October 2007 Archives

The Scottish-built, 252-foot-long blockade-runner Banshee II represented the state of the art in mid-19th-century shipbuilding. Giant sidewheels drove her through the water at nearly 16 knots.

Military Heritage

Last of the Gray Phantoms: The Confederate Blockade Runners

By R. Thomas Campbell

Despite the increasing effectiveness of the Union naval blockade, more and more steamers plied the waters between the few remaining Confederate ports and Nassau, St. Read more

Military Heritage

Misplaced Aggression: The Athenian Defeat at Syracuse

By Barry Porter

By the spring of 415 bc, a peace treaty between the warring city-states of Athens and Sparta had held firm for six years. Read more

Searchlights and flares cut through the darkness during the night action at Sunda Strait in February 1942, in this painting by John Hamilton. The Japanese bested the Allies there, taking control of the Java Sea.

Military Heritage

Working on the Railway of Death: A POW’s Story

By Eric Niderost

When Howard Brooks joined the United States Navy in 1939, the 20-year-old farm boy from Tennessee had no idea that he was going to experience one of the most harrowing adventures of World War II. Read more

Displaying the disciplined valor that would become a national characteristic, Prussian troops advance into withering fire at the climax of the Battle of Mollwitz on April 10, 1741.

Military Heritage

The Battle of Mollwitz: Opening Move For Prussian Expansion

By Arnold Blumberg

On October 20, 1740, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of Austria, died, leaving his vast holdings and titles to his 23-year-old daughter, Maria Theresa. Read more

An Iraqi tank crashes forward through the Hawizeh swamp region near the village of Al Azayr on March 18, 1985. By then, the Iran-Iraq War had been going on for over four years.

Military Heritage

New Borders, Old Enemies, The Iran-Iraq War

By John Walker

The world awoke to ominous news on September 22, 1980. Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein had launched a massive armored and air attack across the Iraq-Iran border. Read more

Military Heritage, Editorial

Leaders would do well to remember Dwight Eisenhower’s warning: “Every war will astonish you.”

With the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq still overshadowing all aspects of American life, it is too early to predict what historians will say definitively about the enterprise. Read more

An American infantryman training at Fort Belvoir prepares to hurl a pineapple grenade during World War II.

Military Heritage, Weapons

The Modern Grenade: A Brief History

By William McPeak

When did humanity begin throwing explosive devices? What are the origins of the modern grenade, and how did explosives evolve? Read more

When Kamehameha came into possession of a cannon and some small arms, he was ready to settle old scores with Maui and conquer the other rival islands. The result was the Battle of the Red-Mouthed Gun.

Military Heritage, Soldiers

King Kamehameha’s Conquest of Hawaii

By Tom Wolforth

In July 1782, the island kingdom of Hawaii was fractured into three groups, beginning a power struggle that would last for the next 10 years. Read more

A Japanese balloon bomb in flight during World War II. The Japanese launched some 9,000 such weapons, one-tenth of which reached the continental United States.

Military Heritage, Intelligence

Project Fugo: The Japanese Balloon Bombs

By Allan T. Duffin

On Saturday, May 5, 1945, three days before the end of World War II in Europe and just three months before the Japanese surrendered, spinning shards of metal ripped into the tall pine trees, burrowing holes into bark and tearing needles from branches outside the tiny logging community of Bly, Oregon. Read more

One of many of the attractions at the 2007 Show of Shows was this Canadian Black Watch uniform from World War I and poster from the same era.

Military Heritage, Militaria

The Ohio Valley Military Society’s 15th Annual Show of Shows attracted collectors from all over the world.

By Peter Suciu

One of the finest collections of militaria ever housed in one room was on hand in Louisville, Kentucky, at the 15th annual Show of Shows. Read more

Military Heritage, Books

T.F. Wilson’s Memoir of the Indian Mutiny

By Al Hemingway

Although the bloody Sepoy insurrection of 1857 was SPARK- ed by the introduction of the new Enfield rifle, the seeds of mistrust between Indian soldiers and their British colonial masters were planted long before that. Read more

Military Heritage, Games

Three new games simulate modern-day helicopter combat.

By Eric T. Baker

Enemy Engaged 2, from G2 Games for the PC, is a sequel that was seven years in the coming. Read more

October 2007

From Around the Network

Dorylaeum: The First Christian-Muslim Clash of the Crusades

D-Day Landing at Omaha Beach

On This Day in History: The Battle of Cold Harbor

Noble Celtic Warrior, 1st Century, B.C.