In the half century between the Battle of Quiberon Bay (1759) and the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), Britain’s Royal Navy transformed naval tactics and established global maritime supremacy. Developments in the technology of sail power and naval gunnery had combined…
In the second article in our occasional series, Graham Goodlad assesses two 18th-century admirals whose flaws were offset by outstanding victories.
Neil Faulkner analyses the fighting on 1 June 1794 and sees a new British tactical system still in development.
Ashley and Stephen Cooper take a close and critical look at the hallowed idea of war by personal combat.
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
Gold, silver, and bronze prizes are up for grabs in the race for MHM Book of the Year, which will be awarded to the titles our readers feel have made the greatest all-round contribution to the study of military history.
An incredibly rare Enigma machine from the Second World War has been recovered from the Baltic Sea. Divers made the discovery at Gelting Bay, east of Flensburg, while searching for discarded fishing nets. The cipher machine consisted of a keyboard,…
Bill Purdue takes a look at recent critical reappraisal of this famous clash of Soviet and Nazi armour in the summer of 1943.
It played a crucial role in World War Two and is considered the birthplace of computing. Now, the struggling museum at Bletchley Park has been given a bailout by Facebook.
It is one of only three complete medieval equestrian armour displays in the world. Now, the 15th-century masterpiece can be viewed by the public for the first time in over 100 years.
George Orwell’s writing on mass surveillance has left an enduring legacy. Now it has emerged that the author was himself spied on during the Spanish Civil War.
He lay undisturbed on a hilltop for centuries. Now, the uncovered remains of an Anglo-Saxon warlord may change historians’ understanding of Britain’s ancient history.
It was hit by Norwegian artillery and torpedoed by a British submarine before finally being scuttled by its own captain. But now, the long-lost wreck of the German light cruiser Karlsruhe has been identified off the coast of Norway.
Two spies who worked for Britain during the Second World War have been honoured with blue plaques outside their London homes.
Reviewing the best military history exhibitions, with Marc DeSantis
MHM's round-up of the latest military history titles
Neil Faulkner begins a short series on the history of airpower and its impact on the evolution of modern warfare.
I commend Alexander Izza on his excellent article on Okinawa (MHM 119, October/November 2020) but would take issue with a couple of points.
All great artists need great subjects. Joseph Mallord William Turner was no exception. Although extremely talented, he was especially fortunate to have lived through stirring times.
Combat on the Western Front during World War One is justly infamous for its grim lethality. Soldiers on both sides dug deep trenches in the earth to escape murderous enemy fire.
Penned by former RAF Navigator and Gulf War veteran John Nichol, Lancaster is one of the most enthralling aviation history books I have read. But its succinct title does not do it justice. Its pages narrate not only the history of the legendary bomber but also of those who flew her.
Edward Henry Hynman Allenby was born in 1861 in Brackenhurst, Nottinghamshire in comfortable circumstances – a Victorian squire perhaps destined to help govern the British Empire on behalf of the Queen-Empress.
To oppose the Munich Agreement of 1938 was once considered something close to treason. The prime minister of the day had met an intimidating opponent and had extracted from him a pact that would save the world from war. Who could possibly object to that?
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’.
At the turn of the 20th century, the first ‘Golden Era’ of Welsh rugby ushered in the national team’s rise to dominance and infused ‘rugger’ into the country’s lifeblood. Lewis, for his part, embraced the game body and soul.
The early 17th century marked a period of rapid growth in warships as the galleons of the previous century began to give way to the ship-of-the-line, which would dominate naval warfare for the next 250 years. One of the first such vessels was the English 55-gun Prince Royal, completed in 1611, which remained in service until her destruction in 1666 during the Second Anglo-Dutch 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.
Christmas at the front was about making do. Here, for instance, British soldiers have gathered in a shell hole around a makeshift table. Some are sitting on the ground, others on what appears to be rolled-up sheets of wire.
The Franco-Prussian War overturned the balance of power in Europe
With the latest James Bond blockbuster out next year, MHM assistant editor Calum Henderson explores the life of the man who created him: Ian Fleming, whose wartime adventures rivalled those of 007 himself.
Marking the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, David Porter analyses the last stand of Hitler’s Third Reich.
David Porter analyses the balance of forces in the Third Reich’s final battle.
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.
Froissant claimed to have born witness, during his travels, to many of the battles that took place during the Hundred Years War, committing all he had seen and heard to writing in the form of elaborate illustrated manuscripts. Seema Syeda examines battlefield scoops through the ages.
It has been argued that the Allied victory in Tunisia in May 1943 was a greater victory than Stalingrad. Anthony Heywood disagrees.
He was a charismatic leader, a seasoned military veteran, and a formidable politician. It is little wonder that he is rarely thought of as being an ancient example of the modern-day war reporter. Seema Syeda examines battlefield scoops throughout the ages.