All articles in Military
7th August, 2018 in Military
Zero hour at Amiens: The dawn of victory in 1918
With zero hour in the Battle of Amiens only minutes away, the infantrymen made their final preparations, both physical and spiritual. Most of these men were fatalists. Months, and, for some, years of carnage had convinced them that there was nothing they could do when the inexora…
18th July, 2018 in Military, Society & Culture
The fall of Tenochtitlan
On 13 August 1521, after over two months of fighting, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés succeeded in bringing about the fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, and consequently brought an end to Aztec civilisation. In the late 1400s and early 1500s a proficie…
10th July, 2018 in Military
Helmet history: Impractical German headdress
We are almost all surrounded by and governed by the need for status. Large businesses and government bureaucracies know this. They use it to control us and motivate us. Only some get large offices, large desks, speaker phones, and secretaries. Fewer still have window offices or p…
9th July, 2018 in Aviation, Military
Bomber Command in the Battle of Britain: Stories of The Many
White vapour trails twisting and turning in an azure sky, Spitfires and Hurricanes roaring through the thin air, bright sunlight glinting off their wings, machine guns spitting out destruction and defiance, grateful crowds far below gazing in awe at the gallant modern-day knights…
22nd June, 2018 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
Mathilde Carré: The Second World War’s ‘exceedingly dangerous woman’
In his book Double Agent Victoire, David Tremain uses official and previously unpublished MI5 documents to explore the betrayal of France’s Interallié network and the woman who served three masters during the Second World War, but ultimately served herself. A cat is mercurial: sh…
21st June, 2018 in Biography & Memoir, History, Military
Robert the Bruce: Earl, outlaw, king
Born in Essex in 1274, Robert the Bruce was a French-speaking Anglo-Norman with enormous estates in England. He was the rightful heir to Alexander III, but Edward I appointed John Balliol as king in his stead. He betrayed William Wallace at the battle of Falkirk and scored one vi…
20th June, 2018 in Military, Transport & Industry
From socks to scout cars: How to supply the army at war
Anything from socks to eighteen inch guns was the business of Ordnance Services in World War One; in World War Two the socks were still there, but the emphasis had moved from massive static guns to mobile armour. Bomber Command had taken over the business of carrying tons of expl…
18th June, 2018 in History, Maritime, Military
England’s first great naval victory
When we think of battles at sea between England and France, our minds tend to be drawn to the Georgian era and the victories of Nelson’s navy. But it is a little-known fact that the first great naval battle in the Channel took place half a millennium earlier, in the summer of 121…
11th June, 2018 in History, Military, Society & Culture
The English Civil War and the rise of journalism
The English Civil War was one of the bloodiest conflicts in Britain’s long history, ending with the execution of King Charles I. What’s lesser known, however, is how the war influenced the evolution of today’s newspapers – something historian Derek J. Taylor has investigated. At…
8th June, 2018 in History, Military, Women in History
The Battle of Tettenhall: Aethelflaed’s greatest victory
On the 8 June 793, Vikings raided the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, bringing about what is largely accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England. 117 years later Gloucester’s own warrior queen, Aethelflaed, fought back. The ruins of Lindisfarne Abbey 1,…
16th May, 2018 in Aviation, Military
Nine things you may not know about the Dambusters
On 16 May 1943, 19 RAF Lancaster aircraft set off to make history in Operation Chastise. The events of the Dams Raid is legendary – from the technical creation of ‘bouncing bombs’ to the top secret strategy of flying at only 60 feet above enemy territory. But what about the…
4th May, 2018 in Biography & Memoir, History, Military
A conflict beyond peacemakers: James I and the Thirty Years’ War
400 years since the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War, John Matusiak discusses King James I of England and VI of Scotland’s relationship with one of the bloodiest conflicts in European history. The moral aversion to warfare so glibly evinced by most modern-day leaders was h…