Category: Military
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2707 Survive a Siege
The treatise ‘How to Survive Under Siege’ by Aineias Tacticus, is among the earliest treatises to survive from the genre of didactic military literature. Its author was regarded as the pre-eminent authority on military science in subsequent centuries because he wrote many other works. None of these survive. This single surviving treatise (although incomplete) covers…
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2706 Franco-German Rivalry
In the First World War, one of the main aims of the French was to retake the “lost provinces” of Alsace and Lorraine, which had been occupied by the Germans since the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. But this was only one phase of a long cycle of power imbalances leading to invasions and thirst for…
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2705 – The British campaign in Egypt, 1801. part 2
If one was to ask about the contribution of the British army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, some of the immediate responses would concern the Duke of Wellington, the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo. These subjects have acquired great fame over the past two decades, thanks in part to Bernard Cornwall’s…
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2704 – The British campaign in Egypt, 1801. part 1
If one was to ask about the contribution of the British army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, some of the immediate responses would concern the Duke of Wellington, the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo. These subjects have acquired great fame over the past two decades, thanks in part to Bernard Cornwall’s…
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2703 Pontiac’s War
‘The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763 ending the Seven Years War. The victorious British moved west into the Ohio Valley of North America and occupied the forts and outposts of the defeated French. New and drastic policies were instituted on the Native tribes inhabiting the area. These tribes rose up and attacked the…
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2702 – Quintus Sertorius – Reluctant renegade, part 2
Quintus Sertorius could lay claim to a position among the greatest generals of ancient times. A loyal Roman, who lost an eye defending the Roman frontier, fortune then pitted him against the Roman military machine and some of its premier commanders, including Pompey the Great. Having chosen the wrong side of the first civil war,…
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2701 – Quintus Sertorius – Reluctant renegade
Quintus Sertorius could lay claim to a position among the greatest generals of ancient times. A loyal Roman, who lost an eye defending the Roman frontier, fortune then pitted him against the Roman military machine and some of its premier commanders, including Pompey the Great. Having chosen the wrong side of the first civil war,…
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2610 – John Paul Jones: The American War of Independence comes to Britain
Several American privateers sailed across the Atlantic to British waters, seeking prize money for any vessels they could capture. But Captain John Paul Jones of the US Navy was motivated by a belief in liberty, and was determined to raid the British coast in revenge for the British attacks. He is now remembered as the…
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2609 – The Battle of Glen Shiel
This year marks the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Glen Shiel, Scotland’s ‘forgotten’ Jacobite uprising. The anniversary of the battle is June 10 and on Saturday June 8, clansmen, locals and a representative of the Spanish consul marked the date at the site of the battle. Glen Shiel is a unique battleground, one described…
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2608 Magic Weapons and Armour in the Middle Ages, part 2
‘Many ‘magical’ items belong to the stories of Arthur and his knights although their genesis is more complicated. Sir Percival had the shield of Joseph of Arimathea, Gawain had the shield of Judas Maccabeus, Galahad the Shield of king Evalach (which had a cross drawn on it by Joseph of Arimathea in his own blood).…