Cover Story
Somme, 1916 In the first part of our special, Stephen Roberts marks the 110th anniversary of the offensive that saw the bloodiest day in Britain’s military history, before looking in more detail at the Battle of the Boar’s Head in the second… Features
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. 
The Somme in 10 objects Infographics: Amy Brunskill / Images: public domain, National Army Museum, Canadian War Museum 
A sideshow to a sideshow: The Great Arab Revolt, 1916-1918 As thousands died on WWI’s Western Front, a young officer by the name of T E Lawrence was among those fighting a very different war in the Middle East. Here,… 
Never surrender: The siege of the Alcázar of Toledo, July-September 1936 No episode of Spain’s bloody and brutal Civil War is more swathed in myth than the siege of Toledo’s historic Alcázar. Ninety years on, Nigel Jones tells its story. 
Little Bighorn: The five key myths One of the most talked-about battles in US history took place 150 years ago this summer. Here, Fred Chiaventone identifies some common misunderstandings about Custer’s Last Stand. 
The ultimate arms race: The Iron Curtain falls – Part 6: the Atomic Age In the final part of our series on the coming of the Cold War, Taylor Downing examines the struggle for nuclear domination. News
A parade of military history at Chalke Chalke History Festival returns to the Wiltshire countryside this summer for a week of talks, performances, living history encampments, and more. A star-studded lineup of speakers will explore a vast… 
Warship sunk by Nelson discovered on seabed Marine archaeologists have uncovered the wreck of the Dannebroge, a Danish warship sunk during the Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801. The Dannebroge sat at the centre of a… 
New evidence comes to light for Britain’s nuclear test veterans New documentation has come to light which suggests that the British government concealed evidence that personnel involved in the UK’s nuclear-testing programme in the Pacific Ocean in the 1950s and… 
IWM acquires Dame Vera Lynn collection The Imperial War Museum (IWM) has acquired the complete Second World War archive of Britain’s most famous wartime entertainer, Dame Vera Lynn. She was nicknamed ‘The Forces’ Sweetheart’ after winning… Views
Military History Book Awards Competitions 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,… 
MHM 152 Competition Competitions Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition. 
War Classics – Just and Unjust Wars Comment Students of military history find much to fascinate in the subject: strategy, tactics, weapons, uniforms, battles, and the lives of the great generals. Exactly how wars come about and the… 
Damien Lewis People The best-selling author, historian, and film-maker on untold stories, personal heroes, and dream movie castings. 
Fort Niagara Museum, What's on Reviewing the best military history exhibitions, with Christopher Warner. Reviews
A Spy Amongst Us: Daniel Defoe’s Secret Service and the Plot to End Scottish Independence Barely a pistol shot from my house on the Isle of Skye is Flora MacDonald’s grave. I’ve had reason to study her, the ‘Preserver of Prince Charles Edward Stuart’ (Bonnie… 
The Two Hundred Years War: The bloody crowns of England and France, 1292-1492 The sheer length of the Anglo-French conflict known as the ‘Hundred Years War’ – which actually lasted 116 years – has long invited debate about the label. Contemporaries, of course,… 
From the editor
The first day of the Battle of the Somme – on 1 July 1916 – occupies a unique place in the national imagination, as the single bloodiest day in the history of the British Army, and as a byword for the full, mechanised horror of 20th-century warfare.
In the first half of a two-part special feature in this issue to mark the battle’s 110th anniversary, Stephen Roberts examines a tragic 24 hours, memorably described as ‘the glory and the graveyard’ of Lord Kitchener’s young and inexperienced New Army, while in the second half, he looks in more detail at the preceding Battle of the Boar’s Head, which laid down a marker for the carnage to come.
Elsewhere, MHM is marking another significant date: the 150th anniversary of the Little Bighorn, regarded by many as the greatest victory of the Native Americans over the US military, when George Armstrong Custer led his 7th Cavalry into its disastrous final encounter with the combined forces of the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. Though relatively small in scale, the brutal events of 25 June 1876 have had an outsized effect on the popular imagination, taking centre stage in thousands of books, papers, movies, and novels. On p.32, Fred Chiaventone tackles some of the misunderstandings to have arisen, as he identifies five common myths about Custer’s Last Stand.
Also in this issue, Taylor Downing concludes his study of the coming of the Cold War with the struggle for nuclear domination; Nicholas Saunders reveals how the 1916-1918 Arab Revolt helped bring down the Ottoman Empire; and Nigel Jones looks back at the Siege of the Toledo Alcázar, one of the key flashpoints of the Spanish Civil War.
And, finally, the time has come once again for us to unveil the titles shortlisted for the MHM Book Awards. On p.54, we unveil the 12 books we think have made the greatest impact over the past 12 months – but with gold, silver, and bronze prizes all up for grabs, we now need your help to choose the winners…
We hope you enjoy the issue!
LAURENCE EARLE
