Leonidas I, Sparta’s Greatest Warrior King
King Leonidas I is the most famous general in the history of Sparta, and perhaps the whole of Greece. Disappointingly little is known about the…
The Teutonic Knights, The Hospitallers, And The Templars: Massive Battle of Tannenberg, 1410
The Crusades were monumental military efforts to secure the lands around Jerusalem. Two orders of warrior monks, the Templars, and Hospitallers, had great successes in…
Battle of Agincourt – The English Really Should Have Lost, But They Won
The Battle of Agincourt is an iconic moment in English military history. On 25 October 1415, an army of English raiders under Henry V faced…
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, Rome’s Greatest Defeat And The Broken Remnants of a Glorious Army
Varus was crushed. His feet and hands and mind were numb with the freezing rain. His legions, so splendid and untouchable only days before, were…
The Nika Riots: Sports Riots that Nearly Toppled an Empire
Today soccer is unequivocally the most popular sport in a world with countless different sports vying for fans. In the ancient world there were not…
1571 Battle of Lepanto: The Pope’s Naval Crusade – Destroying the Ottoman Empire Naval Supremacy
The Ottoman Empire grew from being a minor power in modern Turkey to controlling much of the Middle East and Eastern Europe. By 1453, they…
Elite Cavalry Units of the Ancient World – They Were Very Effective
Prior to gunpowder and efficient pike squares, cavalry had a key impact on the battlefield. Cavalry was utilized differently based on their training, equipment, and…
The Pros and Cons of Ancient War Elephants
Elephants are generally peaceful and majestic creatures but throughout history, their size and power were used with devastating results on the battlefield. With the adoption…
Hannibal Barca was Rome’s Greatest Enemy – But He Couldn’t Win the War for Carthage
Hannibal Barca inflicted one of the worst defeats ever suffered by the Roman army at the battle of Cannae. Nearly 70,000 men were killed in…
The Battle of Leuctra: Crushing the Spartans and the Birth of the Echelon Formation
The echelon formation is a solid staple in the modern military and police world. Fighter jets use this diagonal formation to maintain visibility while maximizing…
The Battle of Pharsalus: How Caesar Won a Civil War While Outnumbered Two to One
The Battle of Pharsalus was one of the most important in Julius Caesar’s career. Fought on the 9th of August 48 BC, it was the…
Formidable Melee Weapons of Ancient Warfare
In modern warfare, hand to hand combat is a last resort, with combat knives coming out either in stealth missions or in extremely close quarters…