Military

One of the last battles of the English Civil Wars – the Battle of Surbiton – took place in the county of Surrey, a few miles south of London in 1648.

David Jones describes how romanized Gothic and Vandal leaders overran the capital of a declining Empire in the fifth century.

For Serbs the 1389 Battle of Kosovo was a physical defeat against the Ottoman Turks, but a moral victory that formed the backbone of Serbian national identity.

Four years after William I's conquest of England, writes J.J.N. McGurk, a Lincolnshire thegn named Hereward led a fierce resistance movement against Norman rule.

Judith Mason describes how, in February 1525, Francis I of France was defeated and taken prisoner at Pavia by an Imperial army, led by his rebellious subject the Constable of Bourbon, who later launched an attack upon the Holy City.

David Chandler describes a heroic episode during the War of the Spanish Succession.

C.A. Usher describes how, during the thirteenth century, the divided Principality of Wales succumbed to English Conquest.

Alan Rogers describes how the Welsh fortresses founded by the English King were ‘outlying strongholds thrust into the heart of enemy country.’

Geoffrey Powell describes how, while Napoleon occupied Holland, the British seized the Dutch bases in Ceylon.

Having climbed from partisan leader to king of armies, Brian Boru eventually established himself as the first monarch of a consolidated Ireland.