From the Vikings to Vietnam – Five Wars in Which Drugs Fuelled the Fighting
Drugs have a long history as part of war. These days, their main role is a medicinal one, but down the centuries they have often…
Jane Fawcett, The Young British Code Breaker Who Helped Sink the Bismarck
Jane Fawcett was a young London society woman when she began working at Bletchley Park, the headquarters of Britain’s code-breaking efforts in World War II.…
Medal of Honor – John R. Fox Sacrificed Himself by Deliberately Calling an Artillery Strike on his Own Position
John Robert Fox was an American soldier who was killed in action when he deliberately called artillery fire on his own position after his position…
The French “Red Zone” Is So Dangerous, It Still Is A No-Go Area 100 Years After WWI
The Zone Rouge (Red Zone) is a region near Verdun, France spanning some 460 square miles of mostly virgin forest – at least on the…
The Battle of Ortona – When 2,600 Canadian Men Were Sacrificed for a General’s Pride
In December 1943, a group of largely untested Canadians went up against German forces in the Italian town of Ortona. The result was a bloodbath…
The Surrender of Japan Aboard the USS Missouri
Imperial Japan announced its surrender on August 15, 1945. The surrender was formally signed a few weeks later, on September 2, 1945, halting the hostilities…
Five Women Who Played Vital Roles in the American Civil War
While in most modern cultures women have only been permitted to officially participate in warfare for a few decades at most, that has never prevented…
Civil War Spies: The Secret, Underground Peace Societies Of The American Civil War
Though we may think of the South as a unified place in which the Confederacy was born and fought for, it was a place divided…
Commanding Thousands – Approaches to Generalship on Ancient Battlefields
Modern generals are granted access to a multitude of communication and information gathering technologies from satellite imaging to UAVs and infantry equipped with cameras. Ancient…
The Roman Army – Mighty War Machine Of The Ancient World
The Roman army is often remembered as a highly professional force, with legionaries in segmented armour organised into centuries for close order combat. In reality, the…
When Gods Collide – Hannibal and Scipio – Titanic Military Rivalries From The Ancient World
Many years after their last battles had been fought, Hannibal Barca and Publius Cornelius Scipio came face to face in the neutral city of Ephesus,…
The Only American To Fight For Both The U.S. And Russia In WWII
For much of the last 70 years, someone who fought for both America and Russia might bring to mind some Cold War espionage, a double…