As this month is African History month, I decided to take my historical specialty; warfare, and see how it worked in Africa. While there is plenty of information out there, warfare in Africa isn’t a generally well known topic, at least outside of Egypt, Carthage, and post-colonial periods. So my goal is to take a … More Warfare In Precolonial Africa
This week in Asian history month I will be covering one of the important events in the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – the Long March. The Long March ensured the survival of the CCP and capitulated Mao Zedong to the front of the party’s leadership. Due to this importance, the events of … More China’s Long March: The Facts and the Myths.
With the Korean Peninsula being ever present in current media I feel it is necessary to understand some background of both North and South Korea. The Korean War is perhaps the greatest level of tension the world has experienced since World War II. As Malkasian argues it was the closest the world has ever been … More The Korean War
The battle of Caporetto also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo River was fought between the Central Powers, Austro-Hungarian and German forces and the 2nd Italian Army. The ultimate result of the battle was a disastrous loss of life, organisation, equipment and territory for the Italians. Yet it was several factors which resulted … More Italy goes down at Caporetto
This post will document the Czech/Slovak resistance to Nazism in Czechoslovakia during the Second World War. It was a time of great struggle for the people of Czechoslovakia under the Munich Agreement of 1938 the area of Sudetenland (today in the Czech Republic) on the borders of Bavaria, Saxony and Lower Silesia now Poland was … More The Path to Operation Anthropoid
Today I bring you an idea I borrowed from a history magazine I found at work (I am not sure if it was BBC history or History Extra, but it must have been one or the other). There were a few pages dedicated to armed conflicts with some pretty silly or bizarre names. Now their … More Conflicts with Funny Names
I think it best I preface this with some definitions otherwise someone will revolt. Second International= Organisation of Socialist and Labour parties. ISB= International Socialist Bureau- Permanent organisers of the above. ISC= International Socialist Comission- Like the above but friendly to the Zimmerwald Movement. SDP= Social Democrat Party- just testing you on this one! This was the state … More The Zimmerwald Movement: Why you shouldn’t bring socialism to the dinner table.
Espionage is not always the first topic that comes to mind when thinking about World War Two. In fact, most World War espionage stories are most likely still untold. Yet, espionage was massively signifcant when referring to the successes of the British Army. Britain’s Special Operations Executive (S.O.E), active between 1940 and … More Britain’s secret World War Heroines: Female Espionage in World War II
In A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway described the desolate environment of the Soča Valley: “There was fighting for that mountain too … the branches were bare and the trunks black with rain. The vineyards were thin and bare-branched too and all the country wet and brown and dead with autumn.” It is hard to … More THE ELEVENTH BATTLE OF THE ISONZO: A FORGOTTEN SACRIFICE?
Since before 3500 BC people have been putting defensive walls around their settlements. As I’m sure you all know, these pesky walls and fortifications can be a real pain when you want to get inside somewhere for whatever reason. Maybe you’re at war with the occupants, maybe they have something of yours, like some loot … More Siege Warfare Through the Ages – Which Siege Tactics Are Right For You?
