They dreamed of Kronstadt, but only took Bomarsund
170 years ago, the Anglo-French fleet besieged and captured the unfinished Russian fortress of Bomarsund on the Åland Islands. And in Britain they dreamed of taking Kronstadt and St. Petersburg...
The Greek Question in the European Concert
The Greek uprising of 1821, on the one hand, accumulated the geopolitical interests of the leading European powers in the Mediterranean and the Balkans, on the other hand, became a prologue to the First World War...
“We will die, but we will not surrender!”
170 years ago, the heroic Petropavlovsk repelled the attack of the Anglo-French fleet. Russian soldiers, sailors, Cossacks and volunteers, led by Governor V. Zavoiko, threw enemy troops into the water...
Vietnam before Vietnam: American-Philippine War
On February 4, 1899, the silence of the Manila suburbs was torn apart by the first shots. The army of the new Philippine Republic, led by Emilio Aguinaldo, entered into battle with the 8th Army Corps...
Operation Olive. How the 15th Army Group stormed the Gothic Line
80 years ago, the Anglo-American 15th Army Group launched an assault on the Gothic Line. The Allies planned to break through the German defenses in the Northern Apennines and reach the Po River valley...
Henry VII and the Impostors: Perkin Warbeck
Another test for Henry VII was the story of Perkin Warbeck, another contender for the English throne...
Disaster of the German Army Group "Southern Ukraine"
The German front in Romania was broken through and confused. Chaos began. Wherever Romanian troops were stationed, the front was open. On August 30, 1944, Soviet troops occupied Ploesti, and on August 31 entered...
The most destructive weapon of the twentieth century
Today's story is about the most destructive weapon of the twentieth century. Weapons that have won wars, destroyed states, and hundreds of thousands of victims. The weapon about which they composed poems and wrote songs....
Henry VII and the impostors
About the reign of King Henry VII of England, who had to reap all the benefits of the War of the Roses, both good and bad. The latter will include a certain instability of it...
Napoleon III. Path to power
France after the February Revolution of 1848, the election of Louis Napoleon as president, the coup d'état of 1851, the marriage of the Emperor and Empress Eugenie...
Expedition to the ancestors. Men-at-arms and cannons on Hanseatic ships
The main means of transport of the Hanseatic Trade Union was the so-called Hanseatic Kogg, a relatively small ship for coastal navigation between the ports of the Baltic Sea. The limit for...
The success of the operation is the highest truth. Imperial Army Scout School
How, when and how was the Imperial Japanese Army reconnaissance school created? What was the principle of training? What is the fate of school graduates after the war...
Do Italians know how to fight?
The fame of the Italians as the worst soldiers in Europe is greatly exaggerated. The Battle of Pozzuolo del Friule is a clear example of the fallacy of this belief...
The unfinished Pikalevsky cement plant and defeat at the beginning of the war
The disruption of the construction of just one industrial enterprise can cause great damage to defense. This is shown by the history of the unfinished Pikalevsky cement plant...
How plans to create “Greater Romania” failed
80 years ago, the Soviet armies carried out the Iasi-Chisinau operation. The troops of Tolbukhin and Malinovsky defeated the main forces of the German army group “Southern Ukraine”, liberated Moldova, and brought them out of the war...
Henry I the Birdcatcher - at the origins of German history
The phrase “founder of the state” is most often figurative in history. Few countries can single out one person who, without being just a character in a legend, would personify the beginning...
How the Allies abandoned a decisive offensive in Italy, afraid of Russian tanks in West Germany
After the capture of Rome, the Allies initially planned a rapid offensive to liberate all of Central and Northern Italy. However, due to the successes of the Russians, the development of the offensive in France and...
Polish State Police during the interwar period (1920–1930)
On July 4, 1919, the Polish State Police – Policja Panstwowa – was formed. This happened through the merger of the People's Militia and the City Police, which in turn were formed at the turn of 1918–1919...
Problems of demobilization of the Italian army after the First World War
After the end of the First World War, Italian soldiers returned from the front to a completely different country than they wanted to see...
Young Charles Louis Napoleon. Not yet an emperor
The origin and first years of life of the future Emperor Napoleon III. Two failed attempts to seize power...
How the government of Nicholas II lost the Great Game in the Far East
War with Japan could have been avoided. But the stupidity of the government of Nicholas II and the skillful play of Britain and the United States led to the fact that the Russians and Japanese became “cannon fodder” and “cash cows”....
Alexander I and the Balkan Knot in the mirror of the Greek Uprising
As you know, the Eastern Question was not raised at the Congress of Vienna, but for Europe it was of a pressing nature, especially becoming so after the outbreak of the Greek uprising of 1821 and the resulting...
Expedition to the ancestors. Ships and knights of the Hansa
And it so happened that in 1241 Lubeck and Hamburg formed the Union of German Cities, which by 1367 managed to develop into the vast Hanseatic League...
Louis Philippe I, 18 years of reign of the last French king
18 years of the reign of Louis Philippe, successes and failures, the French February Revolution of 1848...