History | War History

12 Key Moments in the History of Artillery

Greg Jackson

In creating gunpowder weapons, European engineers took a Chinese innovation and made a deadly weapon of war. From the start, this was as much about…

The Major-General In Command Of British Land Forces In The Falklands War Called It “A Very Close-Run Thing”

Greg Jackson

The Falklands War is looked back on by many as a foregone conclusion. Lasting only ten weeks, and it resulted in a clear British victory.…

A Valiant Fight To The Death – 62 Against 3000

Gabe Christy

“These are not men; they are demons!” This was Mexican Colonel Francisco De Paulo Milan’s response when presented with the only French survivors of the…

Outnumbered Ten To One – Glorious Defeat At The Battle Of Maiwand – They Rallied To The Flag Until There Was No One Left

Jack Beckett

It was the 27th of July, 1880. In the incredible heat of the high Afghan summer, an army of two and a half thousand men…

Honda Point Disaster: Where 7 Destroyers and 23 Sailors Were Lost In The Largest Peacetime Loss Of U.S. Navy Ships

Greg Jackson

Point Pedernales in Santa Barbara, California is also called Honda Point, but the Spanish who discovered it in the 16th century named it the Devil’s…

How WWII American Soldiers Provided Fun At Christmas For British Orphans

When the United States Army first landed in Great Britain in 1942,it took many months to bring them all in, brief them and organize them…

Corporal Dunham: First Marine to Receive Medal of Honor Since Vietnam – Jumped on a Grenade To Save His Fellow Marines

Jeff Edwards

In the decades following the Vietnam War, there would be conflict, battle, and loss of life.  But for the United States Marine Corps whose tradition…

Newly restored Messerschmitt Bf109G flies again: Test pilot shares his experience

War History Online proudly presents this Guest Piece from Rick Volker. It was a most unexpected phone call that shook me out of my well organized…

Out of fuel: Pilot Landed on a Container Ship – The Ship Claimed the Plane Under Salvage Rights (Watch)

An unusual incident involving a container ship and an aircraft from a nearby aircraft carrier occurred in June 1983, when NATO countries were staging an…

How The Royal Navy Fed Its Sailors Over 200 Years Ago

Gabe Christy

An army marches on its stomach, and while a Navy sails on the sea, its sailors still need feeding. In the 1790s and early 1800s,…

The Battle Of Marignano: The Reason For Almost 500 Years Of Swiss Neutrality

In November of 2016, Switzerland will have had a strict policy of neutrality for five centuries. Even during the World Wars, Switzerland was able to…

Retreat Does Not Always Mean Defeat – Epic Retreats From Military History

Shahan Russell

In war, retreats aren’t always about defeat. Sometimes, they’re a deliberate tactic to gain more defensible ground, consolidate forces, encircle an enemy, or lead them…