’s ‘Roland’: Marshal Jean Lannes

by Jeremy Green

Of all the celebrated generals commanding corps in the Grande Armée, none was more highly esteemed by Napoleon for his friendship, generalship, and personal bravery than Marshal Jean Lannes. Read more

Military History

Culloden Moor: Bonnie Prince Charlie vs. the Duke of Cumberland

By David Alan Johnson

John William O’Sullivan watched the Duke of Cumberland’s army as it stretched out in front of him, lined up in battle order on the northeastern side of Drummossie Moor, a mile or so from Culloden House. Read more

Prussians storm the cemetery at Saint Privat on the 18th of August. The French put up a fierce resistance and the Prussians lost 8,000 men in 20 minutes. However, the tide of fortune was already favoring the Kaiser’s efforts.

Military History

The Battle of Sedan: Napoleon III’s Empire in the Balance

By Robert Heege

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the nephew and namesake of the great Napoleon, once said, “March at the head of the ideas of your century, and these ideas follow you and support you. Read more

Determined to defend the Mohawk Valley, patriots under General Nicholas Herkimer fight back at Indians and Tories ambushing them in the wilderness. The wounded Herkimer commanded from under a tree as the battle raged hour after hour.

Military History

The Battle of Oriskany: Into the Trap

By Donald Roberts II

The year 1776 ended on a high note for Washington’s Continental Army despite its earlier devastating defeats on Long Island and Manhattan. Read more

Major Burton and officers of the 5th Dragoon Guards.

Military History

Roger Fenton, Crimean War Photographer

By Peter Harrington

In the annals of war photography, Roger Fenton stands with Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardener, and James Robertson as one of the pioneering spirits. Read more

A Soviet admiral—medals at his left breast—kneels in tribute to a fallen heroic Soviet sailor of World War II. Many Soviet medals were adaptations of Czarist medals.

Military History

Soviet Memorabilia

By Peter Suciu

In 1917, after almost three years of hard fighting in World War I, the Romanov dynasty came to an end with the abdication of Czar Nicolas II of Russia. Read more

Turks storm Constantinople from the water side in this encompassing, if fanciful, 16th-century rendering by Tintoretto. The besieged were greatly outnumbered and fought with determination.

Military History

Death of an Empire: The Fall of Constantinople

By Jonathan North

Early in the morning of Tuesday, May 29, 1453, they came swarming like hungry wolves over the plain between the Turkish palisades and the battered walls of Byzantium. Read more

Romans end their march of the day by building a fortified camp surrounded by a ditch. No camp was ever overwhelmed in the Gallic or Civil Wars.

Military History

Roman Marching Camps: An Essential Element in Rome’s Empire-Building

By Arnold Blumberg

From the late 3rd century bc to the 3rd century ad, Roman troops on campaign built a defended camp at their resting place each night. Read more

Military History

Fallen Timbers

By Eric Niderost

On a December day in 1793, Maj. Gen. Anthony Wayne led a column of soldiers to a spot deep in the Ohio wilderness not far from the Wabash River. Read more

Military History

Louis XIV: the Sun King of France

By Brooke C. Stoddard

Louis XIV of France is remembered as the Sun King, the most resplendent figure of his age, the man who snatched dominance of Europe from the Spanish and built France into the preeminent power of the second half of the 17th century. Read more

Julius Caesar was a politician who believed his posting to Gaul could raise his reputation and power. Germanic tribes invading Gaul played into his hands.

Military History

Germanic Tribe Run Amok: Caesar vs. Ariovistus

by Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

East of the Rhine the horizon melted away in an unbroken emerald sea upon which, or so the legends told, giants piled up ranges of rugged hills. Read more

A WWII Marine corporal relaxes on Guam in 1944. His dog tags are visible around his neck.

Military History

Collecting Identification Tags

By Paul F. Braddock

For the second time in 13 years American troops are fighting in Iraq. Two hundred and thirty-five soldiers lost their lives during Desert Storm in 1991, and by the first anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom 570 soldiers had been killed. Read more

Military History

The Rumble and Roar of Tanks

By Eric Hammel

The Israeli Defense Force’s (IDF’s, or Zahal’s) strategic invasion of the West Bank region of Jordan began at 5 pm on June 5, 1967. Read more

Military History

Oda Nobunaga: The Rise of One of Japan’s Earliest Unifiers

By Vince Hawkins

By the time of his death in 1582, he controlled 30 of Japan’s 68 provinces, was the commander of the greatest samurai army in his country’s history, and had earned the distinction of being the first of the three great unifiers of Japan. Read more

A colorful illustration depicting the naval Battle of Sluys attempts to demonstrate the common tactic of maneuvering the ships to touching and then letting onboard combatants fight it out like infantry. The battle was an early struggle of the Hundred Years’ War. OPPOSITE: Edward III warred with France to win its crown. He was 38 at the time of Sluys.

Military History

“Please God and St. George”: The Battle of Sluys

by Douglas Sterling

English King Edward III’s ship drew out from the fog, and before him he saw such a long, deep concentration of masts that it looked like a forest rising to meet him. Read more

Japanese warships steam into Port Arthur, Manchuria, bombarding Russian defenses and ships. Sidney Reilly purportedly sold Japanese information about the port when he lived there just before the war.

Military History

The Mysterious Sidney Reilly

by Vince Hawkins

On the evening of November 5, 1925, Prisoner #73 was taken from his cell in the infamous Lubyanka Prison and driven to a woods in the Sokolniki district outside Moscow. Read more

Military History

Arlington National Cemetery: A Nation’s Hallowed Ground

Millions of people travel to Washington, DC, to view famous icons of the United States. Mainly these are working institutions like the Congress and the White House or edifices such as the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Read more