Military History

The 94th Regiment—Scots Brigade—at the Defense of Matagorda, March 21st 1810, by British artist and illustrator Richard Simkin, shows the unit (referred to as the “Scotch Brigade” at the time) defending Fort Matagorda, one of several surrounding the Spanish port city of Cádiz, which was besieged by the French for two years during the Peninsular War.

Military History

Savage Encounter in Spain

By Robert L. Durham

With a large army and little to oppose him, King Joseph Bonaparte sat in Madrid on the throne of Spain, in January of 1810. Read more

U.S. military personnel in Puerto Rico “drink to the girl [they] left behind” during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Military History

John Barleycorn Joins Up

By Ian McCall

Whiskey has long been a faithful companion for many soldiers out on campaign. Be it issued by armies or snuck onto battlefields inside canteens; whiskey remains one of the most important beverages for American soldiers. Read more

Military History

USMC First Sergeant Daniel J. Daly

By Kevin Seabrooke

The geopolitical implications of the so-called “Boxer Rebellion” were unlikely to have crossed the mind of U.S. Marine Corps Private Daniel Joseph Daly as he and Capt. Read more

Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer, who trained Afghan National Security Forces in the use of weapons, took up a position with the quick reaction force during the security sweep of Ganjal village in September 2009.

Military History

Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer in Afghanistan

By William E. Welsh

Moonlight bathed the dusty narrow path leading into the village of Ganjal shortly before sunrise on September 8, 2009, as nearly 100 soldiers climbed out of more than a dozen vehicles a mile from the seemingly peaceful village. Read more

Italian traveler Marco Polo, shown in this medieval painting leading his 13th-century caravan across Asia, crossed paths briefly with the much-dreaded Assassins. Unlike many, Polo lived to tell about it.

Military History

Blood in the Sand: Shiite Assassins

By Mark S. Longo

Their name has been synonymous with murder for almost a thousand years, but few people know the full truth about the enigmatic organization known as the Assassins. Read more

Military History

The Roman Gladius

By Gabriele Esposito

Few weapons in world history have had such great tactical importance as the Roman gladius. To understand the importance this short sword had on the battlefields of antiquity, it is best to start with the Roman historian Livy. Read more

August Willich was one of the premier brigadier generals in the Union Army of the Cumberland. His performance leading the 32nd Indiana at Shiloh merited a promotion to brigade command.

Military History

Union General August Willich

By Frank Jastrzembski

“A soldier in every phrase of the term, able and skillful, on many a bloody field he demonstrated his ability and courage,” Brig. Read more

A crowned Duke William II of Normandy discovers the Saxon King Harold lying dead on the battlefield in this Victorian painting of the Battle of Hastings by Frank Wilkin. The actual encounter was some six miles from Hastings, at Senlac Hill, near the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex.

Military History

William, Duke of Normandy

By Mark Carlson

The final defeat of the Saxon King Harold at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066, meant that England became forever Norman. Read more

Military History

Rosebud Creek

By Eric Niderost

Around 8 o’clock on the morning of June 17, 1876, Brig. Gen. George Crook ordered his troops to halt along the banks of Rosebud Creek. Read more

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

From Around the Network

  • Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division ride aboard a transport aircraft en route to their drop zones near the Salerno beachhead during the Allied invasion of the Italian mainland September 13-14, 1943. Members of the 504th and 505th Parachute Infantry Battalions were dropped to support the push inland. Members of the509th were deployed behind enemy lines to break up German communications at Avellino.

    European Theater

    Desperate Venture at Avellino
    Read More
  • Marines of Company D, 3rd Platoon, rush to take defensive positions around Con Thien as they encounter heavy North Vietnamese gunfire.

    Military History

    Con Thien: Hell on the Hill of Angels
    Read More
  • From urban combat to fighting in flat, open fields, from tank-vs.-tank duels, to aerial bombardments to ceaseless artillery barrages, the action at Anzio took on every dimension. Here an American GI uses his carbine to keep German forces at bay during the battle for Anzio that lasted from January to May 1944.

    Latest Posts

    The 45th Infantry Division’s Desperate Defense at Anzio
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