Why the US Coast Guard Goes To (Mock) War With American Citizens Every Year
The United States Coast Guard is, as the name implies, tasked with protecting and guarding Americans. Every year, however, this small branch of the military…
Fast Facts – History of the Hand Grenade – An Essential Infantry Weapon In Modern Warfare
Hand grenades play an important part in modern war as lightweight and hard-hitting infantry weapons. But their development hasn’t been a steady one, and for…
Poetic Justice and the Plot to Kill Hitler
Poetic justice is when the good are rewarded and the evil punished. It usually comes about by an ironic twist of fate. It happened to…
Massively Super-Sized Siege Guns From World War One And Two
In the 19th century, transport limitations restricted the size of artillery. If a piece of equipment could not be pulled by horses, then it could…
When Napoleon Invaded Russia, Freezing Weather And Determined Defenders Drove Him Back
Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia is one of the most famous campaigns of his career. It was extraordinary for many reasons. The Size of the…
A Real Life Weapon Of Legend: Greek Fire
Greek fire was a real weapon which has achieved near-legendary status. An incendiary device deployed against advancing Arabs by the defenders of Constantinople; it became…
The Fokker Scourge: Imperial Germany’s Secret Weapon in the First World War
When World War 1 Broke out in 1914, most nations were ill-equipped for a sustained aerial war. The Treaty of Madrid, in 1911, outlined aircraft…
Get Out of Jail Free – How Monopoly Helped Allied POWs Escape
Imagine the following scenario: you’re with the Allies during WWII. Fortunately, your side eventually won. Unfortunately, you’ve ended up in a Nazi POW camp before…
The Submachine Gun – An Infantry Weapon Which Changed The Face Of Warfare
From the First World War to the Second World War, the submachine gun played an important part in infantry fighting. A small machine gun firing…
Canadian Pilot Alan McLeod Took Down Enemy Planes Even as He Crashed
Bored with life in his small town, Alan Arnett McLeod wanted to fight and fly. So they let him, and fight he did in the most…
Building Armies in the Harsh World of Medieval England
Recruiting an army could be a difficult business in the Middle Ages. Most people’s lives consisted of farming small patches of land. When people didn’t…
Sidney Reilly: The Ace Of Spies
A man of many talents, Sidney Reilly, was perhaps the first well-known spy figure of the 20th century whose incredible exploits were always on the…