Military

Had Napoleen been killed or taken prisoner on his way to Egypt, writes W.A.P. Phillips, there would have been no Consulate and no Empire.

Under Alexander I, writes Michael Jenkins, a ferocious martinet overshadowed Russian life.

On April 19th, 1775, the fatal clash took place, on the Common of a small Massachusetts town, between British troops and local militia. From this village battle the American War of Independence took its start. John A. Barton queries whether the clash was deliberately organized by “Patriot” leaders in order to provoke an incident, after which there could be no retreat?

Like other Indian nations before them, the Sioux in 1876 took up arms to defend their traditional way of life and “sold their land dearly.” During this hopeless conflict, a gallant but showy American cavalry officer fought his last battle.

During a short-lived phase of expansionism the United States wrested Cuba and the Philippines from their Spanish rulers. 

While Britain was engrossed in the struggle with Napoleon, writes J. Mackay Hitsman, a defensive war with the United States was fought along the frontiers of Upper and Lower Canada.

In the struggle for the New World, writes Arnold Whitridge, France had no more gallant soldier.

In the belief that either Britain or France was about to wrest California from Mexico, writes G.G. Hatheway, an American Commodore in 1842 attempted the venture himself, with some ludicrous results.

In 1836, after a short but violent struggle, conspicuously mismanaged on both sides, Texas wrested its independence from Mexico, which had itself secured its independence from Spain only fifteen years earlier.

Esmond Wright offers the second part of his study of the early 20th century American president and moralist.