The Viking Mercenaries of the Byzantine Empire – The Varangian Guard
The Byzantines Hired Viking Mercenaries as Guards The relationship between the Byzantine Emperors and their Varangian Guard was a complex affair. The Byzantines were first…
The Battle of Tinchebray and the Conquest of Normandy (1106)
The future of Normandy and England lies in the hands of the three sons of William the Conqueror. The Normand Dynasty of William the Conqueror…
The Real Assassins – Legends – History and Myths
Who were the Order of the Assassins? The year is 1090. A secret order later referred to as the Order of the Assassins begins it’s…
The Knights Templar – The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Crusader Order
A crimson cross emblazoned on a white background; a simple design, perhaps, but behind it lies one of the most remarkable stories in the history…
The Battle of Morgarten – against all the Odds, One Small Army Changes the Course of Military History
The supremacy of heavy cavalry and mounted knights on the battlefield came to an end one cold November morning in 1315, and it began with…
The Battle of Arsuf – To Win the Day, One Man Must Defy His Own King
Beneath the relentless beating of the midday sun, under a seemingly endless rain of arrows, The Grand Master’s patience had all but run out. Garnier…
Krak des Chevaliers – The Impenetrable Castle, Captured With A Single Sheet of Paper
A hulking edifice of sun-bleached stone, Krak des Chevaliers loomed against a clear blue sky. How many men had died to hold those walls, and…
Single Combat At The Siege of Bayonne, 1131AD
Pedro de Lara was bored. His had lived a full life, a life of personal pride and skill at arms, of politics, wine and of…
The Night Attack – Vlad the Impaler ambushes the Ottoman Sultan
Mehmet II, known as Mehmet the Conqueror, was one of the greatest military commanders of his day. The Ottoman Empire under his rule was vast,…
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…
The beginning of the end for the Teutonic Knights, Grunwald 1410
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…
The Battle of Pliska – a Byzantine military disaster
Though they clung to the name of the Roman Empire, the Byzantines never achieved the glory of their predecessors. Theirs was an empire in slow…