Battle of France – 1940

10 years ago

The so-called phony war ended in May 1940 when the Battle of France began. It would end in disastrous defeat…

Sinking of HMS Royal Oak – 1939

10 years ago

The Royal Navy’s HMS Royal Oak was a Revenge-class battleship that saw action in World War I. But by 1939…

Battle of the Somme – 1916

10 years ago

Can there ever have been a greater military disaster than the Battle of the Somme? It seems unlikely. One side’s…

Gallipoli Landings – 1915-1916

10 years ago

Even in a conflict characterized by poor strategic leadership, the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915 was one of the more shamefully…

Sinking of the Lusitania – 1915

10 years ago

When the Cunard Company launched its latest passenger liner at Clydebank in Scotland on June 7 1906, RMS Lusitania was…

HMS Victoria Collision – 1893

10 years ago

In the late 19th century Britannia did indeed rule the waves, having enjoyed supremacy since the Battle of Trafalgar. The…

Khartoum and the death of General Gordon – 1885

10 years ago

One of the iconic images of the glory days of British Empire shows a tall, stiff-backed soldier standing defiant at…

Battle of Isandlwana – 1879

10 years ago

In 1874 Sir Henry Bartle Frere was appointed High Commissioner of South Africa and sent to unify the country as…

Battle of the Little Big Horn – 1876

10 years ago

The protracted conflict known to US history as the Indian wars was due to the vigorous resistance of Native American…

American Civil War – 1861-1865

10 years ago

The young nation that was the United States of America grew vigorously in the decades following independence; but beneath the…