Seema Syeda watches the premiere of The Head and the Load at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. The past year has seen a whole raft of performance art, poignant memoir, and academic enquiry proliferate across the world stage in commemoration of the centenary of the end of the ‘war to end all wars’. The UK’s own 14-18NOW […]
Articles
Battle Royal: Charles XII of Sweden
Patrick Boniface on the deaths in combat of regal warriors. On 17 June 1682, the Swedish Prince Charles, also known as Carl, became King of Sweden at the age of 15 following the death of his father, Charles XI. During his 36-year reign, Sweden would go on to lose between 10% and 20% of its population […]
Great Explosions! 1500-1945
Since the 15th century, conventional explosives have been used in ever-increasing quantities against key targets. David Porter traces some of the most spectacular episodes in war on land, air, and sea.
Stamford Bridge: the last Anglo-Saxon victory
The Battle of Hastings in 1066 was not only a seminal event in British history, it is also widely regarded as a turning point in military history: the moment when a ‘Dark Age’ way of war based on heavy infantry gave way to a ‘medieval’ way of war based on armoured cavalry. But was this really so? Shift the focus from Hastings, and events take on a new aspect.
MHM October Caption Competition
Think of something appropriately witty for this image from our feature on the Battle of Tunis, 1943, published in the October issue of Military History Monthly. Leave your caption as a comment below. The best caption will be judged by the editorial team and published online!
MHM October Quiz – win a historic warbirds calendar!
Three lucky readers have the chance to win a Historic Warbirds calendar, published by Workman. Battles that altered the course of history. Missions that made servicemen into heroes. Aircraft that brought the Allies to victory. From the renowned military experts at Osprey Publishing, an awe-inspiring and ingeniously designed new calendar explores military aircraft from 1939 to […]
Square Rounds: Review
Teddy Cutler reflects on the magic and madness of the First World War in a review of Square Rounds, now showing at Finborough Theatre, London. Throughout the second act of Square Rounds, Tony Harrison’s play that was first staged at the National Theatre in October 1992, the characters speak, and sometimes sing, a curious refrain. […]
Winner Announced – MHM September Caption Competition
Last month, we asked you to think of something appropriately witty for this image from our feature on Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, published in the September issue of Military History Monthly. We are delighted to announce this month’s winners. WINNER ‘Posing with the world’s largest cigar made Michiel feel very important indeed.’ – Sebastian Wetherall RUNNERS UP: ‘De […]
Battle Royal: Prince George, Duke of Kent
Patrick Boniface on the deaths in combat of regal warriors. The door clicked shut behind him. HRH The Duke of Kent had left the warmth and comfort of his family home in Buckinghamshire. From within, his wife Princess Marina of Greece and his three young children, Edward, Alexandra, and Michael, all watched as he […]
RAF Museum London: into the future
Seema Syeda reviews the newly remodelled RAF Museum. Museums, I thought in a rather prosaic way as I sat underneath the bomb bay of an Avro Vulcan B2 in the RAF Museum’s Hangar 5, usually chronicle the events of the past. Meandering through the corridors of the British Museum, for instance, gazing at the ossified warriors […]