Military History Matters 151
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Charlemagne: King, conqueror, emperor
In the first part of our special feature for this issue, Stephen Roberts traces the life of this extraordinary individual; while in the second part, he looks in more detail at Charlemagne’s victory at Pavia, which helped him establish the foundations of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Siege of Pavia: Defeating the Lombards, 773-774
In the second part of our special, Stephen Roberts reveals how a key victory helped Charlemagne establish the foundations for the Holy Roman Empire.
River Kings: a new history of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads
The sleepy village of Repton in south Derbyshire seems like an unlikely starting point for a voyage halfway around the world. But it is here that Cat Jarman begins her brilliant new
Barbarossa Through German Eyes
Hitler’s invasion of Russia on 22 June 1941 – Operation Barbarossa – initiated a campaign of epic proportions. While the format of recounting a campaign through the recollections of individual participants is
ISU-152 self-propelled gun, Chernobyl, Ukraine
It was designed by the Soviet Union during the Second World War to take on the German Tigers and Panthers.
Firing the Generals: Lincoln v McClellan
President Abraham Lincoln and Prime Minister Winston Churchill have such iconic status as the victorious leaders of their countries in the American Civil War and World War II respectively that they often seem beyond criticism. Yet, at the height of the conflicts, they both risked all by firing their leading generals. Although Lincoln had no previous military knowledge or experience, whereas Churchill had fought in battles and witnessed war both as a soldier and war correspondent, they acted with similar decision and despatch when their generals seemed either incompetent or not to be fighting with the aggressive spirit they demanded. In the first of two articles, Nigel Jones describes Lincoln’s long search for a war-winning general, and his feud with the ultra-cautious General George B McClellan.
The Devil’s Bridge: the German victory at Arnhem, 1944
Few events in military history have been picked over as much as Operation Market Garden, now notorious only because it resulted in a German victory when it was believed that, halfway through
Buffalo LVT excavated in Lincolnshire
Lightly armoured amphibious landing craft, Buffalo LVTs (Landing Vehicles Tracked), were used by the Allies in the crossing of the Rhine and Elbe rivers in March 1945.
IWM to open ‘extensive’ new galleries on the Second World War and Holocaust
The story of the Holocaust will be told through 2,000 photos, books, artworks, and letters, as well as personal objects from toys to jewellery.
The Battle of Catarelto: September/October 1944
Patrick Mercer recalls a grim battle between two military elites, British Guards and Waffen SS, on the heavily fortified Gothic Line in northern Italy.
MHM’s round-up of the latest military history titles
War on Film: The Desert Rats (1953)
The battle scenes are, in the main, well made, especially in showing what it was like for men hiding in dugouts and wadis in the desert under intense artillery-fire.
The Western Front: a history of the First World War
This is the first of a planned three-part history of the First World War organised by theatre. The second volume will deal with the Eastern Front (including Italy and the Balkans), the
An Englishman at War: the wartime diaries of Stanley Christopherson, DSO, MC, TD, 1939-1945
When Stanley Christopherson wrote in his diary in late November 1945, he proclaimed, ‘So many outstanding things were done during this war, which so thoroughly deserved an award, but were never witnessed.’
‘World’s oldest war memorial’ identified in Syria
Archaeologists have stated that a monument at the Banat-Bazi complex is over 4,000 years old.
Nelson and Trafalgar
Graham Goodlad concludes our series on naval leadership with a look at the legendary figure of Horatio Nelson.
Britain’s greatest naval victory
Military History Matters’ Neil Faulkner analyses Nelson’s culminating tactical masterpiece.
War of Words: ‘PAWN’
Pawn emerges etymologically from the Anglo-Norman poun, which itself comes from the medieval Latin pedo (‘footsoldier’), derived from the Latin pes (‘foot’).
New campaign urges public to learn about local war dead
The initiative coincides with War Graves Week, from 21 – 28 May, promoted by the CWGC to raise awareness of wartime history within local communities and the work of the commission in maintaining that heritage.
Operation Bagration
Which was more important, D-Day or Operation Bagration? Chris Bambery argues that it was on the Eastern Front that the fate of Nazi Germany was sealed.