Military History

Kaiser Wilhelm I, standing on the dais, proclaims a new German empire in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles on January 18, 1871. He is flanked by Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm and the Grand Duke of Baden. Otto von Bismarck stands at the base of the steps in a white uniform.

Military History

Wilhelm I, Accidental King of Prussia

By Blaine Taylor

In mid-October 1806, four days after Napoleon had crushed the Royal Prussian Army at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstädt, a distraught Queen Louise sat down with her two sons at the royal castle in Schwedt. Read more

A soldier from the 172nd Stryker Brigade fires an illumination flare over Mosul, Iraq, from the vehicle’s 120mm mortar. Flares are used to spot terrorists emplacing roadside bombs.

Military History

Famous Military Weapons: Mortars

By William McPeak

The mortar is perhaps the oldest surviving ordnance piece developed during the Middle Ages. The earliest known forerunner to the mortar, introduced by Spanish Muslims about ad 1250, was essentially an iron-reinforced bucket that hurled stones with gunpowder. Read more

Wary Roman forces enter the Apennine Mountain pass at Caudine Forks in 321 bc. Samnite forces under Gaius Pontius were waiting for them.

Military History

Swords and Citizens: Romans & the Samnites

By Jeffrey A. Easton

Centuries before the Romans came to dominate the Mediterranean basin, they fought a series of wars against neighboring peoples to establish their hegemony over the Italian peninsula. Read more

Military History

Collecting Military Tobacco Cards

By Peter Suciu

Smoking may not be the same in-vogue habit it was during bygone days, when politicians, starlets, athletes, and even the average Joe could be seen lighting up on a regular basis. Read more

Five submarines built by the Holland Torpedo Boat Company ride at anchor at a New York dock in 1902. Plunger, center, was an improved version of Holland.

Military History

The Holland Submarine

By Chuck Lyons

By the 1870s, the agitation for Irish independence, already centuries old, had spread to America. The revolutionary Irish Republican Brotherhood, known as the Fenians, began organizing thousands of Irish immigrants trained on both sides during the recent Civil War into its own army. Read more

Military History

Costly British Victory at Ferozeshah

By John Brown

A little over five centuries ago, a guru named Nanak founded a new faith among the Hindu communities that farmed the rich agricultural areas of northern India known as the Punjab, the Land of the Five Rivers. Read more

“Push on, brave York volunteers,” urges the dying Major General Isaac Brock, in this 1896 painting by John David Kelly.

Military History

Disaster at Queenston Heights

By Chuck Lyons

In June 1812, the United States, provoked by arrogant British actions on the high seas and its support of hostile Indians in the Northwest Territories, declared war on Great Britain and immediately began planning an invasion of British-held Canada. Read more

An American-made MLRS at work during the first Gulf War, on Janaury 1, 1991. The “steel rain” terrified Iraqi opponents.

Military History

The Multiple Launch Rocket System

By Christopher Miskimon

On February 24, 1991, the ground phase of Operation Desert Storm began. Over the next four days, the soldiers of an international coalition, formed to eject the Iraqi army of Saddam Hussein from the neighboring nation of Kuwait, carried out a whirlwind offensive that quickly overwhelmed their foe. Read more