The Rise and Fall of the US Army Camel Corps
The vast deserts of the American West posed logistical problems for the US Army. Camels offered a novel solution.
Military
‘The Maginot Line’ by Kevin Passmore review
The Maginot Line: A New History by Kevin Passmore confronts the myths surrounding the fall of France in 1940.
Was Dunsterforce a Disaster?
At the end of the First World War a British force under Major-General Lionel Dunsterville launched a daring campaign to cut off Ottoman oil supplies at Baku.
The Battle of Stamford Bridge
On 25 September 1066 the ‘Viking Age’ came to a close when Harold Hardrada was slain at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
The Ancient Greek World at War
For the ancient Greeks, the Peloponnesian War was a conflict involving the entire world. For Thucydides, it was a lesson in the realities of human nature
Ship Shape: British Naval Strategy After Napoleon
British military engagement in northwest Europe did not pause after Waterloo and resume in 1914. The intervening century saw fluctuations in French power – and the creation of a strategic system to control it.
Italian Emigrant Soldiers in the First World War
Italy’s entry into the Great War in 1915 prompted 300,000 men to return to their homeland to join the fight. Were they Italian enough for Italy?
Cannibal Crusaders
Reports from the First Crusade brought tales of victorious Christian soldiers eating dead bodies.
‘Hitler’s Deserters’ by Douglas Carl Peifer review
Hitler’s Deserters: Breaking Ranks with the Wehrmacht by Douglas Carl Peifer surfaces the stories of those who sought to sit out the Second World War.
The Fall of Saigon
The Vietnam War effectively ended on 30 April 1975 with the arrival of the North Vietnamese army in Saigon. Thousands fled the city, but many more were left behind.