William Mclaughlin

William Mclaughlin is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE

Articles by William Mclaughlin:

The Fall of the Aztecs, The Bloody Path to Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan was an absolutely amazing city. The city was larger than any in Europe at the time and held approximately 200,000 people with some estimates…

The Most Terrible, Deadliest Sieges Before the 19th Century

Sieges throughout history were awful affairs. Unlike Field Battles, Sieges involved civilians, as well as numerous ways to die over long periods of time. Starvation…

Sons of Mars: Early Formative Events that Shaped the Roman Empire

How exactly were the Romans able to rise from a small trading settlement near a ford in the Tiber to establishing an empire that stretched…

Sparta: Growth Of An Empire – It Is Widely Known That The Spartans Produced Some Of The Most Brutally Efficient Warriors Of All Time

It is widely known that the Spartans produced some of the most brutally efficient warriors of all time, but how did they gain that reputation?…

Alexander’s Masterpiece: Gaugamela – Defeating The Persians, 331 BC

In the countless theoretical lists of best generals of all time, Alexander the Great is often at or very near the top, in fact, such…

How Scipio Defeated Hannibal And His Elephants and Earned the Name Africanus

Scipio Africanus was only of the most talented generals in the ancient world. He was barely an adult when Hannibal invaded Italy. He fought in…

1453: The Fall of Constantinople and the end of the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire didn’t end with the 476 depositions of the Western Emperor Romulus or the Fall of Rome. It continued with solid momentum in…

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden – Fierce General and Master of Early Gunpowder Tactics

We all know that gunpowder weapons exploded onto the scene in the middle ages and changed warfare forever. But how exactly did they change battles…

Great Sieges of the Ancient World: Tarentum

The siege and battles of Tarentum were an underappreciated and often forgotten aspect of the second Punic War.The second Punic war between Carthage and Rome…

Rome’s Worst Defeat: The Battle of Cannae 216 B.C.E.

The battle of Cannae was an almost perfect tactical victory for Hannibal Barca. Facing a Roman army almost twice the size on a level field,…

AD 732, Battle of Tours: Charles Martel the ‘Hammer’ Holds The Line Of Battle

Few Empires emerged as quickly as that of the Muslim Caliphates. Bursting out from what is now Saudi Arabia in the mid-7th century, the Islamic…

The Battle Of Marignano: The Reason For Almost 500 Years Of Swiss Neutrality

In November of 2016, Switzerland will have had a strict policy of neutrality for five centuries. Even during the World Wars, Switzerland was able to…