Military History Archives

Lt. Col. William Washington’s Continental dragoons charge their British counterparts at the Battle of Cowpens in a painting by Don Troiani. Washington’s charge was part of a large-scale counterattack that stunned the British.

Military History

“Give Them One Fire and I’ll Charge Them”

By Daniel Murphy

Lieutenant Colonel William Washington of the Continental 3rd Light Dragoons stood in his stirrups and looked out over the open drover’s field stretching before him. Read more

Military History

Furious Charge Against Malakoff

By Charles Hilbert

The Ottoman Empire of Sultan Abd al-Majid I was in decline. Less than 200 years before, it had reached its high water mark in 1683 when Ottoman armies surrounded the walls of Vienna, only to be beaten back by the forces of Jan Sobieski, King of Poland, and Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, who were bankrolled by Pope Innocent XI and the Holy League. Read more

Byzantines troops are shown sneaking into Nicea on the night of June 18-19, 1097. The Franks captured the fortress at the outset of the First Crusade from the Seljuks while Sultan Kilij Arslan I was away campaigning.

Military History

Battle for Jerusalem

By William E. Welsh

The barefoot crusaders tramped slowly underneath a blazing sun behind bishops and priests chanting and holding aloft relics on July 8, 1099. Read more

Israeli tanks advance on the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War of 1967. The conflict is one of many covered in a new work on armored clashes in the Cold War.

Military History

Tanks continued to play a central role in regional conflicts that sprang up around the globe in the post-Vietnam era.

By Christopher Miskimon

The Six-Day War began on June 5, 1967, with a lightning assault by Israeli armored units and aircraft. Read more

Captain David Farragut’s flagship, the Hartford, is attacked by a Confederate fire raft as the Union fleet makes its run past Forts Jackson and St. Philip on April 24, 1862. The Hartford caught fire, but prompt action by the ship’s crew saved her from destruction.

Military History

Conquering the Queen City

By Pedro Garcia

The victory at Manassas on July 21, 1861, had made the Rebels overconfident bordering on lethargic. As one observer noted, “It created a paralysis of enterprise that was more damaging than disaster was for the North.” Read more

British infantry forms a square against French cavalry at the Battle of Quatre Bras in this painting by Lady Butler. Napoleon hoped when he crossed into the Netherlands to separate the British from the Prussians and defeat each separately, but neither he nor his subordinates rose to the occasion.

Military History

Terrible Slaughter at Waterloo

By David A. Norris

With two hours of daylight left, French Emperor Napoleon I saw his chance to make the Battle of Waterloo his greatest victory. Read more

Sailors and marines of the powerful Venetian Navy assault the seaward wall along the Golden Horn for a second time in April 1204. The Venetians suspended gangplanks from the masts and yard-arms of their galleys that served as flying bridges for marines to use in assaulting the tops of the city's walls.

Military History

Sack of Constantinople

By William E. Welsh

Dawn broke clear and hot over Constantinople on July 17, 1203.

All manner of war machines were clustered around the Latin crusaders’ fortified camp on a hill where the Monastery of Saints Cosmas and Damian was located. Read more

Military History

King Pepin the Short

By William E. Welsh

An event of great significance in early medieval Europe occurred in 753, when newly ensconced Pope Stephen II decided to journey north to Metz to confer with Frankish King Pepin III (known as “The Short”). Read more

Military History

The Raven Forward Air Controllers

By William E. Welsh

Raven forward air controller Charles Edwin Engle usually took his Cessna 0-1 “Bird Dog” up to an altitude of 12,000 feet over northern Laos to await the arrival of a flight of inbound A-1E Skyraiders from Thailand. Read more

British Captain Henry Evatt lies mortally wounded at the Battle of Ballynahinch, which was fought nine days before the clash at Vinegar Hill. The United Irishmen Rebellion erupted in isolated locations that allowed the British to systematically crush it.

Military History

Massacre at Vinegar Hill

By David A. Norris

An army of redcoat regulars and militia gazed up the contours of Vinegar Hill in County Wexford, Ireland. Read more

U.S. helicopters not only transported South Vietnamese troops to firebases inside Laos, but also carried them to Tchepone when the armored column stalled on Route 9. The March 6 air assault by elements of the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division was the largest helicopter assault of the war.

Military History

Mauled in Laos

By John Walker

The South Vietnamese rangers huddled in their trenches and bunkers at landing zone Ranger North throughout the day of February 19, 1971, as mortar shells crashed inside the perimeter. Read more

Union troops charge through D.R. Miller’s cornfield against the Confederate left flank at Antietam in a modern painting by Keith Rocco. The Union II Corps attack through William Roulette’s farm against the Confederate center held by Maj. Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill’s troops had the same intensity.

Military History

Lee’s Hard Fighter

By William E. Welsh

Two men rode forward from Sharpsburg, Maryland, on the morning of September 17, 1862. The one in front was of slight build with a scraggly beard, scrawny neck, sunken cheeks, and a high forehead. 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

Turco-Mongol Emir Timur: Scourge of the East

By Victor Kamenir

Egyptian medieval chronicler Ibn Taghribirdi relates an incident that occurred following Turco-Mongol Emir Timur’s conquest of Aleppo in 1400. Read more