Volume 7, No. 1
Cover: The Battle on Ice by Vladimir Aleksandrovic. See story on page 28. K Savitsky Art Museum, Penza, Russia/www.bridgeman.co.uk
August 2005
Military Heritage
In the early 13th century, the Baltic frontier in central Europe remained a hostile and uninviting place. Pagan Europeans far outnumbered Christians, and the area was a focal point for constant conflict between mutually exploitive neighbors slavering to carve out new territorial holdings at the expense of anyone who stood in their way. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage
Years after he had saved the world from the ambitions of Napoleon, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, was asked by his friend, George William Chad, to recall the “best thing” he had ever done as a soldier. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage
Thousands of dead Turkish soldiers choked the river and littered its bank. It was the fall of 1697 and the young Imperial Field Marshall, Prince Eugene of Savoy, had just vanquished the Ottoman army at Zenta (or Senta), on Hungary’s River Tiza. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage
One of the most precious resources in war, and the one most often in short supply, is sleep. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage
Julius Caesar’s assassination on the ides of March, 44 bc left Rome without a clear and decisive leader. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage, Editorial
Defeat has a funny way of producing heroes.
The British lost an embarrassing battle to Zulu tribesmen at Isandhlwana, but the improbable defense of an insignificant river crossing 10 miles away by a handful of rear-echelon soldiers, overage officers, and civilians created a new crop of heroes for the public to idolize. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage
With its whistle blaring, the Confederate gunboat Grampus steamed into Madrid Bend, where Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas come together on the Mississippi River. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage, Weapons
Although formal training in the use of the pike—an ash-handled spear 18 to 20 feet long—did not begin until the 15th century, ancient Greeks and Romans used so-called “long spears” as standard infantry issue against cavalry. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage, Soldiers
Some Tommies swore it had been St. George, the warrior saint of England. Others said the “Angels of Mons” might have been St. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage, Intelligence
Mention Elizabethan England to most people, and they usually think of William Shakespeare, the Globe Theatre and Sir Francis Drake. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage
The “Charge of the Light Brigade,” a British cavalry action during the Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War, 1854-1856, has been romanticized and immortalized, primarily through a ballad of the same name by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Read more
August 2005
Military Heritage, Simulation Gaming
Two games of very similar subject matter are on tap this month. Eidos Interactive’s Imperial Glory, and CDV Software’s Cossacks II. Read more
Military History
