Ex-Mercenaries Who Became Leaders in the English Civil Wars
At the outbreak of the English Civil Wars (1642-51), the country did not have the military experience and fearsome reputation it would later gain. The…
The Grand Old Duke of York: A British Military Reformer
The grand old Duke of York He had ten thousand men He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them…
Solid as a Rock: Holding Gibraltar Against All The Odds
Gibraltar is a small place, but it is full of history. Its total area is only 2.6 square miles, and this tiny landscape is dominated by…
Totally Outgunned This Revenue Cutter Took Down one of the Largest French privateers in the Caribbean
There are few moments in Naval History which better demonstrate how tenacity and skill can outweigh size and strength than the story of the Pickering…
Meet Chief Dog Sinbad, The Cheerful and Brave Coast Guard Mascot of WW2
The Coast Guard Cutter Campbell steamed out from New York in the winter of 1937. Like most peacetime cutters, she was patrolling the American coast,…
Camp X – The Allies’ Secret Training School for World War II Spies and Elite Agents
On the shores of Lake Ontario between Whitby and Oshawa is an area now known as Intrepid Park. Very little of what remains today hints at…
The Ranger and the Drake: John Paul Jones Brings the American Revolution to Britain
Early in the morning of April 24, 1778, a strange ship lay at anchor just off of Carrickfergus, Ireland. HMS Drake, the nearest English ship…
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade – US Citizens Who Fought Against Fascism in Spain
During the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939) a call went out from the Republican forces for communists and socialists around the world to come…
Military Reforms of King Henry The Eighth – He Built Up A Modern Fighting Force In Medieval England
When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, he inherited a nation that was not strong in war. England’s recent wars had mostly been…
The Jokyu Rebellion: How Japan’s Imperial Family Failed to Retake Control of Their Nation
When a rebellion breaks out in an empire, it is usually against the emperor. During the Jokyu Rebellion of 1221, the Japanese Imperial family rebelled…
A 20th-Century Siege in 1809: The Second Siege of Zaragoza
Many consider bitter house to house fighting to be a 20th-century invention, and a 21st-century norm. But in 1809 one Spanish city, Zaragoza, resisted French…
The Allies’ Secret Mustard Gas Cargo Made the Attack on Bari an Even Worse Disaster
On December 2, 1943, Germany launched an air attack on the Italian town of Bari on the Adriatic coast. The town was important strategically as…