The August/ September 2026 issue of Military History Matters, the British military history magazine, is out now.
The best way to access the magazine is to subscribe. Click here to find out more. To read the digital archive, click here. You can also access the magazine online (as well as exclusive extra content) at our new website, The Past.
IN THIS ISSUE
AMERICAN THUNDERBOLT
Hastings revisited
As the British Museum welcomes the Bayeux Tapestry to England, Edmund West assesses the latest thinking on 1066 and all that.
‘Destroy the foreigners’
Stephen Roberts tells the story of the Boxer Rebellion, which swept across northern China at the turn of the 20th century.
Seizing the state
Coups were once a common method of changing governments around the world. But, as Nigel Jones explains, they have fallen from fashion in the 21st century.
The Kaiser’s secret weapons
From ‘Big Bertha’ to exploding motor boats, Germany’s military engineers were the source of much innovation during World War I, as David Porter reveals.
Also in this issue:
The latest in our series on classic military history books, War Classics, Book Reviews, Museum Review, Listings, Competitions, and more.
From the editor:
This autumn, the British Museum in London is playing host to one of the most eagerly anticipated exhibitions of recent decades, as the Bayeux Tapestry makes the short hop from its permanent home in Normandy, and returns to England for the first time in nearly 1,000 years.
But as history lovers and British Museum members jostle for early access tickets, exciting new research is also coming to light that challenges some of our longest-held beliefs – both about the Tapestry itself and about the world-changing events that inspired it.
In our cover story, Edmund West reveals the latest thinking about the Norman Conquest. He talks to Tom Licence, the author of an acclaimed new biography of Harold Godwinson, the doomed English king, as he attempts to separate fact from fiction and to take stock of what we really know (as opposed to simply what we think we know) about 1066 and all that.
Elsewhere, in a two-part special feature, Graham Goodlad analyses the rise of American airpower, from perilous early beginnings to Cold War dominance, as he looks at the remarkable people and amazing machines that helped the country to make the leap from biplane to B-52.
Also in this issue, Stephen Roberts considers the Boxer Rebellion, the violent anti-imperialist uprising that swept through northern China at the turn of the 20th century; while military technology expert David Porter uncovers the stories behind some of the groundbreaking innovations made by German military engineers during World War I – from ‘Big Bertha’ and the ‘Paris Gun’ to torpedo gliders and exploding motor boats.
Finally, Nigel Jones examines the curious history of the military coup, and explains why this brutal but oncecommon method of changing governments around the world appears to have fallen from fashion in recent years. We hope you enjoy the issue!
To subscribe to the magazine, click here. To subscribe to the digital archive, click here. You can also access the magazine online (as well as exclusive extra content) at our new website, The Past. Find us on Facebook, Twitter (X), and Instagram.