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The Battle of Okinawa raged not only on the island itself but in the skies overhead. Japanese aircraft attacked the invading Americans not only through conventional bombing attacks but also by using the dreaded Kamikaze—suicide pilots who turned their planes into guided missiles to inflict more damage. Read more
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The defenders of Vicksburg, clad in tattered uniforms, stood drenched in sweat at their posts on the morning of May 22, 1863. Read more
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The morning of August 10, 1861, dawned damp and hot. A steady drizzle fell on the large Confederate encampment on the still waters of Wilson’s Creek. Read more
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The 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln was elected to the highest office in the land in November 1860, and the event prompted the secession of numerous southern states beginning with South Carolina the following month. Read more
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I feel deeply honored to have been chosen by the Smithsonian Institution to lead D-Day trips to England and France (one took place in May; the other two were scheduled to take place in September and October). Read more
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The Thirty Years’ War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history. The final collapse of the old Roman Empire completely redrew the political and religious map of central Europe, and paved the way for sovereign states to emerge from the fighting. Read more
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The thick gray smoke of battle engulfed the high ground a mile west of the river but it did not deter one American officer from dashing back and forth on his frothing horse from one brigade to the next exposing himself to shot and shell. Read more
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During the early spring of 1949, North Korean ruler Kim Il Sung visited Moscow. His nation’s first economic plan had ended in failure after two years; the plight of the country was desperate. Read more
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When you mention the Petersburg campaign to someone familiar with Civil War battles, chances are the discussion will turn to the Battle of the Crater. Read more
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As it turns out, Belgium was the perfect place to hide a counteroffensive against the Allies. It is a mountainous country where towns are squeezed close together; the hills are punctuated by forests and small farms; and the forests are filled with small, thin trees while most farms are on slopes. Read more
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Nazi war propaganda was designed in large part by the dictates of Joseph Goebbels (29 October 1897-1 May 1945), based on his read of German public opinion. Read more
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The CSS Alabama went to her watery grave on June 19, 1864, off the coast of France, but the lingering effects of her wartime successes made naval history: she continued to haunt the American and British governments for years to come, embroiling the two English-speaking nations in a legal test of wills that would last well into the next decade. Read more
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General George McClellan was a key figure in the prosecution of the American Civil War, particularly during 1862, when he led the Union Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula Campaign, a failed offensive to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond in the spring, and the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American history, on September 17, 1862. Read more
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Spring had finally arrived in the mountainous area of the Austrian Waldviertel, land of long winters and short summers. Read more
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The harvest of death in the farm fields of western Maryland was a heavy one on September 17, 1862. Read more
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The gray and blue soldiers were encamped south of Nashville, Tennessee, at the rail depot of Murfreesboro. Read more
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There is no “campaign” in Sid Meier’s latest iteration of the Civilization franchise. Instead, players simply choose a civilization through which they attempt military victories, create a world, and lead their chosen society from the primitive age to the distant future. Read more
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The planning was done behind closed doors. The work was done at secret facilities. The result? America’s first jet plane—a fighter that might have seen combat in World War II, had things gone differently. Read more
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Walking along the Union line of battle at Gettysburg, whether on Little Round Top, Cemetery Hill, Culp’s Hill, or elsewhere is at times overwhelming. Read more
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The North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) had almost everything going its way during the earliest Korean War battles. Read more
