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Click for Part 1 Retreat from Kabul, 1842 During the 'Great Game' Britain greatly feared that the Russian Empire's expansionism could spill into the Asian subcontinent. To counter this threat, they moved to establish a presence in Afghanistan (a buffer between the two empires) and install a pro-British regime. In 1839 a 20,000 strong army... Continue Reading →
'We lose many battles, except the last' - an adage referring to how the British prevailed in a catalogue of conflicts from the British Empire's inception in 1707 until its end in the 1950s, yet were mauled on many an occasion. This article includes the worst military calamity of (almost) every decade - failures little... Continue Reading →
This French General is famous for the many, many wounds he suffered in battle but survived. You'll be amazed the damage this bullet-magnet lived through! Nicolas Charles Oudinot was born in Paris, 1767. He was born to survive against the odds as just one of nine siblings to reach adulthood. He joined the Kingdom of... Continue Reading →
The revealing story of Switzerland's military operations to defend its airspace from Axis and Allied aircraft during World War Two Blotted with deathly-black balkenkreuz wing insignia denoting them as war machines of the German Luftwaffe, droves of bulky Bf-110 twin-engined Messerschmitt fighters droned menacingly in circles. A flock of more nimble craft whizzed in to... Continue Reading →
The time one disregarded European state forgot to end the 'Great War' For its main belligerents, World-War-I lasted from 1914 until 1918, yet bizarrely Germany remained at war, technically, with one country for another 39 years. Andorra is a European minnow state of 468 km (181 sq mi) and just 76,000 call it home. It... Continue Reading →
The tale of the Japanese soldier's WW2 tour of duty that did not end in 1945, instead went on for an epic 20 years longer. Find out why Lieutenant Onoda refused to surrender and how he was finally coaxed out of hiding. It was a surreal moment for book store owner Yoshimi Taniguchi; it was... Continue Reading →
Amidst the mechanisation of the Eastern Front in WW2, Italy's much maligned military reputation received a shot in the arm when the Italian Savoia Cavalleria horse-mounted regiment daringly charged the Soviet army. It was August 1942 and the tide of WW2 was just beginning to turn in favour of the Red Army after the surging,... Continue Reading →
A story came out of the horrors of the First World War of an enemy of a novel kind; that wolves on the Eastern Front grew so bold, so numerous, soldiers on both sides were forced to turn their guns on these pack predators. It was the Winter 1917 and WW1 was into its fourth... Continue Reading →
The little known story of the two English nobles who fought the last ever private battle on English soil. Throughout the long, often tumultuous history of Great Britain much of it has passed the rural folk of one quiet corner of it. In the year 1470, a traveller might have set out from London and... Continue Reading →
History and Things 