Military Heritage June 2010

Thomas O. Selfridge: A Naval Hero of the Civil War

By James M. Powles

March 8, 1862, dawned sunny and mild at Hampton Roads, Virginia. To the men of the Union blockading squadron, the day seemed like any other. Read more

Military Heritage June 2010

Weapons of War: the War Hammer

By William McPeak

Not to be confused with Mjollnir, the mythical Norse god Thor’s fabled hammer, the real-life war hammer was a brutal and effective weapon. Read more

Military Heritage June 2010

Streets Sewn with Bodies: Wellington at Fuentes de Onoro

By Mike Phifer

It had been a brutal winter for the French Army of Portugal. War and hunger had haunted the occupiers, causing their number to dwindle by the thousands. Read more

Military Heritage June 2010

Polish Ciphers and the Miracle on the Vistula

By Arnold Blumberg

The Russo-Polish War of 1919-1920 was the most portentous event facing post-Versailles Europe. It was not just the continuation of a centuries-long contest between Russia and Poland to determine which would dominate eastern Europe, but a struggle involving a new ideology—communism—which the Bolshevik regime in Moscow had to spread throughout the Continent to survive. Read more

Military Heritage June 2010

Protestant Heroes of 1622

By Louis Ciotola

As the year 1622 dawned over Germany, things appeared bleak for the refugee “Winter King” of Bohemia, Elector Palatine Frederick V. Read more

Military Heritage June 2010

The Art of Victory: Koniggratz 1866

By William E. Welsh

The Prussian soldiers had been awake long before sunup on the morning of July 3, 1866, and were marching downhill to the Bystrice River in the rolling countryside of Bohemia, 65 miles east of Prague. Read more

Military Heritage June 2010

Tank Attack at Cambrai

By Eric Niderost

British Brig. Gen. Hugh Elles walked past the Mark IV tanks of H Company, a solitary figure amid metal monsters that looked, according to one jaundiced observer, like giant toads. Read more