Cover Story
The making of Russia In our special feature, Stephen Roberts examines first the life of Peter the Great, a pivotal figure in Russian history, then looks in detail at the Battle of Poltava that established Russia for the first time as a major power… Features
The Battle of Poltava: 8 July 1709 Stephen Roberts analyses the battle that established Russia as a major European power. 
A long shadow: The road to Appomattox – Part 3: 1864-1865 In the third part of our series on the American Civil War, Fred Chiaventone traces the conflict’s bloody final months. 
Endgame WWII – The key questions: Was Eisenhower right to leave Berlin to the Soviets? In the third part of our series marking the 80th anniversary of World War II’s final months, Taylor Downing asks whether the Allied Supreme Commander was correct in allowing the… 
Master and commander In the final part of our occasional series on the rise of Britain’s imperial navy, Graham Goodlad reviews the remarkable career of Admiral George Anson. 
Kamikaze: Fire from the sky As Japan faced defeat in World War II, suicide attacks provided it with a deadly new weapon in the Pacific, says David Porter. News
Site of King Harold’s lost palace identified by archaeologists Archaeologists have confirmed ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’ the site of the long-lost home of Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England – thanks in part to a medieval toilet.… 
Veterans uncover Iron Age treasures at RAF airfield in Anglesey Iron Age artefacts that were discovered beneath an airfield in Wales have been declared national treasure. Parts of a Celtic chariot, believed to be around 2,000 years old, were found… 
Memorial commemorating South African war dead inaugurated in Cape Town A new memorial honouring the contribution of South African military labourers in the First World War has been inaugurated in Cape Town. The monument, which was funded by the Commonwealth… 
Researchers turn to AI to investigate lives of Civil War sailors A new research project is using artificial intelligence to uncover the stories of Union sailors, or ‘bluejackets’, during the American Civil War. The study is the result of a collaboration… Views
MHM 145 Competition Competitions Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition. 
War Classics – Enemy at the Gates Comment Younger readers might be forgiven for thinking that Enemy at the Gates is merely a novelisation of the 2001 film of the same name. But the movie – directed by… 
Storming the Presidential Palace, Saigon, 1975 The Picture Desk In this dramatic photograph – taken on 30 April 1975, 50 years ago this spring – a North Vietnamese tank is pictured at the climactic moment, as it smashes through… 
Laurence Rees People The award-winning author and documentary film-maker on the Nazis, neuroscience, and why he doesn’t really like war movies. Reviews
From Trenton to Yorktown: Turning points of the Revolutionary War REVIEW BY FRED CHIAVENTONE The American Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783 had plenty of ‘turning points’, as might be the case with any war that lasted for the best… 
The Last Days of Budapest: spies, Nazis, rescuers, and resistance, 1940-1945 REVIEW JONATHAN EATON In reading about the Second World War, it is easy to lose sight of the brutal realities of the conflict, whether revealed through acts of unfathomable evil… 
Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the surrender of Japan REVIEW BY ANDREW MULHOLLAND Most of us have an opinion about the two atomic attacks made by the United States on Japan in August 1945, which brought about the end… 
From the editor
The achievements of Peter the Great are undeniable: a statesman, diplomat, and military leader, he towers over Russian history – as the fanatical moderniser who built the city of St Petersburg and helped drag his country out of the Middle Ages, and as the prime mover behind Russia’s burgeoning power and influence in early 18th century Europe.
As we discover in our cover story, however, such extraordinary achievements came at extraordinary cost: as he set about reforming the state, and as he ruthlessly pursued a vision of progress along more Westernised lines, he left behind a grim legacy of autocracy and state-sponsored violence that also serves as his memorial.
In a two-part special feature for this issue, Stephen Roberts first traces the life of this complex figure, then looks in detail at the Battle of Poltava, the epic 1709 clash of arms that helped him to progress his expansionist ambitions by breaking Swedish power in the Baltic.
Elsewhere, in the latest part of his series to mark the 160th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War, historian Fred Chiaventone looks at that conflict’s bloody final months, culminating in the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865.
Also in this issue, we have two articles with a Second World War theme: Taylor Downing continues his ‘Endgame WWII’ series by asking whether General Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme Allied commander, was right to leave the taking of Berlin to the Soviets; while David Porter considers the use of kamikaze tactics by Japanese forces as they neared defeat in the Pacific.
And finally, in the last part of our occasional series on the making of Britain’s imperial navy, Graham Goodlad looks back again to the 18th century – this time to reveal how the remarkable Admiral George Anson helped to transform a lacklustre maritime force into one capable of taking on all challengers.
We hope you enjoy the issue!
LAURENCE EARLE
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