Sappers and Siege engines – Ivan the Terrible Conquers The city of Kazan
The army had been in place under the city walls for weeks. Ivan the Fourth, Tsar of all the Russians, accompanied his force in the…
8 Ways Medieval Crusaders Might Have Thought And Felt About Their Wars
A knight stands on the walls of Jerusalem, staring out at the parched land beyond the city. He is weary from weeks of travel and…
Nine Things the Movie ‘Braveheart’ Got Wrong… And One Thing It Got Right
Mel Gibson’s film Braveheart is both one of the most celebrated and one of the most reviled pieces of historical filmmaking ever. A heart-stirring and…
Preserved – The Humble Building Which Was General Lee’s Headquarters at Gettysburg
The Civil War Trust this year bought the building which served as General Robert E. Lee’s headquarters during the civil war Battle of Gettysburg. Only on…
5 Heroic Last Stands From Military History
Looking throughout history, before the end of the Medieval era, we can find five great last stands with ease. The heroism and self-sacrifice of the…
Disease, Starvation, and the Brutal Russian Winter – Why Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia Failed
In 1812, Napoleon’s Grande Armée (Great Army) invaded Russia. Though made up of about 680,000 soldiers, they lost. Historians have given many reasons as to…
The Mysterious Death of the Legendary Confederate General Stonewall Jackson
While the Battle of Chancellorsville was Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory, it was the beginning of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s ultimate defeat. On May 2, 1863, Confederate…
The Death Of A Medieval Grand Master – An Ancient Order of Knights Falls In A Merciless Last Battle
For more than two hundred years the might of the Order of Teutonic Knights had been steadily growing. It was forged in 1190, in the…
Heroes of America: The Red String Band Rebelled Against the Confederacy in the Civil War
It is easy to think of wars from earlier centuries in rather simplistic terms, especially as they fade further into the past. The American Civil…
The Many Lives of The US Ship Harriet Lane, Which Fired the First Shot of the American Civil War
Late in the day on April 11th, 1861, the ship Nashville was sailing past Charleston harbor. The crew could see a fleet of ships at…
Massive Towers, Unbreakable Walls, Terrifying Siege Engines – This Was The Hundred Years War
As the sun rises over the battlefield, a column of knights gallops towards the assembled infantry. Banners flutter and arrows hurtle through the air as…
Fort Sumter, Where The American Civil War Began, Should be Turned into a National Park
Senator Tim Scott is asking that the location where the Civil War started to be elevated to that of a national park. Scott, a Republican,…