Crimean War

Myth and Reality: military art in the age of Queen Victoria

Reviewing the best military history exhibitions with Peter Popham.

MHM 147 Competition

Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition.

War Classics – The Reason Why

Nick Spenceley recalls one of the great works of military history

Back to the drawing board: HMS Captain

David Porter on Military History's doomed inventions.

Marengo’s makeover: conserving Napoleon’s favourite war horse

In this picture, a conservator at the National Army Museum in London holds the skull of Marengo, the most famous of the horses that belonged to French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Named after Napoleon’s victory over the Austrian Empire at the…

ABOVE The disastrous charge of the British light cavalry into the 'Valley of Death' at the Battle of Balaclava, as depicted here in 1897 by the artist Richard Caton Woodville, was apparently the result of the misunderstanding of an order.

Ignorance in war: from Balaclava to Vietnam

In his latest book, the distinguished historian Peter Burke considers the many ways that misunderstandings, arrogance, and lack of knowledge can affect events on the battlefield.

The Florence Nightingale Museum, London

With the Florence Nightingale Museum having recently reopened, Carly Hilts dropped by to learn more about the life, legacy, and legend of the ‘Lady with the Lamp’.

An artistic impression of the museum’s new home, located in Cardiff Bay near the city’s Norwegian Church.

New Welsh home confirmed for military medical museum

A new home in Cardiff Bay for the Museum of Military Medicine has been given the green light by the local council. Currently based in the village of Mytchett, Surrey, where it was long known as the Army Medical Services…

LEFT The Charge of the Light Brigade and [inset] one of the men who charged: Cornet John Wilkin of the 11th Hussars, photographed by Roger Fenton.

Balaklava: a battle or three skirmishes?

In this second part of his special on Balaklava, Patrick Mercer analyses the events of 25/26 October 1854.

OPPOSITE An officer of the 11th Hussars c.1850 one of the two regiments commanded by Lord Cardigan before the Crimean War, and part of the Light Brigade in the famous charge at Balaklava.

The Battle of Balaklava in Perspective

Patrick Mercer, a Crimean War specialist, takes a critical look at the men in command at one of British history’s iconic battles.

War Reporters: William Howard Russell

Widely regarded as the first modern war correspondent, Russell was a globetrotter with a wide purview, reporting on the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the American Civil War, the coronation of Tsar Nicholas I, the Franco- Prussian War, and the Zulu War among many other key events of the tumultuous 19th century.