Military History Matters 152
The comprehensive website for archaeology, history, heritage and the ancient world. Find out more about us here
Military History Book Awards
Military History Matters has curated a list of best military history titles from 2025: the nominees for this year’s MHM book awards. Our selection includes some of the best researched, most insightful,
The day Sussex died: The Battle of the Boar’s Head, 30 June 1916
In the second part of our special, Stephen Roberts focuses on the little-known battle whose appalling casualty rate laid down a marker for the Somme.
Air war over Malta
In the first of an occasional series on conflict archaeology, Anthony Rogers reports on the evidence for the epic air battle above the island-fortress of Malta during the Second World War.
What is the significance of the Dambusters legend?
MHM Editor Neil Faulkner analyses the RAF’s controversial strategic bombing campaign.
The Persian Wars
In his second article, Paul Rahe analyses Sparta’s response to the mortal challenge posed by the Persian invasions of the early 5th century BC.
Timeline: the Spartans
Traditional foundation date for Olympic Games c.776 BC Homer’s epics The Iliad and The Odyssey composed c.750 BC Sparta conquers Messenia c.700 BC Messenian Revolt followed by Spartan Reconquest c.650 BC At
Guernica, 1937 Pablo Picasso
On the afternoon of 26 April 1937, the air force of Nazi Germany’s Condor Legion, working on behalf of the Spanish Nationalists led by General Franco, sent its bombers over the ancient
Vo Nguyen Giap
General Giap was one of the 20th century’s foremost military commanders. He made his name commanding the military wing of the Viet Minh during the Second World War, before becoming commander-in-chief of the People’s Army of Vietnam.
The 17th Lancers Regiment at Ulundi, 4 July 1879
MHM Editor Neil Faulkner recalls a classic charge of British cavalry on a late 19th-century battlefield.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn
25 June 1876. Fred Chiaventone reassesses that most-famous collision between US and Native American forces.
All you need to know about… Themistocles
Themistocles was an ancient Athenian politician and general. He was one of a new breed of elected officials, and went on to become one of the city’s most successful military leaders.
Conflict Scientists: John Philip Holland
Patrick Boniface considers the influence of science on warfare.
War comes to Kansas: ‘Vengeance is in my heart, and death in my hand’
Atrocities were mercifully few in America’s most bloody war. But the exceptions were grim. Frederick Chiaventone recalls the Lawrence Massacre.
WATERLOO RE-ENACTMENT
The bicentenary of what became known in Britain as the Battle of Waterloo has been marked by an outburst of commemorations, central to which was an enormous re-enactment that took place at the battlefield on 19 and 20 June 2015.
The Darker Side of Victory: Wellington’s medical service at Waterloo
Historian of military medicine Mick Crumplin takes us into the grisly world of Napoleonic-era casualty treatment.
Defeat from the jaws of victory: the Dodecanese campaign of 1943
Naval historian and museum curator Nick Hewitt explores a little-known British disaster of the Second World War.
1471: the Battle of Barnet
What actually happened on a Wars of the Roses battlefield? What was it like to fight in the 15th century? MHM analyses one of the most decisive battles of the war, blow by blow.
Clash of armour: the art of English warfare in the late 15th century
In this first part of a special feature on the dynastic struggle between the rival houses of Lancaster and York, Neil Faulkner presents a study of the strategy and tactics of the time.
The Wars of the Roses
Our special feature in this issue explores the art of war in late 15th-century England with an article on strategy and tactics, a blow-by-blow analysis of the Battle of Barnet (1471), and a short essay that sets the record straight on the much-maligned Richard III.
Steve hurst: war toys
A new exhibition featuring the work of war artist Steve Hurst was recently on display at Pangolin London, a Kings Cross gallery devoted to sculpture. Bringing together four decades of Hurst’s own