1401 The Battle of Poltava
The origins of the Great Northern War can be traced back to the Swedish involvement in the Thirty Years War and later in the the First Northern War of 1655-60 between Sweden and…
1310 The Battle for Moscow
On the second of October 1941 the Germans launched Operation Typhoon, an offensive against Moscow, the capital of the USSR. This was off the back of the success of Barbarossa – the invasion…
1309 Cromwell in Ireland, 1649 – 1650
One of the many myths surrounding the controversial Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is one in which he walked out of a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in 1997, because Cook had a…
1308 “Little Boy”
“Little Boy” was the codename for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay. It was the first atomic bomb to be used as…
1307 Wellington’s Generals
We’ve all heard of Napoleon’s Marshal’s; Soult, Ney, Murat and their peers, but scant mention is given to Wellingtons senior officers. This was could be due to Napoleon Marshal’s often having independent commands;…
1306 A Brief History of Artillery
In war it has always been desirable to strike your enemy before they have chance to hit back, as such ranged weapon s such as slings, bows and spears date back millennia. We…
1305 The Battle of St Cast, 1758
On paper, the Battle of Saint Cast looked like it would be nothing other than a resounding British victory. The result however, would be very different and would sound the near end of…
1304 Harry Smith pt2 – South Africa
We left Harry Harry Smith, in the first installment of his life, at the end of the Battle of Waterloo. Harry had joined the 95th Rifle Regiment at the age of 16 or…
1303 Verdun
Even though it can be difficult to define battles in the Great War in the way that shorter engagements such as Agincourt or Gettysburg were defined, it is generally accepted that Verdun ran…
1302 The Battle of Jutland
On May 31, 1916 the British Grand Fleet, steaming in six columns, stretching as far as the eye could see, collided with the German High Seas Fleet off the coast of Denmark. It…
