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…
Courage And Valour – New Zealanders In The Italian Campaign of WWII
The largely forgotten story of New Zealand’s contribution to the liberation of Italy between 1943 and 1945 is being told in a free podcast series…
The Nizam-I Cedid Army and the end of Selim III
War History Online proudly presents this Guest Piece from Taşkın Bora Dayangaç The Birth of Reformation The Nizam-ı Cedid Army was created to reform the Ottoman…
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…
Australian Keith Payne Was Awarded The Victoria Cross for Great Heroism in Vietnam
The 1960’s war in Vietnam has long been remembered as a conflict fought primarily by the United States of America. What is often lost in…
Life at Thélepte, a US Air Base in WWII North Africa in World War Two
Over the winter of 1942-3, American pilots spent several months based at the airfield at Thélepte in North Africa. It was a difficult posting, one…
Alexander Bonnyman: From a Miner’s Life to the Pacific
To emerge victorious from a global war, a nation must not only produce gallant warriors for the battlefield, but they must maintain an unprecedented level…
A Desperate Fight to the Death: RMS Carmania Vs. SMS Cap Trafalgar 1914
In September 1914, WWI had only just begun. Europe was plunged headlong into the greatest conflict yet seen, but a victory for either side was…
When One Man Attacked The USA With His Militia at His Back – Pancho Villa
In 1916 WWI was ravaging Europe. Neutral countries were on edge, striving to stay out of the conflict. Then the southern border of the United…
Going Nuclear – Germany and Japan Fail to Build the Bomb in WWII
Japan’s war machine was designed for offense, not defense. During the war years, planes had a very limited range, which made the Japanese islands almost…
The Battle of Wavre – Ten Miles From Waterloo, Another Battle May Have Sealed Napoleon’s Fate
The long struggle of the Napoleonic wars famously culminated in the Battle of Waterloo. Undoubtedly Napoleon Bonaparte’s greatest defeat, this engagement would signal the end…
The Polish Thermopylae: 800 vs 42,000 at Wizna, 1939
As German troops poured across the border into Poland in 1939, one Polish captain, 40 miles from the front line, prepared for what he knew…