Today Shanghai is a hub of international trade and culture and one of the world’s great cities. But in 1937, it was a battlefield. Imperial Japanese troops fought the Chinese Nationalist army in the seaside metropolis in one of history’s most terrible battles. Westerners watched from their neighborhoods as two ancient rivals fought a new…
Category: Studies in Warfare
Military History: Spain’s Siren Song
17th Century Spain and The Allure of Idealized History in Grand Strategy Many readers may be familiar with Paul Kennedy’s classic The Rise and Fall of Great Powers. It is often recommended to those who have an interest in grand strategy. However, readers might be less familiar with a collection of essays edited by Kennedy, Grand…
Military History: Meet The A-10 Warthog of WW2, The German Hs-129
Bad engines and poor management doomed the German ground-attacker At first glance, you might think the Henschel Hs 129 was the perfect ground-attack airplane. Twin engines. A heavily-armored cockpit that protected the pilot from small-arms fire. The aircraft even eventually had the heaviest and most powerful forward-firing cannon ever fitted to a production military aircraft…
World War I History: Germany’s Last Act of Defiance
“The commander of the 70 impounded ships had his men destroy the vessels rather than see them awarded to the victors.” ALTHOUGH THE GUNS of the First World War fell silent on Nov. 11, 1918, it was not until the signing of the Treaty of Versailles more than seven months later that conflictofficially ended. Yet mere days before the inking of…
The Three Faces of Russian Spetsnaz in Syria
As the Russian drawdown from Syria continues, more information continues to emerge about the forces Moscow had committed to shoring up the Assad regime. One telling aspect is how involved Russia’s Spetsnaz special forces were in the deployment. They were involved in two of their three core missions — reconnaissance and special security missions —…
Military History: The Russo-Japanese War Brought Rapid Fire Weapons to the World
The 1904 conflict foreshadowed bloodier events The Russo-Japanese War commenced 112 years ago this February, lasting 18 months before a U.S.-brokered truce mercifully put it to rest. The war killed upwards of 125,000 people, and sharply limited Russian influence in Northeast Asia. Japan gained control of Korea and a long-term foothold for influencing events in Manchuria and…
Military Defense News: “Railgun” Projectiles That Can Travel at Mach 6
New “bullets” for military railguns, which could strike enemy targets traveling at a whopping six times the speed of sound, are being tested. Electromagnetic railguns and lasers are two technologies the military is harnessing as an alternative to gunpowder. The U.S. Navy is pioneering the futuristic weapons that could play a vital role in future…
Up Close and Personal in the Russian/Ukranian Conflict
Things have been various levels of blistering between the Ukraine and Russia over the Crimean Peninsula for a long time now. Recently we came across a compilation of front-line footage that was released late last year. Body cameras aren’t just popular for surfing and skydiving anymore. Inside you’ll gain some insights on some of the heavier…
The Long History of “Little Green Men” Tactics and How They Were Defeated
In both Crimea and the subsequent fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine, Russia’s signature tactic has been the use of so-called “Green Men,” soldiers without identifying insignia whose identity as Russian soldiers the Kremlin denied. Ukraine, Georgia, and even NATO members like Estonia now fear that they could be the next target for Russia’s…
World War Two History: Far East Flying Fortresses, How the B-17 Made a ‘Splash’ in the Pacific
“When the United States entered the war, the European Theater was deemed priority one — only a small number of B-17s were allocated to the Pacific.” MOST KNOW ABOUT the swarms of B-17s the U.S. Army Air Force flew against the Third Reich in World War Two. But Flying Fortresses also fought in…