Cover Story
Once upon a time in America In our Special Feature for this issue, and over the next two editions of MHM, historian Fred Chiaventone marks the 160th anniversary of the war’s end by tracing the long and painful road to Appomattox – from Southern secession to… Features
Race for the skies William Robinson Clarke breached the colour bar to become Britain’s first Black combat pilot. Clive Webb reveals how a chance discovery in the RAF Museum archive allowed his story finally… 
The end of the affair In the final part of our series on Napoleon Bonaparte, Graham Goodlad examines the reasons for his decline and eventual defeat. 
Seizing the crown Henry Bolingbroke was the rebel leader who inspired Shakespeare and – as Henry IV – founded the Lancastrian dynasty. Here, Stephen Roberts looks at the campaign that brought him to… 
Endgame WWII – The key questions: Why was crossing the Rhine so easy? In the second part of our series marking the 80th anniversary of the last months of World War II, Taylor Downing asks why crossing the Rhine in March 1945 was… 
Turning point: The road to Appomattox – Part 2: 1863 Fred Chiaventone reveals how Abraham Lincoln was forced to reorganise his forces, hoping for better results after a series of stunning reversals. 
News
New sculpture commemorates 150th anniversary of Churchill’s birth A new statue of Winston Churchill that ‘honours his passion for the arts’ has been unveiled to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth. The bronze monument, created by award-winning… 
Britain’s nuclear test veterans still fighting for justice Some of the few surviving members of the group of men who witnessed Britain’s nuclear testing programme are still campaigning for justice for what it did to their bodies. The… 
George Cross of ‘courageous’ WWII spy Noor Inayat Khan goes on display The George Cross that was awarded posthumously to a Second World War spy has gone on display in a new exhibition in London. Noor Inayat Khan served in occupied Paris… 
Cold War base under the Greenland ice sheet accidentally rediscovered An abandoned Cold War military base buried underneath the ice sheet in northern Greenland has been rediscovered accidentally by NASA researchers. Camp Century, known as the ‘city under the ice’,… Views
MHM Book Awards 2025 Competitions Military History Matters has curated a list of 2024’s best military history titles: the nominees for this year’s MHM Book Awards. Our selection includes some of the best-researched, most-insightful, and… 
MHM 144 Competition Competitions Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition. 
War Classics – The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: From Marathon to Waterloo Comment Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy’s The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World was so significant a book in its day that it would have sat in the libraries of middle-class households… 
Reviews
The Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain 1815-1945 REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD Nicholas Rodger began his monumental history of British sea power, tracing its development from Anglo-Saxon times to the end of the Second World War, almost three… 
The Great Siege of Malta REVIEW BY STEVE TIBBLE Writing a major new popular history about the Great Siege of Malta of 1565, in which the Knights Hospitaller – a Catholic military order – saw… 
Napoleon’s Undefeated Marshal: Louis Davout and the Art of Leadership REVIEW BY ANDRÉ VAN LOON To start with what this book is not: Martin Sullivan, a lecturer in business and previously an investment banker, does not give us a straightforward… 
From the editor
It began on the morning of 12 April 1861 — when Southern artillery batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter, off the coast of South Carolina – though few observers at the time believed they were witnessing the start of a conflict that would end up tearing the country apart.
Four years on, as we discover in our cover story for this issue, things would look very different — as Robert E Lee’s surrender at Appomattox on 9 April 1865 formally concluded what had become a long and bitter struggle that claimed more than 750,000 soldiers’ lives, along with those of countless more civilians.
In the first part of a new series to mark the 160th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War, historian Fred Chiaventone begins his analysis of this unparalleled cataclysm — which would come to be regarded as perhaps the single most important event in US history.
Elsewhere, Stephen Roberts looks at another period of violent unrest – this time at the end of the 14th century – as he pieces together the extraordinary sequence of events by which Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) seized the throne of England.
Also in this issue, Clive Webb traces the life of William Robinson Clarke, the young airman who during World War I became Britain’s first Black combat pilot; Taylor Downing explains why the Allies found it easier than they feared to cross the mighty Rhine in 1945; and Graham Goodlad concludes his survey of Napoleon’s career by examining the great commander’s decline and fall.
And finally, it’s that time of the year again, as we unveil the titles shortlisted for the Military History Matters Book Awards 2025. As always, we have selected the 12 books that we think have had the most impact over the past year – but with gold, silver, and bronze prizes all still up for grabs, we now need your help to choose the winners.
We hope you enjoy the issue
LAURENCE EARLE
