Cover Story
The road to Armageddon: Central Powers at war In this new mini-series, we examine the wartime record of Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Turkey, and Bulgaria. We begin with a ‘special’ centred on Austria-Hungary’s army, which struggled to make an impression against its Russian, Serbian, and Italian foes. In this first… Features
Disaster over the Alps: The Austro-Hungarian army on the Italian Front, 1915-1918 In the second part of our special, Graham Goodlad assesses Austria-Hungary’s failure to achieve victory against Italy. 
Bombing Venice: The Allied attack on one of the world’s most beloved cities In a new book, Jonathan Glancey tells the inside story of Operation Bowler, the audacious WWII plan to destroy German strategic outposts around Venice’s port, while leaving the legendary city… 
Switching sides: Military turncoats, a traitorous history In the second part of his series on military turncoats, Nigel Jones profiles more commanders who changed allegiance, from Benedict Arnold to Friedrich Paulus. 
The Anarchy: The first English civil war, 1135-1153 A bloody succession crisis that tore England apart also gave rise to a dynasty that would rule for 300 years. In the first of two pieces about early civil wars,… 
Jewel of the Med: The 18th-century struggle for Menorca Edmund West traces the history of the small island with an outsized natural harbour that played a critical role in the battle for naval superiority in the Mediterranean. News
Trove of helmets from World Wars I and II uncovered on site of former German barracks A trove of helmets dating from the First and Second World Wars has been discovered by archaeologists in Poland. Road-construction workers found more than 50 helmets lying just beneath the… 
Remains of ‘world’s first’ prisoner- of-war camp to open to visitors The site of what is believed to be the world’s first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp will soon be open to visitors. The Norman Cross Camp, just south of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire,… 
New London spy museum appoints its first director A new museum dedicated to the spies who uncovered many enemy secrets during the Second World War has appointed its first director. Giuseppe Albano was recently named as the head… 
Final resting place of Captain Cook’s ship Endeavour confirmed 250 years after sinking More than 250 years after she was sunk, the final resting place of the vessel commanded by Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery has been confirmed. HMS… Views
MHM 147 Competition Competitions Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition. 
War Classics – The Donkeys Comment ‘Good-morning, good morning!’ the General said When we met him last week on our way to the line. Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ’em dead, And… 
Iain MacGregor People The MHM award-winning author and publisher on meeting Hilary Mantel, and why Abraham Lincoln is his hero. 
Life after Liberation Museum, What's on Reviewing the best military history exhibitions with Simon Coppock. Reviews
Korea: war without end REVIEW BY TAYLOR DOWNING General The Lord Dannatt, once Chief of the General Staff, has teamed up with military historian Robert Lyman to provide a fascinating new take on the… 
No More Napoleons: How Britain managed Europe from Waterloo to World War I REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD Andrew Lambert has earned a reputation as the leading naval historian of his generation with a series of books on Nelson, the Anglo-American War of 1812-1814,… 
The Siege of Tyre: Alexander the Great and the gateway to empire REVIEW BY MARC DeSANTIS Alexander the Great of Macedonia is one of the best-known figures of ancient history. Comparatively large amounts of written material concerning his short but extraordinarily eventful… 
Thunderbolt of the North: Harald Hardrada, Viking King REVIEW BY JEFFREY JAMES King Harald III of Norway’s sobriquet Hardrada conjures up an image of a resolute, ruthless, no-nonsense leader, yet may in fact be a corruption of the… 
From the editor
There is sometimes a tendency – perhaps most prevalent in parts of Western Europe – to think of the First World War as a conflict that was fought out exclusively amid the mud and the trenches of Belgium and northern France, with Imperial Germany as the Allies’ sole enemy.
The reality, of course, is that the titanic events of 1914 1918 stretched far and wide – from the Baltic to the shores of the Black Sea, and from the Middle East to parts of Africa – while Germany certainly did not stand alone.
In our cover story for this issue, Graham Goodlad introduces a new series in which MHM examines the wartime record of the unlikely alliance of so-called ‘Central Powers’ – including the forces of the Austro Hungarian and Ottoman Empires and the Kingdom of Bulgaria – who fought alongside Germany during World War I, and whose eventual defeat would have repercussions that in some cases are still being felt today.
Elsewhere, to mark the publication of his new book, the bestselling writer Jonathan Glancey tells the inside story of Operation Bowler, the Allies’ audacious World War II plan to destroy German strategic outposts around Venice’s port, but leave the legendary city itself unscathed.
Also in this issue: Stephen Roberts begins a new two part study of early English civil wars by looking at one of the darkest periods of the country’s history, The Anarchy of 1135-1153; and Edmund West traces the military history of Menorca, the tiny Mediterranean island whose huge natural harbour ensured it played an outsized role in the long running struggle for maritime supremacy during the 18th century.
And finally, in the second part of his compelling series on military turncoats, Nigel Jones profiles more commanders who shifted their allegiance, from Benedict Arnold during the American Revolutionary War to Friedrich Paulus after the Battle of Stalingrad.
We hope you enjoy the issue!
LAURENCE EARLE
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