Italian traveler Marco Polo, shown in this medieval painting leading his 13th-century caravan across Asia, crossed paths briefly with the much-dreaded Assassins. Unlike many, Polo lived to tell about it.

Saladin

Blood in the Sand: Shiite Assassins

By Mark S. Longo

Their name has been synonymous with murder for almost a thousand years, but few people know the full truth about the enigmatic organization known as the Assassins. Read more

Saint Louis, King Louis IX of France receives Robert of Nantes, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in Damietta, Egypt, in June of 1249. Robert is lending his knights to the battle ahead, the Seventh Crusade. Nineteenth century painting by French artist Oscar Gué.

Saladin

The Battle of Al Mansourah and the Seventh Crusade, 1251

By Douglas Sterling

After a century and a half of efforts—with mixed success—by Western Europe to seize control of the Holy Land, the Seventh Crusade of 1250 led by Louis IX of France was the last best chance to change the political and military situation in the Eastern world before the Reformation. Read more

Saladin

Soldiers of God

By John Walker

In November 1177, Saladin launched his first significant military campaign against a crusader state. With 26,000 men, siege engines, a huge baggage train, and his own personal force of elite Mamluk bodyguards, Saladin marched his Ayyubid army across the Sinai Desert from Egypt into southern Palestine. Read more

From Around the Network

  • Colonel Harrison Jeffords retakes the regimental colors of the 4th Michigan Infantry during hand-to-hand combat in the Wheatfield at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. Painting by Don Troiani.

    Book Reviews

    Edward G. Longacre’s ‘Unsung Hero of Gettysburg’
    Read More
  • Soviet marines, their faces grim with determination, man a trench on the forward edge of their defensive positions near Novorossiysk. Attached to the Northern Fleet, these men were part of an operation to retake the strategically vital Black Sea port from the Germans.

    WWII

    Soviet Soldiers by Sea: The Soviet Naval Infantry
    Read More
  • Soldiers of the 4th U.S. Colored Troops. The regiment participated in operations in Virginia and the coast of North Carolina.

    Military History

    Fourteen black soldiers received the Medal of Honor for feats of valor at Chaffin’s Farm on the outskirts of Richmond, Va.
    Read More
  • A column of the U.S. Army 7th Infantry Division snakes its way through mountainous terrain of North Korea on November 21, 1950. A regiment-sized force of the division was assigned to guard the 1st Marine Division’s right flank at the Chosin Reservoir.

    Latest Posts

    Bloodbath at the Chosin
    Read More