History of War

From the conquering legions of Ancient Rome to the thunderous tank battles of World War II and beyond, History of War takes you deeper inside the minds of history’s fighting men, further under the bonnets of some of the world’s most devastating war machines, and higher above the battlefield to see the broad sweep of conflict as it happened.

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WAR IN FOCUS

FRONTLINE THIS MONTH IN HISTORY: NOVEMBER • In this issue’s Frontline, China and VJ Day, C-130 offensive developments, the Royal Navy’s Operation Kipion and the British Army’s worrying decline

RAPID DRAGON • ‘Fat Albert’ is on the offensive: how a lumbering 1950s cargo transporter may become the world’s most lethal air arsenal

SHIELD AT SEA • For over 14 years the Royal Navy has taken on Iranian-backed terror against international shipping

THE FALL OF THE BRITISH ARMY • In 1990 the British Army had 153,000 regular troops, in 2025 it had 75,000 – its combat power shrunk by more than half. Why did this contraction happen, and what are the implications for the Army’s fighting power?

CHINA’S VICTORY THE STRUGGLE FOR MEMORY • Eighty years after the Japanese surrendered, China keeps framing and reframing its blood-soaked triumph against its nemesis — in 2025 this took on a 21st century twist

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NAPOLEONʼS MARCH ON MOSCOW THE TURNING POINTS OF 1812 • The emperor won several major battles during his Russia campaign, yet lost the war. Here Alexander Mikaberidze recounts the decisive moments that shattered an empire and reshaped Europe

The Vilna Manoeuvre

Disastrous victories at Smolensk and Borodino

The failed southern gambit

LIFE & DEATH IN HITLER’S WOLFPACKS • Inside cramped, stinking U-boats, the Kriegsmarine’s finest sailors attempted to bring Allied shipping to its knees, but instead faced almost certain doom

DEVELOPING THE TYPE VII U-BOAT • Germany’s most common submersible refined a WWI design and quickly became obsolete

WHO WERE THE U-BOATMEN? • The Kriegsmarine reserved its highest entry standards for submariners, who became uniquely isolated from the regime

SUPERSTITIONS AND TRADITIONS • U-boat crews often acted as men of the sea first, fighters for the Third Reich second

THE PELEUS INCIDENT • Although U-boat crews were broadly known for lacking the bloodlust of their land and airborne comrades, in 1944 one German submarine captain ordered an unfathomable crime

MARSTON MOOR • King Charles I’s war effort hinged on the fate of York, besieged by English Parliamentarians and their Scottish allies. Marston Moor, the largest battle of the Civil Wars, would shatter the Royalist cause in the north of England

ROOTS OF THE NAZI OCCULT • How the Thule Society’s warped vision of supposed GermanAryan heritage influenced the rise of National Soci lism

JOSEPH SARNOSKI & JAY ZEAMER • When their B-17 came under attack during a reconnaissance mission in the South Pacific, two crewmen earned the highest award for gallantry

A NEW STRUGGLE REBUILDING BRITAIN • The fighting in Europe was over, but lifting up a shattered nation would be a battle of a different kind

A FADING FORCE • As the smoke of war cleared, Britain’s Empire crumbled

MC DONNELL DOUGLAS F-4C PHANTOM • The legendary US jet was renowned for its deadly versatility

HOMEFRONT

OPERATION LONG JUMP • JACK HIGGINS’ SEMINAL NOVEL WAS PUBLISHED FIVE DECADES AGO THIS MONTH, BUT WAS THE NAZI PLAN TO KIDNAP OR ASSASSINATE THE ‘BIG THREE’ IN TEHRAN GENUINE, OR AN ELABORATE SOVIET FICTION?

MUSEUMS & EVENTS • Exhibitions on Second World War Burma, HMS Victory’s conservation and an artist’s memories of a childhood at war

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