Military History Matters 154
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An unequal contest?
In the second part of our series, Graham Goodlad reviews the organisation, tactics, and weaponry of the two armies.
The Jacobite Wars
In the first part of our new series, Graham Goodlad explores the Jacobite movement’s early attempts to overthrow Britain’s ruling Protestant monarchy.
The Blind Strategist: John Boyd and the American Art of War
In his introduction to this exceptionally worthwhile volume, Stephen Robinson describes how, during the Gulf War, General Tommy Franks, a true believer in what had become the US Army’s dominant doctrine of ‘manoeuvre warfare’, formulated what historian Thomas Ricks referred to as ‘perhaps the worst war plan in American history’.
The wartime art of Laura Knight
Laura Knight was blessed with some of the essential qualities of any great artist: a broadness of outlook and a fascination with the riches of ordinary life. A new exhibition of her
Rare Roman dagger found by young amateur archaeologist in Switzerland
Inlaid with silver and brass and buried under 20 inches of soil, it was possibly placed as an offering to the gods.
Wolfe at Quebec: a new analysis
Sam Allison and Jon Bradley offer a forensic reappraisal of General James Wolfe’s spectacular victory.
The Philippines, 1942-1945: the resistance and the return
James Kelly Morningstar describes the Philippine resistance to the Japanese occupation during WWII.
Last surviving ‘Band of Brothers’ officer Edward Shames dies
A member of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Shames was involved in some of the most important battles of the Second World War.
‘The worst maritime disaster ever’: the Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff
Hitler’s Nazi Empire was in its death agony. Millions of Germans were desperate to escape the fast-advancing Red Army. Richard Selcer reports on a signal catastrophe amid the chaos.
New film depicts Allies’ legendary ‘Mincemeat’ deception
Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen star in this retelling of the 1943 Allied plan to keep the invasion of Sicily a secret
War of words – ‘ovation’
Marcus Claudius Marcellus asked the Senate to grant him a triumph. He was refused because the fighting in his former province of Sicily was still ongoing, and his army was not with him to support his claim. Instead, he was given only an ovation.
Pearl Harbor and the Rise of Imperial Japan
David Porter charts Japan’s heady ascent from secluded feudal dictatorship to Pacific superpower in less than a century.
Military History Matters 125
The Pathfinders: the elite RAF force that turned the tide of WWII
This well-written book tells the remarkable story of an extraordinary team of aviators and their support personnel, from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities, who – to quote from the book’s
Smiling Through: Heath Robinson’s cartoons in the Second World War
Though he was 67 when the Second World War broke out, the celebrated cartoonist William Heath Robinson – best known for his drawings featuring crazy inventions – continued to produce memorable comic images during the conflict, as he had done in the First World War.
Military History Events, Lectures, and Exhibitions – November 2021
The best Military History events, lectures, and exhibitions running from November to April 2022.
Anglo-Boer War Blockhouses: a military engineer’s perspective
The final phase of the South African War of 1899-1902, in which Boer guerrillas were eventually overcome by British forces, has been extensively studied by historians. The concentration camps, in which an
Pearl Harbor: The Attack, 7 December 1941
David Porter analyses the Japanese surprise attack on the US Pacific fleet.
Vikings settled in North America exactly 1,000 years ago, study confirms
Discovered in 1960 and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is the first and only base established by the Vikings in North America.
War on Film – Pearl Harbour
Taylor Downing surveys screen depictions of Pearl Harbor in a ‘War on Film’ special.
How the Americans defeated the British in the Revolutionary War
William V Wenger offers a forensic analysis of the American victory, apparently against the odds, in the war of 1775-1783.