MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History1 min read
Faces Of War
The Vietnam War was a controversial conflict, and if there was one person involved in it who attracted controversy, it was South Vietnamese First Lady Tran Le Xuan, known as Madame Nhu. The sister-in-law of South Vietnam’s President Ngo Dinh Diem, Nh
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History2 min read
Weapons Check War Hammer
The war hammer, as crude as it seems, was a practical solution to a late-medieval arms race between offense and defense. From the 14th century, steel plate armor spread amongst the warrior classes. The angled and hardened surfaces of plate armor were
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History10 min readInternational Relations
Reprisals In War: A Result Of Lawful Force Or War Crime?
One of the most iconic paintings to depict the horrors of war is Francisco Goya’s The Third of May 1808, which depicts an incident during the Peninsular War against Napoleon in Spain. The nighttime scene of a group of Spanish civilians facing executi
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History8 min read
Hidden Histories
By Erwin Rommel Translated & edited by Zita Steele Fletcher & Co. Publishers, 2023, 394 pgs, $35.99 Reviewed by Jerry Morelock “Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!” shouts a triumphant U.S. Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. (as played by
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History3 min readLeadership
Why We Need The Great Men Of History
Those who study warfare will inevitably run into the so-called “great man theory” of history. Simply put, it denotes the study of individual leaders and their abilities. In earlier times, scholars adhered to this school of thought as explaining the e
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History12 min read
Becoming The Desert Fox
In late October 1917, a detachment of German mountain troopers weary from hard Alpine fighting on the Isonzo front were crossing the river Torre with a group of Italian prisoners. The ordinarily calm waters of the river had swollen into a raging floo
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History11 min read
His Honor On The Line
Even though it officially lasted 116 years, the Hundred Years War was really just part of a long-running rivalry over land, power and inheritance between England and France that one may say, allowing for interruptions, raged from the Norman invasion
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History1 min read
How Many Confirmed Air Combat Victories Did The Red Baron Achieve?
For more, visit HISTORYNET.COM/MAGAZINES/QUIZ HISTORYNET ANSWER: THE FAMED FLYING ACE, WHOSE REAL NAME WAS MANFRED VON RICHTHOFEN, IS OFFICIALLY CREDITED WITH 80 AIR COMBAT VICTORIES BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 1916 AND APRIL 1918. HE ALSO HAD NUMEROUS UNCONFI
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History7 min read
Recollections Of An Officer Of Napoleon’s Army
One of the finest, most revealing and genuinely authentic accounts of the French Army of Napoleon Bonaparte (from May 18, 1804, Emperor Napoleon I) are the memoirs written by an officer who served in it as an infantry captain through numerous campaig
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History8 min read
Top 10 Game-changing Weapons Debuted In The 19th Century
Patented on Feb. 25, 1836, Samuel Colt’s five-shooter—the world’s first commercially practical revolver—took its name from the factory where it was mass produced, the Patent Arms Co. in Paterson, New Jersey. It met with a lukewarm reception until 183
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History2 min read
Battle Hymn Of The Republic
The lyrics to America’s most famous marching song of the Civil War were written when their author was half-asleep and first sold to a magazine for the whopping sum of five dollars. Julia Ward Howe had been visiting Washington, D.C. in November 1861 w
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History11 min read
A Victorious Sword
Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, Muslim Sultan of Egypt and Syria, known to the west as Saladin, is certainly one of the most durably famous historical figures from the period of the Crusades. His political and military skills won him the admiration of
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History1 min read
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MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History4 min read
Belly Dancers At War
In 1942, British authorities in Cairo arrested an Egyptian dance superstar for espionage. Her name was Hekmet Fahmi. Allegedly a nationalist with connections to Anwar el-Sadat, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and members of the Egyptian revolutionary Free Office
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History1 min read
Culture Of War
This Japanese kawari-kabuto, or individualized helmet, dating from the 17th century sports the shape of a crouching rabbit forged from a single piece of iron. The helmet’s ear guards are shaped like ocean waves. Rabbits are commonly depicted with wav
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History11 min read
Lee’s Last Gamble
Throughout the afternoon of Saturday, April 8, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, accompanied by his second in command, Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet, rode west along the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road amid Longstreet’s slow-moving trains. Behind th
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History11 min read
The 1914 Christmas Truce Myth
Over the Christmas period in 1914, fraternization took place in No Man’s Land between British and German soldiers at St. Yvon in Belgium. Memorials in the Belgian villages of St. Yvon and Messines commemorate a football game played between the Britis
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History1 min readInternational Relations
Battle Schemes
When the devastating Pearl Harbor raid made the United States’ entry to World War II official, aircraft recognition became vital for home defense. Between the U.S. Army Air Force’s Ground Observer Corps and thousands of civilian volunteers, about 1,5
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History2 min read
Flashback
On April 14, 1865, audiences gathered to watch the play “Our American Cousin” in Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary to happen. It was Good Friday. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Union Lt.
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History1 min read
At The Front
A group of concealed German snipers opens machine gun fire on crowds taking part in the Parade of Liberation in Paris in August 1944 from a nest atop the Arc de Triomphe. American GIs below quickly dispatched the gunmen. ■
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History1 min read
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History
MICHAEL A. REINSTEIN CHAIRMAN AND PUBLISHER ZITA BALLINGER FLETCHER EDITOR JON GUTTMAN SENIOR EDITOR JERRY MORELOCK SENIOR EDITOR BRIAN WALKER GROUP DESIGN DIRECTOR ALEX GRIFFITH DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY CLAIRE BARRETT NEWS AND SOCIAL EDITOR RICK BRIT
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History15 min read
Custer’s Last Decision
When it comes to George A. Custer and the June 25, 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, everyone seems to be an “expert”. Even those who may never have read a single book on the battle seem convinced they know exactly why Custer lost the western fronti
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History2 min read
The Form And Function Of The Shield
Shields have existed for as long as warfare has. The function of a shield is to protect its wielder from bodily harm, such as from blunt weapons, edged weapons, polearms, projectiles and other dangers introduced in combat. Like warfare itself, shield
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History2 min read
Opening Round
By the time of the Second World War, “Field Artillery” almost felt like an antiquated concept. In a world with heavily-armored tanks, long-range shelling, and high altitude bombers, it felt almost quaint to wheel out a glorified cannon onto the battl
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History2 min read
The Medieval Flail
As an instrument of war, the flail was a handheld, twopiece, jointed weapon, consisting of a wooden handle of varying length (up to 5-6 feet long) and a shorter, perhaps 1–2-feet long, heavy impact rod serving as a “striking-head” which was attached
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History2 min read
Flashback
On March 15 in 44 bce, famed Roman general and dictator Julius Caesar goes to a senate meeting at Rome’s Curia of Pompey despite the fearful premonitions of his wife and warnings from a soothsayer. He is stabbed to death by a frenzied group of his po
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History2 min read
Opening Round
Throughout the history of ship-to-ship combat, capture has always been preferable to sinking. Beyond the horrendous loss of life, a sunken ship couldn’t be repaired, repurposed or sold. Taking a ship as a prize was a lucrative option for any captain,
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History1 min read
Show Your Colors!
GREAT GIFTS FOR ANY OCCASION • BIRTHDAYS GRADUATIONS • FATHER’S DAY • HOLIDAYS Commemorate your ancestor’s service with custom-made Corps, Brigade, and Division flags in stained glass! Handcrafted in Gettysburg, Pa., by stained glass artist Jessie Wh
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History1 min read
Faces Of War
Born to wealthy parents in Pa. in 1892, Hobart “Hobey” Baker attended Princeton University, graduating in 1914 and found his passion in sports, excelling in ice hockey and football with the Princeton Tigers. Baker sought new adventure in flying in 19
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History13 min read
Clash Of Kingdoms At Rorke’s Drift, 1879
Alone Zulu warrior suddenly sprang out of nowhere and fired off a shot at the red-coated British soldiers. The warrior then ran off in a desperate scramble to escape. A furious barrage of rifle fire followed him—yet somehow, he managed to evade the b
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