When we talk about a phalanx in a military context, we automatically think of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian army, with its compact formation of armored infantrymen armed with long sarissas. These were arranged in 64 squares or syntagmas, 16 men across (each in a one-square-meter space) by as many in depth, forming a total of […]
Armies
Posted inModern Era
Operation Argus: The U.S. Project to Create a Radiation Belt in Space to Prevent a Soviet Missile Attack
In 1958, at the height of the Cold War, the U.S. carried out an experiment in the South Atlantic aimed at testing an innovative defense system. This system involved creating a radiation belt in the outer layer of the atmosphere, over the country, so that missiles launched in a potential Soviet nuclear attack would have […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
Belisarius, the General Who Upheld Justinian’s Empire and Refused to Be Emperor of the West
I entrusted the care of arms to my Belisarius, and so favorable did the divine hand show itself to him that it gave me the security to live peacefully. These words, which Dante Alighieri places in the mouth of Justinian I, emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, in canto VI of the Divine Comedy, refer […]
Posted inModern Era
The German General who Died Dressed in Tutu and Crown of Roses Dancing for the Kaiser
A deep shock must have seized those attending the party at Donaueschingen Castle on the night of November 14, 1908. There, in the middle of the ballroom, in the presence of Kaiser Wilhelm II, lay the body of a high-ranking German Empire general, Dietrich von Hülsen-Haeseler, who had just suffered a heart attack. This might […]
Posted inSecond World War
Mikhail Devyatayev, the Soviet Prisoner who Staged a World War II Escape by Stealing a German Aircraft
The city of Kazan, capital of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia), has a medieval historic center where the local cemetery is located. There stands a monument in memory of World War II and, next to it, an artistic tombstone bearing the name of Mikhail Devyatayev, a character with a more than curious story: he starred […]
Posted inModern Era
Why Did Armies Fight In Lines? (Video)
In the annals of early modern warfare, the line formation emerged as a standard tactical arrangement that revolutionized the way armies engaged in battle. This formation, which found its roots in the ancient phalanx and medieval shield wall, involved arranging infantry soldiers armed with polearms in several ranks, typically ranging from two to five, with […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
First-Ever Discovery of “Pila Fossata”, Intact Defensive Wooden Stakes of the Roman Army in Germany
After successfully concluding archaeological research campaigns at two Roman military camps near Bad Ems, the findings and discoveries have been presented to the public in Mainz. For the first time, researchers have managed to recover sharply pointed wooden stakes from a Roman defensive trench (1st century AD) virtually intact. So far, this defense technique and […]
Posted inSecond World War
Hitoshi Imamura, the General Convicted of War Crimes who Compensated Victims and Had a Prison Cell Built in his Garden
Hitoshi Imamura was a Japanese general who, at the end of World War II, was prosecuted for war crimes committed by soldiers under his command against Allied prisoners in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, a relatively mild punishment compared to other military members because he was […]
Posted inModern Era
Stand Watie, the Cherokee Chief Who Was the Last Confederate Army General to Surrender
You may know about Ely Parker, an Iroquois who rose to the rank of general and assistant to Ulysses Grant, being one of the attendees at the signing of Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, marking the end of the US Civil War. But he wasn’t the only Native American commander who participated […]
Posted inModern Era, Second World War
The Story of the Two Japanese Officers who Competed to See who Could Kill 100 Prisoners with their Swords First
On January 28, 1948, two prisoners were executed in Yuhuatai, an urban district of the Chinese city of Nanjing. Their names were Tsuyoshi Noda and Toshiaki Mukai, both Japanese, the same age -thirty-six- and convicted for the same reason: war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the infamous Nanjing Massacre, in which the Imperial […]
