Throughout its long history, Rome achieved numerous military victories that allowed it to grow, expand, and dominate nearly the entire known world in Antiquity. But it also suffered defeats, and some proved especially painful due to the circumstances in which they occurred. One of them, surely among the worst due to the humiliation it entailed, […]
Battles
Posted inModern Era
Magenta, the Color Born from a Battle
The history of colors is intertwined with the evolution of humanity, reflecting scientific advances, cultural conquests, and historical moments that have left an indelible mark on our perception of the world. Each color contains within it a fragment of the human story, and some, like magenta, shine not only because of their chromatic intensity but […]
Posted inSecond World War
The Disastrous Italian Invasion of Egypt During World War II
Wavell’s Thirty Thousand might sound like the title of a play about an inheritance or lottery prize, but nothing could be further from the truth: it was the nickname given to the troops of Archibald Percival Wavell, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Middle East Command between 1939 and 1941. The reason for this name was […]
Posted inSecond World War
The Battle of Thermopylae in Which No Greek Soldier Participated: April 1941
Persians, Spartans, Leonidas, Xerxes, Ephialtes… Everyone has heard these names and can place them—more or less—in the 5th century BCE, when the Battle of Thermopylae took place. It was one of the key moments of the Greco-Persian Wars because, along with the battles of Salamis and Plataea, it saved Greece from an invasion by the […]
Posted inModern Era
The Battle of Lake Erie: The Naval Clash Between Americans and British That Prevented an Invasion From Canada
Dear General: We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop. This telegram might not resonate with most readers, but among enthusiasts of Anglo-American naval history, it holds a certain fame. On September 10, 1813, Admiral Oliver Hazard Perry sent this message to his superior, U.S. […]
Posted inModern Era
Shiroyama, the Epic Battle That Marked the End of the Samurai
Some time ago, we published an article titled Saigō Takamori, the True Story of the Last Samurai, recounting the story of this singular figure, ending with a brief narration of his death. He perished in the Battle of Shiroyama, a fight that marked the end of the so-called Satsuma Rebellion. This occurred amidst the turbulent, […]
Posted inSecond World War
The Invasion of Saint Pierre and Miquelon in 1941, the Only Nazi Germany-loyal Territory in North America, Lasted 20 Minutes
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon), a French archipelago of two islands located in North America about twenty-five kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland, is the last remaining vestige of the former Viceroyalty of New France (which encompassed parts of what are now Canada and the United States, such as Quebec and Louisiana). Like other territories, […]
Posted inIron Age Archaeology, Prehistory
The Hjortspring Boat: The Celts Who Attacked a Danish Island in 350 BCE and Ended as a Votive Offering
The Hjortspring Boat was discovered in 1921 in the Hjortspring Bog on the island of Als, southern Denmark. It is considered the oldest archaeological evidence of naval construction found in Scandinavia. Dating back to around 350 BCE, the boat measures over 19 meters (62 feet) in overall length and 2 meters (6.5 feet) in beam. […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
The Victorious Battle of the Masts Against the Byzantines Was The First Major Naval Combat of Islam
When we think about the early conquests of Islam, we imagine vast numbers of warriors riding camels across deserts, waving banners adorned with the crescent moon and Quranic verses. However, this expansion also took place by sea. In the year 655, after the conquest of the Sasanian Empire, the Rashidun Caliphate turned against the Byzantine […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Philopoemen, the “Last of the Greeks”, Who Finally Ended Sparta’s Power
In the same year, 183 BCE, two great figures of ancient military history passed away. One was the Roman Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus; the other, a Greek whose body was cremated in a ceremony of great solemnity, attended by emotional Achaean warriors, where the historian Polybius had the honor of carrying the urn containing the […]
