Written by
David Nicolle on September 01, 2001
From the 8th century to the 16th mamluks formed the core of most Muslim armies. The Arabic word meant a soldier originally bought as a slave, educated and trained and finally released as a full-time professional. Mamluk tactics, organisation ...
Written by
on March 01, 2001
Sir Francis Drake (c.1540-96) has gone down is history as an English national hero, the archetypal sea dog of the Elizabethan age. Although remembered as one of his country's great naval commanders, his performance in the service of Queen Elizabeth I was less than glorious...
Written by
on March 01, 2001
On the banks of the River Avon, overlooking the town of Warwick lies Warwick Castle, possibly the finest example of a medieval fortification in England. This has been a place of power and influence from before the Norman Conquest up until the final years of the 19th century...
Written by
Stephen Turnbull on January 01, 2001
Greater differences between knights and samurai arise when we turn from the technology of the military revolution to its more personal expression...
Written by
Ryan Lavelle on November 01, 2000
The end of the 9th century saw the resurgence of a Viking threat to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. But this was more than Viking raiding: it was a threat from inside the royal house of Wessex that — had it succeeded — could have led to the establishment of an Anglo-Scandinavian kingdom in the south of England...
Written by
Stephen Turnbull on November 01, 2000
In my book Men-at-Arms 105, The Mongols I made the comment that, because of the vast extent of the Mongol conquests, the Teutonic Knights of Germany and the samurai of Japan had in fact fought a common enemy, even though it was to be three more centuries before the two martial societies became aware of each other's existence...
Written by
David Nicolle on July 01, 2000
The most widespread version of the battle of Crécy in the English speaking world describes the battle as a victory of steadfast English longbowmen over hopelessly outclassed Genoese crossbowmen, after which ...
Written by
on July 01, 2000
On 9 September 1513, 34-year-old King James IV of Scotland, the last British monarch to die in battle, met his end at Flodden in one of the bloodiest encounters in the long centuries of conflict between England and her northern neighbour...
Written by
David Nicolle on May 01, 2000
For a period of just over 130 years two very different cultures, their geographical and ethnic origins far apart, clashed at the outer limits of their respective territories, the open sea and coastlines of the Iberian peninsular and North Africa their battleground...
Bannockburn is one of the most famous battles in British history. Yet its location, the size of the armies involved —and what actually happened that midsummer's day—remain controversial...