The end: Vietnam, 1973
Fifty years ago this spring, the last American troops left Vietnam. Taylor Downing looks back on a conflict that ended in humiliation for the US.
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Museum Review: Muckleburgh Military Collection
Open 10am-5pm daily (1 April to 30 October)Weybourne, Norfolk, NR25 7ERwww.muckleburgh.co.uk+ 44 (0)1263 588 210 The Muckleburgh Military Collection is the largest privately owned military museum in the United Kingdom. It was opened to the public in 1988 by Michael…
Military history exhibitions, events, and festivals – March listings
Festivals IWM Duxford flying season: 50th anniversary April-October 2023IWM Duxford, Cambridgeshire, CB22 4QR, UKwww.iwm.org.uk/duxford-air-shows-50+44 (0)20 7416 5000 In the summer of 1973, ‘Duxford Air Day’ was first staged at the historic aerodrome in Cambridgeshire to celebrate the area’s aviation heritage.…
Military History Matters Letters 133 – March
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
The Peloponnesian War
In the first part of our special, Paul Rahe examines the background to the struggle between Athens and Sparta for control of the ancient Greek world.
The Peloponnesian War: the Battle of Mantineia
In the second part of our special feature, Paul Rahe reveals how Sparta won the largest land battle fought within Greece during the Peloponnesian War.
Scars of possible early Civil War battle uncovered on ruins in Warwickshire manor
Archaeologists excavating the site at Coleshill Manor, east of Birmingham, found evidence that a newly discovered fortified gatehouse there had at one point come under intense fire.
Military History Matters Crossword 133
Across 5 Soviet general instrumental in the defeat of Finland in 1940 (10) 7 Battle of WWI fought in August 1914 (4) 9 Battle fought in Castile in April 1367 (6) 10 Country invaded by Japan in December 1941 (8)…
Win a copy of Angus Konstam’s ‘100 Greatest Battles’!
Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition, and win a copy of '100 Greatest Battles'!
Tally-Ho: RAF tactical leadership in the Battle of Britain, July 1940
REVIEW by COLIN POMEROY A renowned writer on air combat in World War II, Professor Patrick Eriksson is well known for his detailed research, something he fully demonstrates in this new book, which takes its name from the fighter pilot’s…
At First Light: a true World War II story of a hero, his bravery, and an amazing horse
REVIEW by MARC DeSANTIS Popular memory of the Second World War is inconsistent. Certain events, such as the Battle of Britain, El Alamein, the Atlantic Campaign, D-Day, and Operation Market Garden, loom large in modern consciousness. Other events and fronts,…
Churchill’s American arsenal: the special relationship that won World War II
In a new book, Larrie D Ferreiro explains how a special relationship between British and US combat scientists and engineers produced the innovations that won the Second World War.
Film Review: Lebanon
Lebanon is a powerful vision of men at war, made real and intense by the fact that we never once move outside the tank, and only see the outside world from the interior.
The Battle of Baugé, 1421: when the Scots saved France
One of the bloodiest encounters between Scottish and English armies took place not on British soil – but in northern France, as part of the Hundred Years War. William E Welsh describes the events that lead to the Battle of Baugé, on 22 March 1421.
The Path of Peace: walking the Western Front Way
REVIEW by TOBY CLARK During the First World War, a young soldier called Douglas Gillespie used a letter home from the trenches to expound on an idea for remembering the dead after the fighting was over. Gillespie proposed a path…
Austria-Hungary’s Viribus Unitis-class battleships
Although the Austrian navy had won a remarkable victory against the Italians at the Battle of Lissa in the Adriatic on 20 July 1866, economic problems following the creation of the Dual Monarchy the following year meant that the new…
History’s first draft: the art of the van de Veldes
The exhibition 'The Van de Veldes: Greenwich, art and the sea' continues at the Queen’s House in Greenwich, London SE10 9NF, until 14 January 2024.
Dictionary of Fortifications
REVIEW by DAVID FLINTHAM Until relatively recently, there were more terms relating to fortifications than to probably any other area of military history. Confusion is easy, especially since many of the words and phrases come directly from languages other than…
Wreck of lost US submarine from WWII identified off the coast of Japan
The discovery was made by the underwater archaeology team of Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC).
![Right Kitchener [on the left] and Roberts [right] had a proven record of success in colonial warfare, but the two had not campaigned together before arriving in South Africa.](https://i0.wp.com/the-past.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/post-1_image0-18-e1677858429147.jpg?fit=768%2C873&ssl=1)
Imperial firefighters: Roberts, Kitchener, and the Anglo-Boer War
Graham Goodlad reveals how two late-Victorian commanders forged a winning partnership in South Africa – but left controversy in their wake.
Demetrius: sacker of cities
REVIEW by MARC DeSANTIS The death of Alexander the Great in Babylon in 323 BC left the empire he had conquered without blood heirs ready to take up the heavy burden of governance. Thus, in the days following his passing,…
War Classics – The Guns of August
Tuchman aims to explore how a series of political and military decisions, often based on personal factors, faulty intelligence, or naïve assumptions, gradually escalated tensions to the outbreak of war.’
Library unveils detailed paper tapestry depicting 17th-century naval battles
The document was unfurled as part of research into a collection of more than 3,000 books, pamphlets, and periodicals donated to Leeds Central Library in the 1960s.
Mercy: humanity in war
REVIEW: CALUM HENDERSON The new German-language adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, which arrived on Netflix last autumn, pulls no punches in its depiction of the savage violence of World War I. In the film,…
War of words – ‘Panzer’
Panzer is a German word meaning ‘mail’ or ‘coat of mail’, with mail being body armour composed of interlocking metal rings. In the early 20th century, the word was applied to the tank, and thereafter entered English as a term…
Lost British warship set to be investigated 150 years after sinking
A powerful iron-clad battleship, HMS Captain sank off Cape Finisterre in Spain in 1870.
German mass grave found in WWI tunnel to be consecrated as a war memorial
On 4 May 1917, the entrance to the tunnel on the Chemin des Dames collapsed following French shelling.