Military History

Laurence Rees

The award-winning author and documentary film-maker on the Nazis, neuroscience, and why he doesn’t really like war movies.

From Trenton to Yorktown: Turning points of the Revolutionary War

REVIEW BY FRED CHIAVENTONE The American Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783 had plenty of ‘turning points’, as might be the case with any war that lasted for the best part of eight years, but have they not all been…

The Last Days of Budapest: spies, Nazis, rescuers, and resistance, 1940-1945

REVIEW JONATHAN EATON In reading about the Second World War, it is easy to lose sight of the brutal realities of the conflict, whether revealed through acts of unfathomable evil or deeds of immense personal courage. In The Last Days…

Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the surrender of Japan

REVIEW BY ANDREW MULHOLLAND Most of us have an opinion about the two atomic attacks made by the United States on Japan in August 1945, which brought about the end of the Second World War, and most of us probably…

In Brief

MHM’s round-up of the latest military history releases.

The Past

Scenting the past at Nothe Fort

Visitors to Nothe Fort in Weymouth will be able to share the olfactory experiences of the soldiers who once manned the Victorian coastal defences, during a special event featuring historically inspired smells in early March. Interactive demonstrations of evocative odours…

MHM Book Awards 2025

Military History Matters has curated a list of 2024’s best military history titles: the nominees for this year’s MHM Book Awards. Our selection includes some of the best-researched, most-insightful, and most-readable titles reviewed and featured in the magazine over the…

War on Film – Blitz

Taylor Downing reviews the latest film releases.

MHM 144 Letters – January

Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.

MHM 144 Competition

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

The Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain 1815-1945

REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD Nicholas Rodger began his monumental history of British sea power, tracing its development from Anglo-Saxon times to the end of the Second World War, almost three decades ago. The second volume, which took the story from…

War Classics – The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: From Marathon to Waterloo

Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy’s The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World was so significant a book in its day that it would have sat in the libraries of middle-class households alongside the Bible, Shakespeare’s Complete Works, and Milton’s Paradise Lost.

War and the Mind

Reviewing the best military history exhibitions with MHM.

The Great Siege of Malta

REVIEW BY STEVE TIBBLE Writing a major new popular history about the Great Siege of Malta of 1565, in which the Knights Hospitaller – a Catholic military order – saw off a four-month assault by the Ottoman Empire, is no…

Napoleon’s Undefeated Marshal: Louis Davout and the Art of Leadership

REVIEW BY ANDRÉ VAN LOON To start with what this book is not: Martin Sullivan, a lecturer in business and previously an investment banker, does not give us a straightforward biography of Louis-Nicolas Davout, Duke of Auerstädt and Prince of…

In Brief

MHM’s round-up of the latest military history releases.

Britain’s nuclear test veterans still fighting for justice

Some of the few surviving members of the group of men who witnessed Britain’s nuclear testing programme are still campaigning for justice for what it did to their bodies. The United Kingdom conducted a series of nuclear tests in the…

George Cross of ‘courageous’ WWII spy Noor Inayat Khan goes on display

The George Cross that was awarded posthumously to a Second World War spy has gone on display in a new exhibition in London. Noor Inayat Khan served in occupied Paris with the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) before ultimately giving…

Site of key Middle East battlefield located by archaeologists

The location of a significant battle in the history of the Middle East has been pinpointed by archaeologists. Researchers have identified what they believe to be the location of the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah, which took place in AD 637 The…

War of Words – ‘Amphibious’

With Marc DeSantis

Helen Fry

The historian and best-selling author on her obsession with espionage, and why she will always admire Edith Cavell.

Race for the skies

William Robinson Clarke breached the colour bar to become Britain’s first Black combat pilot. Clive Webb reveals how a chance discovery in the RAF Museum archive allowed his story finally to be told.

Endgame WWII – The key questions: Why was crossing the Rhine so easy?

In the second part of our series marking the 80th anniversary of the last months of World War II, Taylor Downing asks why crossing the Rhine in March 1945 was not the great obstacle that Allied commanders feared.

Turning point: The road to Appomattox – Part 2: 1863

Fred Chiaventone reveals how Abraham Lincoln was forced to reorganise his forces, hoping for better results after a series of stunning reversals.

The Civil War by numbers

Infographics: Calum Henderson / Images: Wikimedia Commons

Once upon a time in America

In our Special Feature for this issue, and over the next two editions of MHM, historian Fred Chiaventone marks the 160th anniversary of the war’s end by tracing the long and painful road to Appomattox – from Southern secession to final surrender.

An Irish Civil War Dugout: Tormore Cave, County Sligo – Archaeology, History, Memory

REVIEW BY DAMIAN SHIELS This book takes as its focus the archaeological excavation of a remote mountain cave used as an IRA hideout in 1922, a location described by the authors as a ‘Civil War time capsule’. The project was…

Fit for an emperor? Excavating a monumental building in Roman Carlisle

Excavations at Carlisle Cricket Club are uncovering the remains of the largest Roman building ever found on Hadrian’s Wall. Carly Hilts visited the site and spoke to Frank Giecco to find out more.

The East India Company: A military history

Infographics: Calum Henderson / Images: Wikimedia Commons

MHM 143 Competition

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

MMH 143 Letters – November

Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.

The keys to victory: Supplying the armies of the British Civil Wars (1639-1653)

The great military encounters of the British Civil Wars have been well documented. But, as David Flintham reveals, issues beyond the battlefield would also prove crucial.

Germany’s ‘Little Dunkirk’: Operation Hannibal, January-May 1945

The Kriegsmarine’s last major military undertaking was the evacuation of more than a million German troops and civilians trapped around the Baltic, as David Porter explains.