Military History

Napoleon Bonaparte with Polish Prince Joseph Poniatowski at the Battle of Leipzig. Poniatowski was killed later that day.

Military History

Polish Prince Joseph Poniatowski

By Jeremy Green

­Polish Prince Joseph Poniatowski, a great hero of Napoleonic legend, ultimately was a man without a country. Born on May 7, 1762, the prince at first enjoyed the luxurious life of a nobleman because of his ties to the ruling family of Poland. Read more

Cortes and his Spanish conquistadors defeated a mighty Aztec army at Otumba in July 1520. The victory occurred one week after the Night of Sorrows, when the Spanish suffered heavy casualties while fleeing the Aztec capital.

Military History

Cortés Exacts His Revenge

By John Walker

As the year 1520 drew to a close, the half-starved inhabitants of Tenochtitlan, the magnificent capital city of the most powerful city-state in the Aztec Empire, found that they were threatened by a massive host of enemies, both foreign and indigenous, which was led by Spanish Captain-General Hernán Cortés and his small band of conquistadors. Read more

The A-10 Thunderbolt II’s seven-barrel, 30mm autocannon fires a round made of depleted uranium encased in an aluminum shell with a muzzle velocity of 3,500 feet per second.

Military History

Weapons: The A-10 Warthog Attack Aircraft

By Christopher Miskimon

Smoke and haze clouded the skies over Kuwait on February 25, 1991. It was the second day of Operation Desert Storm, the ground operation to eject the Iraqi military from its smaller neighbor. Read more

Pompey led troops to victory in a series of battles and actions that neutralized threats to Rome’s interests in Asia Minor.

Military History

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

Gnaeus Pompey was one of the pivotal Roman leaders during the last decades of the Republic. He was born into an old and wealthy provincial family from Picenum on September 29, 106 BC. Read more

During the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) both nations attacked commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf to disrupt supply to their enemy. Under Operation Earnest Will, the U.S. began sending naval patrols into the Gulf to offer protection for Kuwaiti shipping while trying to stay out of the conflict—until a U.S. Navy vessel hit an Iranian mine.

Military History

High Stakes Showdown on the Persian Gulf

By John E. Spindler

Deep within the guided-missile cruiser U.S.S. Wainwright, Captain James Chandler scanned various screens in the dimly lit climate-controlled combat information center (CIC) absorbing details on the status of the ship’s weapons systems and the activity outside on the sweltering Persian Gulf. Read more

Battling fatigue and stifling heat, Joshua Chamberlain’s 20th Maine makes their valiant stand against the attacking Confederate forces of Brig. Gen. Evander M. Law at Little Round Top in this painting by modern artist Keith Rocco.

Military History

‘Hold That Ground at All Hazards’

By Al Hemingway

Brigadier General Gouverneur K. Warren peered down at the rugged terrain of southern Pennsylvania from his vantage point on Little Round Top, a small promontory about two miles south of Gettysburg. 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

Buckskin-clad Texas troops overrun white-uniformed Mexican forces in this panoramic depiction of the Battle of San Jacinto. The Texans’ victory guaranteed their independence.

Military History

Texan Victory at San Jacinto: Eighteen Minutes to Freedom

By John Walker

As long afternoon shadows rolled across the prairie near the confluence of the Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River in eastern Texas on April 21, 1836, two armed camps—one a small Texan force, the other a 1,400-man-strong Mexican army—lay within a scant 1,000 yards of each another. Read more

Military History

Unholy Sabbath in Flanders

By William E. Welsh

With his one good eye, French King Philip II looked east down the straight line of an old Roman road in the disputed county of Flanders on Sunday, July 27, 1214. Read more

Military History

Collecting Medieval Military Books

By William McPeak

The special packaging of the printed word between compact durable covers and a stitched spine—the book—is one of humanity’s greatest and most enduring achievements. Read more

Military History

The USS Macon

By John J. Geoghegan

It is sometimes difficult to understand just how immature aviation was in the 1920s and 1930s. Everything about flying was new. Read more

Military History

The M-16’s Troubled Debut

By Mark Carlson

Marine Private Jim McGarrah arrived at Phu Bai in South Vietnam in late 1967 and was sent to what was euphemistically called “The Rockpile,” a firebase that overlooked the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Vietnam. Read more

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