OCTOBER 1917 Patrick Mercer uses the first-hand account of a renowned junior officer to report on a grim regimental battle fought in the mud of Broodseinde a century ago. Along with Mons and the Somme, Passchendaele is one of the best-known battles of the First World War. The images of mud, blood, and gore are […]
Articles
Passchendaele, 1917
Martin Marix Evans explores the muddy terrain of the Third Battle of Ypres, the effects it had on the action, and what can be found there today.
Niccolò Machiavelli: the father of Renaissance warfare
Iain King examines the relationship between war and thought in the writings of Niccolò Machiavelli. “Men rise from one ambition to another; first they seek to secure themselves against attack, then they attack others.” – Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, 1532 Machiavelli was many things: a scholar and writer, a spin doctor for the government of his […]
Simon de Montfort, the Battles of Lewes and Evesham, and the birth of parliamentary democracy
Henry III was a believer in the absolute right of kings and did not care for Magna Carta or any early concepts of ‘the king in parliament’. This, coupled with an immense tax burden, led to demands for reform and the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. When Henry reneged on these commitments six years later, the […]
Exploring Medway: Epicentre of a battle that changed the globe
350 years to this day, the Dutch finally withdrew from their daring raid on the Royal Navy’s fleet at Chatham. Also known as the Battle of Medway, the raid resulted in one of the most humiliating defeats the British have ever suffered in domestic waters. The Dutch suffered only minimal losses, capturing and towing away HMS […]
The Royal Navy’s Darkest Day: Medway 1667
Patrick Boniface recalls one of the most humiliating defeats in the history of Britain’s Royal Navy. To the people of Chatham the approaching ships on the River Medway must have looked impressive. Under full sail a Dutch flotilla was racing towards the Royal Navy stronghold intent on causing maximum damage. The June 1667 raid on […]
The myth of the invincible Vikings
The Vikings have a formidable military reputation. But much of this, argues Martyn Whittock, is hype. We need some serious analysis. In AD 866 there were four independent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England. By 874, there was just one. A ‘blitzkrieg’ of Viking attacks had obliterated three kingdoms. In eight short years, the Vikings had […]
Interwar policy and the disaster at Dunkirk, 1940
Outgeneralled, the British Army crashed to defeat before the German Blitzkrieg in May 1940. The greatest defeat in British imperial history, it was the price of interwar conservatism. But the soldiers had fought with gritty determination and most of them were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk. So Britain would survive to fight again. […]
Prince Albert and reform of the Victorian Army
Queen Victoria’s husband was not a military man. But the Crimea turned him into a zealous army reformer. As an armchair strategist, Prince Albert displayed an acute insight into the basic realities of the Crimean conflict. ‘Russia is not to be conquered,’ he wrote to his brother Ernest in Germany, ‘but financially she can be […]
What is the significance of the Dambusters legend?
MHM Editor Neil Faulkner analyses the RAF’s controversial strategic bombing campaign. What is the real significance of the Dambusters legend? James Holland and I clashed on this question on the BBC radio air-waves on 17 May 2013, the 70th anniversary of Operation Chastise, the famous bouncing-bomb raid on the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams. We both agreed […]
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