How the Austrians planned to bury the Russian army near Vienna
220 years ago, Kutuzov led the more than 400-kilometer Ulm-Olmütz march-maneuver and thereby saved the Russian army from destruction or the shame of capitulation....
The Portland Circle was a Soviet success that the British still remember.
At reader request, the author continues publishing translations of stories about little-known Soviet agents. This translation of an article originally published in The Guardian, with commentary from the translator, is presented.
Soviet landing against death caravans
About the military operation conducted in March 1980 by the 3rd Battalion of the 350th Guards Airborne Regiment in Afghanistan. The battalion's primary mission was to undermine caravan routes to...
In that unknown war...
The formalization of the border between the two empires, Russia and China, led to the Russo-Chinese War. However, the Qing Empire had nothing to do with it...
Pyotr Wrangel. The Fall of the Black Baron
The death throes of White Guard Crimea. The November 1920 evacuation. Russian émigrés in Constantinople. The final years of Wrangel's life...
Dunno in individual US states
In the spring of 1854, the Know Nothings won victories in Boston and Salem, Massachusetts, and other New England cities....
Mistakes in Mobilization as a Prologue to Defeat, or Three Lessons from History
One of the components of military victory, as well as the prologue to defeat, is the activity of mobilization structures. We'll examine the consequences of their failures using the examples of the Second and Russian...
Uniforms of the longest war in Russian history. A grassroots initiative…
Why do we devote so much attention in this series to the uniforms of the troops stationed in the Caucasus and participating in military operations from 1817 to 1864? The point is...
The Sino-Japanese War: The Empire Under Attack
The Sino-Japanese War was the first war between Asian powers to embark on the path of modernization. And it clearly demonstrated that modernization cannot be achieved in a half-hearted manner.
Hungarian arrows in Europe
This article describes how the nomadic Hungarians who settled in central Europe operated there. How the formation of the Hungarian state began...
How the Austrians buried their army at Ulm
The Austrian high command, having launched an offensive without the support of Russian troops and having senselessly lost an army at Ulm, surrendered not only Vienna but the entire campaign to Napoleon...
The Black Sea Straits Problem
Since the start of the Black Sea War, media outlets have regularly reported on the possible deployment of NATO naval squadrons in the Black Sea, including aircraft carriers and missile cruisers, as well as their escort of ships carrying Ukrainian grain. Meanwhile...
Why did they destroy the Soviet school system at the beginning of the 21st century?
In Russia, the classical school system, which nurtured individuality and created a society of equal opportunity, has been destroyed. A transition has been made to a capitalist school system that "produces" consumers.
Bill's Stubbornness Got Himself Wrong: The Rise and Fall of General William Mitchell, Father of the U.S. Air Force
William Mitchell is considered the father of the US Air Force – he called for increased investment in the Air Force, which he believed would play a key role in future wars. He also developed...
"I won the battle with marches alone."
220 years ago, French troops under Napoleon defeated and captured the Austrian army of General Mack. The Austrian Empire never recovered from this defeat, and Napoleon occupied Vienna.
"White Army, Black Baron"
1920. Wrangel in Crimea: ruler and commander-in-chief. Desperate attempts at reform, calls to "find the master." The final offensive of the "Black Baron"...
The 1916 Turkestan Uprising: Awakening or Fall?
The 1916 uprising in Turkestan became a kind of prologue to the Basmachi movement in Central Asia and was viewed as progressive during the Soviet era, but the facts indicate otherwise.
"Minor difficulties" - the death of the nuclear submarine "Thresher"
The submarine Thresher (a thresher, a subspecies of shark) was one of the first American submarines the author learned about. A painting of it hung in his office...
Battle of Vilnius
370 years ago, the Russian army liberated Minsk and Vilnius. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich made a triumphant entry into conquered Vilnius and assumed the title of "Grand Duke of Lithuania, White Russia,..."
The Fall of the Moravian State
This is the story of the fall of one of the first Slavic state formations, Great Moravia, and the emergence of Hungary....
Franco-Chinese War: Monsieur gets Vietnam and gets it in the teeth
The beauty of colonial wars for European states was that they could be waged with minimal expense, yet the gains in case of victory could be substantial. But to achieve this, they needed the most...
American "Know-Nothings" of the early to mid-19th century
The Dunno movement believed that there was a "Romanist" conspiracy to undermine civil and religious liberty in the United States, and that it was organized by Catholics, that is,...
William John Christopher Vassal – The Forgotten Soviet Spy
At reader request, the author continues publishing translations of little-known Soviet agents. This is a translation of an obituary published in The Independent, with commentary from the translator.
"Black Baron" Wrangel. Denikin's successor.
The origins and early military career of P. Wrangel. The Civil War, how and why he became the "Black Baron" in 1918. Denikin's successor...