Back to the drawing board: the Avro Manchester

The Avro Manchester originated with an Air Ministry specification dating from November 1936 for a bomber capable of carrying a load in excess of 8,000lbs over more than 2,000 miles. This aircraft would be powered by a Rolls-Royce X-Type engine, which was then still under development. This engine, soon renamed…

Austria-Hungary’s Viribus Unitis-class battleships

Although the Austrian navy had won a remarkable victory against the Italians at the Battle of Lissa in the Adriatic on 20 July 1866, economic problems following the creation of the Dual Monarchy the following year meant that the new Austro-Hungarian navy had to struggle for funding against the competing…

War of words – ‘Panzer’

Panzer is a German word meaning ‘mail’ or ‘coat of mail’, with mail being body armour composed of interlocking metal rings. In the early 20th century, the word was applied to the tank, and thereafter entered English as a term for German tanks and armoured units. Germany’s first Panzer was…

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Minerva: cultivating wisdom

A deity of wisdom and war, born fully grown, and armed, from the head of her father Zeus/Jupiter, Minerva – and her Greek counterpart Athena – played an important part in Greek and Roman religion.…

War of Words – ‘samurai’

‘Samurai’, meaning ‘one who serves’, derives from the Japanese verb samurau, ‘to wait on’. These warriors were the elite military class of feudal Japan, akin to the knights of medieval Europe. A samurai (the word is both singular and plural) lived and died according to a severe martial code, bushido,…

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Janus: two-faced god of beginnings

As we enter a new year, many of us find ourselves both reflecting on the past and making plans for the future. This dual outlook is embodied by the two-faced god Janus, who governed the first month of the year in ancient Rome…

The Brewster F2A Buffalo

The Buffalo originated with a 1935 requirement for a carrier-based fighter to replace the US Navy’s Grumman F3F biplanes. Brewster’s XF2A-1 prototype was selected in June 1938 and the first production aircraft began to enter service as the F2A-1 in April 1939. Slow delivery rates meant that the first squadron,…

War of Words – ‘Britannia’

Ancient Britain was known to the Mediterranean world. The Greeks called the island Pretannia, but the Romans named it Britannia, and made it part of their empire. The term ‘Britannia’ therefore figures prominently in military history. The Roman conqueror Julius Caesar twice invaded Britannia, landing in Kent in 55 BC,…

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Odin: wisdom, war, and poetry

Odin is a war god, fomenting conflict to see who is worthy of entering his hall, Valhalla, and ultimately fighting at Ragnarök (the events, including a battle, at the end of the world). But he is also a god of magic and wisdom, something he is always seeking…

War of words – ‘Privateer’

As far back as the Middle Ages, private ship captains were authorised by governments to harry enemy merchant shipping. Their ships, and their operators, came to be called ‘privateers’. The letters of marque and reprisal that gave privateering ship captains permission to strike enemy vessels had appeared in English law…

Pangu and divine intervention

Pangu was born in the midst of an egg-like chaos. After 18,000 years, the two muddled parts separated, and the Yin (which represents the negative, feminine, cool, dark, and wet) became the earth and the Yang (representing the positive, masculine, hot, bright, and dry) the sky.…

Exploring a Roman house in VR

In order to explore how this lavish home was experienced by Roman viewers, researchers first used 3D-modelling software to create a reconstruction of the house. This 3D model was based on information from an earlier Lund University project that digitally mapped a neighbourhood in Pompeii, in combination with records from…

The Casco-class Monitors

Following the success of USS Monitor – the ground-breaking ironclad warship, designed by Swedish-born engineer John Ericsson, that played a central role in the US Civil War Battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March 1862 – the US Navy issued a requirement for similar shallow-draft ironclads capable of operating in…

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