Tag Archives: war

On this day in history – 1st March 1896 – the Battle of Adowa was fought, the result of colonial tensions between Italy and Ethiopian emperor Menelik II. Italian forces under Major-General Oreste Baratieri were defeated by Menelik’s sizeable and well-armed army in what would become one of the costliest defeats ever suffered by aContinue reading “Ethiopian call to arms, 1896”

On this day in history: The Battle of Beda Fomm (5th-7th Feb 1941) draws to a close, with British forces successfully cutting off a retreating Italian column 62 miles south of Benghazi. This would be the last major engagement of Operation Compass, which saw British forces under Lt General Richard O’Connor successfully advance 500 milesContinue reading “Tank charge at Beda Fomm, 7th February 1941”

In 1455, tensions between the rival houses of York and Lancaster for control over the English government led to violence at the town of St. Albans – the first of many battles in the prolonged Wars of the Roses. Eventually, the conflict became a matter of claiming the throne itself, culminating in the death ofContinue reading “Somerset’s last stand, 22nd May 1455”

Japan, eager to acquire raw materials and maintain economic self-sufficiency amidst various embargos, targeted key American, British and Dutch positions in the Far East in December 1941. Among the targets were Malaya and Singapore – Britain’s strategic military centre in the region and home to lucrative tin and rubber plantations. Although outnumbered, the Japanese advancedContinue reading “Jitra, 12th December 1941”

This picture depicts the final moments of resistance aboard the Ottoman flagship Sultana at the closing stages of the Battle of Lepanto between the Ottoman Empire and the Catholic Holy League, which included Venice, Spain, and the Papacy. The last major engagement between oar-powered galleys in history, this Mediterranean encounter was to be a defeatContinue reading “Lepanto, 7th October 1571”

Poland’s cavalry brigades were considered the elite by the time of the Nazi invasion in September 1939, relying on their horses for battlefield mobility and infantry support. Known as uhlans or lancers, they were trained to dismount and fight on foot if necessary. During the 1939 Polish Campaign, a prevailing myth emerged of a suicidalContinue reading “Polish Cavalry, 1939”

This painting depicts men of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment during Operation Musketeer, the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt in response to President Nasser’s nationalisation of the Suez Canal. Having been dropped into action at El Gamil airfield on 5th November, 3 PARA advanced towards Port Said, engaging Egyptian forces along the coast. Lt Col PaulContinue reading “Port Said, 6th November 1956”

Infantry of the Afrika Korps make their way across Cyrenaica in the Libyan desert in the early stage of the North African campaign; having arrived in February 1941 to bolster the weakened Italian forces in the region, the Afrika Korps would receive its first experience of desert warfare in Libya. The relatively new M1940 oliveContinue reading “On the March, Libyan Desert 1941”