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From the Publisher
From the PublisherWelcome to WWII History’s new format and publishing frequency—you’ll now find more pages, and more stories, in each issue. Read more
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World War I’s Second Battle of Ypres: Salient of Death
By Mike PhiferDespite the incessant German shelling that had been hammering away at the French lines to their immediate left near the rubble-strewn city of Ypres in northwestern Belgium, the largely untested soldiers of the Canadian 1st Division found the early spring day of April 22, 1915, surprisingly warm and pleasant. Read more
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Weapons of the Middle Ages: the Medieval Catapult
By Robert HeegeIt was the spring of 1097 and the Turks guarding the walls of Nicaea were in a confident mood. Read more
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Siege of Tyre: Alexander the Great’s Assault on the Persians
By Marc G. De SantisIt was the autumn of 333 bc and Alexander the Great stood triumphant on the battlefield of Issus. Read more
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Famous Soldiers: Shih Huang-ti
By Ludwig Heinrich DyckWhen rebel peasants under a charismatic army deserter named Liu Pang descended on the capital city of Hsien Yang in 206 bc, they did so under the considerable shadow of the Ch’in dynasty’s former ruler, Shih Huang-ti. Read more
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Stately Minuet of Death: Maurice de Saxe at Fontenoy
By Vince HawkinsIn the Age of Reason, even wars were fought reasonably. Well-ordered marches, carefully dressed ranks of impeccably turned-out soldiers, and elaborately sketched battle plans were the order of the day in the so-called “lace wars” of the mid-18th century. Read more
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WWII Spies: Oreste Pinto
By Robert WhiterTwo men were seated on either side of a paper-strewn table inside an office of MI5, the British intelligence service, in the Royal Victoria Patriotic School at Clapham, London, shortly after the fall of France in the spring of 1940. Read more
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King Charles I: Decision at Naseby
By Arnold BlumbergBy the spring of 1645, the open warfare between King Charles I and his rebellious Parliament had dragged on for nearly three years, with no apparent end in sight. Read more
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Militaria: WWI Helmets from French Troops
By Peter SuciuThick metal helmets were used since ancient times to offer protection to their wearers in combat and are among the earliest forms of armor. Read more
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George Washington and Lord Cornwallis at Germantown
By Eric NiderostOn a gloomy Friday morning, September 26, 1777, an advance party of the British Army marched into Philadelphia to take possession of the city. Read more
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Rose O’Neal Greenhow: The Spy Who Won Bull Run
By David Alan Johnson“But for you, there would have been no Battle of Bull Run.” When Confederate President Jefferson Davis made that blanket statement in the summer of 1862, he was not addressing Pierre G.T. Read more
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Bridegrooms of Death: The Spanish Foreign Legion
by John W. Osborn, Jr.Spanish Legionaries charged into battle crying, “Long Live Death.” They sang of being “the Bridegrooms of Death” and proved they meant it with over 10,000 killed and 35,000 wounded. Read more
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Australia’s Venerable Albert Jacka
By Thomas G. BradbeerHe had the distinction of being the first Commonwealth soldier to receive the Victoria Cross for valor in World War I, and many observers felt that Australian-born Albert Jacka should have earned at least three of Great Britain’s highest award. Read more
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Indian Rebellion of 1857: Two Years of Massacre and Reprisal
By John BrownThree months before the Indian Rebellion of 1857, British East India Company officials manning outstations in the northwestern provinces of India began to notice the revival of a strange and disturbing local custom. Read more
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The United States Naval Academy Museum
By Blaine TaylorThe United States Naval Academy Museum at Annapolis, Maryland, is “an educational and inspirational resource for the Naval Academy Brigade of Midshipmen, other students of American naval history and thousands of visitors each year,” according to Shayne Sewell, assistant media relations director at the USNA Public Affairs Office. Read more
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Roads to Bastogne
By Edward P. BeckThe Ardennes Forest in eastern Belgium seemed almost surreal in the last days of autumn 1944, a quiet backwater in a raging storm. Read more
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The U.S. Splinter Fleet
By A.B. FeuerWhen the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the nation’s Navy was shockingly short of combat ships—particularly the submarine chasers that would be vital to combating the German U-boat menace. Read more
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Shaky Stand at Bladensburg
By Blaine TaylorThe British Army of soldiers, Royal Marines and naval infantry—actually sailors from His Majesty’s Navy fighting on dry land with musket, pike and cutlass—were marching full-tilt for the capital of the United States this hot, sweltering August 24, 1814. Read more
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Revolutionary War Weapons: The American Long Rifle
By David Alan JohnsonBy the mid-1700’s, the American long rifle had acquired an almost supernatural reputation. To the British troops who were unfortunate enough to come up against it in combat during the Revolutionary War, the rifle was more an affliction than a weapon. Read more
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Johnston Goes After Ulysses S. Grant at Shiloh
By Earl EchelberryBy the end of the winter campaign of 1861-1862, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had shattered the Confederate defenses in northwest Tennessee with a combined land and water attack on Forts Henry and Donelson, forcing General Albert Sidney Johnston to abandon his bastion at Nashville and retreat southward. Read more
