The Battle of Lützen: 16 November 1632
Stephen Roberts analyses the crucial battle that cost the life of the Swedish king.
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The Thirty Years’ War: 1618-1648
Stephen Roberts traces the history of the Thirty Years’ War, Europe’s most destructive conflict prior to the First World War.
MHM 137 Competition
Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition.
MHM 137 Letters – November
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
Back to the drawing board: The de Havilland Sea Vixen
David Porter on Military History's doomed inventions.
They’re coming! The invasion scares of 1803-05 & 1940
Napoleon and Hitler both drew up detailed plans for the invasion of Britain, spreading alarm among the public and forcing urgent measures from the UK government in return. Here, David Porter compares the plans, and the threat posed by the country’s two would-be invaders.
The corpse that fooled Hitler
In the second part of our series on the use of deception during World War Two, Taylor Downing uncovers the extraordinary true story of Operation Mincemeat.
Cromwell’s admiral
In the first part of a new occasional series, Graham Goodlad profiles Robert Blake, the republican ‘general at sea’ who laid the foundations of sea power after the Civil Wars.
Dark shadows: Nathan Bedford Forrest & Fort Pillow, 1864
Considered by many the finest cavalry officer of the American Civil War, Nathan Bedford Forrest was also responsible for one of its worst atrocities. Edmund West examines a troubling legacy.
War Classics – Thermopylae: The Battle for the West
Fred Chiaventone recalls one of the great works of military history
War on Film – The Best Years of Our Lives
Taylor Downing reviews two war films linked by a common theme
The Indian army at the palace
Reviewing the best military history exhibitions with Calum Henderson
Rome and Persia: the seven hundred year rivalry
REVIEW BY MARC DESANTIS In ancient times, following the fall of Carthage, only Persia on Rome’s eastern frontier would be, to adopt a modern term, her ‘peer adversary’. It was the only state that bore any comparison in power and…
Conflict: the evolution of warfare from 1945 to Ukraine
REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted the appearance of several books, setting the war in its historical context. This is the first study, however, to view the conflict in the long-term perspective of military history since…
In View
MHM’s round-up of the latest military history titles
The Mongol storm: making and breaking empires in the medieval near east
REVIEW BY KAVEH FARROKH With this book, Nicholas Morton has filled a gap in the field in the study of the Mongol military genius and the immense impact of their conquests in the 13th century. This impact was truly international…
To besiege a city: Leningrad 1941-42
REVIEW BY CALUM HENDERSON Leningrad – today known as St Petersburg – was a key military and industrial target in the early years of the Second World War. But the city also held a psychological attraction for the invading armies…
Mosquito: the RAF’s legendary wooden wonder and its most extraordinary mission
REVIEW BY COLIN POMEROY Despite the title of this book, there is little detail about the Mosquito’s development or performance within its pages. But that is the only disappointment, for Rowland White’s new history of the ‘wooden wonder’ is otherwise…
Victory to Defeat: The British Army 1918-40
REVIEW BY ANDREW MULHOLLAND Few recent military books can have been quite as timely as this one. For while conceived several years ago, Richard Dannatt and Robert Lyman’s study of the British Army brings us right up to date and…
A bit of a long shot: an experimental catapult from WWII
This image shows the remains of an innovative catapult – designed to launch fighter aircraft into the sky – which has recently been uncovered by archaeologists in Oxfordshire. The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Mark III Catapult was one of a…
War of Words – ‘Parting Shot’
With Marc DeSantis
Images provide clues to the final moments of Midway ships
Haunting new images have been revealed of shipwrecks caused by one of the most significant naval battles of the Second World War. The Battle of Midway, fought on 4 June 1942, saw the United States Navy inflict a crippling blow…
Database records monuments to the British Civil Wars
It was one of the most significant conflicts in the country’s history. Now, a new database has been set up to record the monuments and memorials to the British Civil Wars. The wars were fought throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland…
New exhibition to explore the ordinary lives of Roman soldiers
A new exhibition is set to explore what ordinary life was like for soldiers in the Roman army. Legion, opening in February at the British Museum, will boast more than 200 objects on display, including the world’s only intact legionary…
Underwater Survey sheds light on shipwrecks from Dunkirk
New research has been charting the wrecks of ships lost during Operation Dynamo, the Allied evacuation from Dunkirk in the summer of 1940. Historic England and its French counterpart, Drassm, carried out a survey of 30 wrecks in the waters…