It is hard to disagree with the observation, made by the distinguished military historian John Keegan (1934-2012), that ‘all battles are in some degree… disasters’. But if the brutal nature of warfare means that all such conflicts end in calamity,…
At which battle in 216 BC did Hannibal lure a much larger Roman army into a deadly trap?
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It was a battle that changed the course of English history – at which the royalist forces of King Henry III won a famous victory over the rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort. But the events of 4 August 1265 are ripe for reappraisal, says Stephen Roberts.
REVIEW BY DAVID FLINTHAM At the outbreak of the English Civil War, Parliament organised much of its fighting strength geographically; in the case of East Anglia (eventually including Huntingdonshire and Lincolnshire) this was the Eastern Association, which would become arguably…
Battle in which the Duke of Monmouth was defeated by the troops of James II? Put your military history knowledge to the test!
As part of Sweden’s long struggle for independence, its army of peasant militia won a crucial battle against a Danish invasion force camped outside Stockholm. William E Welsh describes the action.
La Débâcle prefigures both the changing nature of warfare, and the ongoing struggle of France’s national identity. Within 22 years, another generation would be sacrificed defending their homeland.
Chris Peers, author of a new minute-by-minute study of the fighting on 22 January 1879, analyses the extraordinary endurance of the mission-station garrison.
Royal Navy light aircraft carrier launched in 1941?
Graham Goodlad assesses the career of Britain’s best-known and most controversial general of the Second World War.
Graham Goodlad analyses Montgomery’s epic clash with Rommel’s forces, which signalled the end for Nazi Germany’s ambitions in the Middle East.
Which English king defeated a 230-strong French fleet at the Battle of Sluys in 1340?
Chandler sees Napoleon as a gifted improviser whose operations were nonetheless underpinned by certain consistent principles. Amongst his key skills as a commander were a personal charisma that inspired and moulded others to his will
Hungary’s devastating defeat by the armies of Suleiman the Magnificent signalled the country’s demise as a unified independent kingdom. Andrew Southam describes the action.
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Dismissed by one distinguished architectural writer as a regrettable example of Roman pomposity, ‘typical of the rather pretentious magnificence of the [Roman] Empire’, the ‘triumphal arch’ (more correctly the ‘honorary arch’) has proved to be surprisingly enduring, with a history that extends from the Roman period to the present day. Chris Catling reviews a new book by Peter Howell tracing the history of the arch through its many manifestations.
The arrival of which 42,900-ton German battleship in Norwegian waters posed a grave threat to Allied shipping convoys in January 1942?
The Hundred Years' War began in 1337. For how long did it actually continue?
The Battle of Pinkie was the last large-scale pitched battle between Scotland and England before the 1603 Union of Crowns.
Neil Faulkner analyses the first great victory of Edward III’s new tactical system in the Hundred Years War.
Sam Allison and Jon Bradley offer a forensic reappraisal of General James Wolfe’s spectacular victory.
How many Imperial Japanese aircraft took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941?
The Defence of Rorke's Drift remains one of the most celebrated engagements in UK military history. On the night of 22 January 1879, a force of just over 150 British and colonial troops held off an estimated 3-4,000 Zulu warriors during more than 12 hours of bitter, hand-to-hand fighting that would result in the award of 11 Victoria Crosses.
He inherited the kingdom of Macedonia (in modern-day Greece) at the age of 20. By the time of his death, just 13 years later, he had created an empire that covered two million square miles – stretching across three continents, from the Danube and the Nile to the Himalayas – and all without losing a battle.
Neil Faulkner analyses one of history’s greatest tactical triumphs.
World War I Illustrated Atlas In fine and comprehensive detail, this book plots key battles and the exact course of the global land, sea, and air campaigns that made the First World War, enabling the reader to trace the ebb…
Robert C L Holmes analyses a decisive collision between two very different ways of war in the early medieval period.
The Swiss army of the late Middle Ages ruthlessly used terrain to its advantage and had a genius for knowing which battles not to fight.
Patrick Mercer reports on a tough fighting regiment of the Napoleonic Wars, let down by dismal command in 1809.
In this authoritative new history, WWI historian Nick Lloyd goes against the widespread myth of the war of 1914-1918 as one of stupidity and pointlessness. Amid the mud and mire of the trenches, he argues, there was extensive innovation and…
In the summer of 1777, British forces were waging a campaign to finally crush the American rebellion. Kevin Weddle here analyses how Continental Army and Militia forces under Major General Horatio Gates turned the situation around, inflicting a stunning defeat…
Ashley and Stephen Cooper take a close and critical look at the hallowed idea of war by personal combat.
In this year of reflection on the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, too often our Western gaze falls solely on events in Europe. We rightly mourn those who died in the final, catastrophic battles in Nazi Germany and celebrate the final end of war in Europe on VE Day. But when the guns fell silent in Europe, the desperate fight between the Allies and the Japanese raged on. In Crucible of Hell, Saul David takes the reader on a journey to Okinawa, ‘the last great battle of the Second World War’.
It was as aggressors that the Irish first made their impact on European history. The quasi-legendary Irish warlord Cormac mac Airt, from the 3rd century AD, not only subdued almost all of Ireland, he also launched destructive attacks on Roman Britain. Another who did so, the following century, was Niall of the Nine Hostages.
The Franco-Prussian War overturned the balance of power in Europe