5 Epic Retreats In Military History
Can a retreat ever be considered a success? Most are a sign of failure, as armies pull back from the objectives they seek to take…
Circumvallation: How the Romans Mastered Surrounding Towns To Conquer Populations
Of all the armies of the ancient world, the Romans did the most spectacular job of combining military might with engineering skill. This was repeatedly…
10 Medieval Knightly Orders – And What Made Each One Unique
Combining knightly warfare and a monastic lifestyle, the knightly crusading orders were one of the strongest institutions of medieval Europe. Through them, men sought a…
How Muslims Responded To The Crusades
For Muslims living in the Holy Land, the arrival of Christian crusaders from the late 11th century onwards was hugely disruptive. It brought misery to…
The Red Baron: Manfred von Richthofen, Famed WW1 Flying Ace
The greatest fighter ace of the First World War, Manfred von Richthofen, was born on the 2nd of May 1892. Becoming an officer cadet at…
Underground Warfare: Great Military Mines From Ancient Times To World War One
Since ancient times, armies have dug mines beneath the defenses of enemy fortresses and cities. Some have been staggering feats of engineering, some examples of…
Napoleon’s Great Military Innovations Might Not Have Been As Original They Seemed
The success of Napoleon Bonaparte stands as a testament to his extraordinary talent as a general. For twenty years, his armies dominated the battlefields of…
Joachim Peiper’s Atrocities Against Allied Troops: When Intimidation Failed
The forces of Nazi Germany are infamous for the atrocities they committed. The SS, who played a dual role, both acting as frontline troops and…
How Napoleon Managed His Vast Armies
The wars fought by Napoleon Bonaparte were like nothing that had ever come before. His armies were vast in scale and constant in their activity,…
7 Types of Medieval Armor – From Quilted Cloth to Full Steel Plate
More than any other artifact of war, armor dominates visual images of medieval Europe. From the chainmail carefully stitched onto each warrior in the Bayeux…
9 Factors That Caused The First Crusade – It Was Not As Simple As It Seems Today
On the surface, the First Crusade looks like something with a simple cause – the hatred of one religious group for another. In reality, the…
The Battle of the Bulge: A Doomed And Desperate Gamble At The End Of World War Two
A desperate gamble by a struggling army, the Battle of the Bulge was Hitler’s last great attempt to end the Second World War on terms…