This image shows the remains of a horse excavated recently from a trench at Mont-Saint-Jean Farm in Waterloo, Belgium. The farm was the site of a field hospital for the Duke of Wellington’s troops in the aftermath of the battle…
With Marc DeSantis
A further 9,000 names are to be added to the Bomber Command archive, in a project that has been described as a ‘labour of love’ by its head. The Losses Database, launched 12 years ago, already contains information about the…
It is one of the oldest and most mysterious battlefields in Europe. But new research into arrowheads dating from the 13th century BC has revealed more about who was involved. The Tollense Valley in the northern German state of Mecklenburg…
In 1809, a young Royal Navy midshipman, Charles Hare, made a daring escape from a Napoleonic prison – with a French uniform as his disguise and a dog in tow. Now, two centuries later, Hare’s uniform, along with a fascinating…
Alost British submarine has been found in the Aegean Sea. HMS Trooper struck a mine on 7 October 1943, causing what has been described as an ‘immediate and rapid sinking.’ All 64 men and officers on board lost their lives,…
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyō, a group that represents survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. The organisation received the award for ‘demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never…
Frank Richards holds a unique place in military writing, for several reasons. His book Old Soldiers Never Die is reckoned to be among the finest war memoirs ever produced, and one of very few to be written by a private soldier. Richards was himself a rarity, having survived active service from the beginning of the First World War in 1914 right through to its conclusion in November 1918.
MHM’s round-up of the latest military history releases.
REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD It is now three years since Bristol University historian Ronald Hutton’s The Making of Oliver Cromwell appeared. That earlier volume took Britain’s first commoner head of state from his origins as a minor East Anglian landowner…
REVIEW BY JONATHAN EATON The legacy of the Vietnam War continues to haunt American policymakers for the example it provides of a major power drawn gradually yet inexorably into a grinding conflict with no clear pathway for withdrawal. Claiming to…
REVIEW BY MARC DESANTIS Alexander of Macedonia is known as the Western world’s greatest conqueror. Not for nothing has he been given, since antiquity, the appellation ‘the Great’. In just 11 years, he drove his army of superb cavalry and…
REVIEW BY TAYLOR DOWNING The military historian Peter Caddick-Adams has written this witty and enjoyable political biography of Winston Churchill. Unlike the multivolume authorised biography written mostly by Sir Martin Gilbert – which contained more than three million words –…
REVIEW BY RP This book takes on a challenging and complex period of British history, beginning with the political upheaval of the 3rd century, and ending with the arrival of St Augustine in 597. The long, entangled tale of emperors,…
Archaeological investigations in south Lincolnshire, linked to the ‘Digging Market Garden’ project, have uncovered objects relating to one of the largest airborne assaults in history – as well as some unexpected medieval finds. Operation Market Garden was an attempt by…
On a cold March day in 1995, fortune blessed me. I had written to the ancient historian N G L Hammond to see if he might meet me. He was 87, so it was a long shot. Not only did…
Graham Goodlad analyses the clashes that made Napoleon’s name as a soldier of genius.
In our special two-part feature in this issue, Graham Goodlad explores, first, the part played by Napoleon’s generalship in his progress from unknown artillery officer to ruler of France. Then he analyses in depth two battles Napoleon fought in his 1796-1797 Italian campaign.
Infographics: Calum Henderson
The use of ‘native levies’ has long been a feature of foreign wars – but their employment and their sacrifice reached a peak during the British colonial era. Stephen Roberts uncovers a forgotten story.
Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition.
From Burma to Iwo Jima, armoured fighting vehicles played a key role in some of World War II’s most challenging environments. Our military technology expert David Porter takes notes.
TAYLOR DOWNING reviews the latest film releases
Flavius Aetius is little known today, unlike his nemesis Attila the Hun. But, says Tim Newark, it was the Roman general who triumphed over his notorious adversary in a battle that decided the fate of the Roman Empire.
In the last part of our series marking the 150th birthday of Winston Churchill, Taylor Downing examines his relationships with some of the brilliant mavericks who contributed to final victory during World War II.
Any novelist approaching a publisher with an idea for a series of stories centred around a cowardly, bullying racist, who is also a serial philanderer, would nowadays be very quickly shown the door. Yet George MacDonald Fraser achieved celebrity and surprising academic respect for just such a series, which consisted of 12 books published between 1969 and 2005.
MHM’s round-up of the latest military history titles
REVIEW BY CALUM HENDERSON Lionel Watson was already married with four children when he murdered Phyllis Crocker, a woman he had met the previous year at the Hoover Factory in west London, in May 1941. He lied to eighbours that…
REVIEW BY ANDREW MULHOLLAND History is usually about people, while military strategy tends not to be, and can sometimes seem rather dry. This book by Phillips O’Brien reminds us that it is leaders who actually determine strategy, with all of…
REVIEW BY NICK HEWITT No matter how long you study a subject, there is always something new to learn, and this reviewer learned a great deal from Michael Barritt’s excellent account of ‘how Thomas Herd made hydrographic capability a crucial…
REVIEW BY STEPHEN ROBERTS One of the shoutouts on the cover of Dan Jones’ new biography of Henry V is courtesy of Dan Snow, which tickled me as I know the two historians have been mistaken for one another on…
With Marc DeSantis
David Porter on Military History's doomed inventions.
A new model of Robert the Bruce, produced from a cast of his skull, has gone on display for the first time to mark the 750th anniversary of his birth. The 3D reconstruction of the medieval Scottish king is the…
A British troopship sunk during the First World War has been located off the coast of Greece. Nearly 300 men were lost after SS Arcadian was torpedoed by a U-boat in spring 1917, although one former Titanic passenger who was…
A secret bunker used by Winston Churchill during the Second World War was disguised as a decorative garden, new research has revealed. Archaeological work at the site in Uxbridge, west London, has established it had numerous defences against both aerial…