MH October 2009

Emelian Pugachev: Master Imposter of a Russian Czar

By Blaine Taylor

On August 12, 1772, a wandering Don Cossack named Emelian Pugachev crossed the Polish frontier into Imperial Russia on an official passport that entitled him, after spending six weeks in quarantine, to resettle as a free citizen on the Irgiz River in southeast Russia. Read more

MH October 2009

Canadians in Spain: The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion

By Jerome Baldwin

After years of social upheaval, political unrest, and violence, Spain erupted into all-out civil war on July 18, 1936, when General Francisco Franco led a junta of right-wing army officers in a revolt against the democratically elected government of the Spanish Republic. Read more

MH October 2009

King Henry VIII of England and the Siege of Boulogne: His Last War

By Bob Swain

In November 1541, roughly three years before the Siege of Boulogne, King Henry VIII of England suffered one of the most severe shocks of his life when he was shown a report alleging that his plumpish 19-year-old queen, Catherine Howard, had been intimate with other men before their marriage. Read more

MH October 2009

Italy’s Failed African Gambit

By Gregory Peduto

Under the cover of the dusty Ethiopian night, the 17,000-man Italian Royal Expeditionary force scrambled over ragged hills and inactive volcanoes in the early morning hours of March 1, 1896. Read more

MH October 2009

The U.S. Army’s Humvee

By Albert Mroz

The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or Humvee, was created as a light, multipurpose, off-road vehicle that would supersede the venerable jeep and other light trucks. Read more

MH October 2009

Bloodbath in New England

By Chuck Lyons

In the autumn of 1621, Massasoit, a sachem (chief) of the Pokanoket and Wampanoag tribes, entered American legend when he and some his people joined the Pilgrim harvest celebration that would later be called the first Thanksgiving. Read more