Day of infamy
On 7 December 1941, without declaration of war, 350 Japanese carrier-borne aircraft struck at the US Pacific Fleet at anchor…
Soldiers of the Queen
It’s not immediately obvious, but the silhouette on the dust jacket — soldiers advancing in single file, on foot (‘boots…
Ce n’est pas la guerre
On 1 July 1916, along a frontage of 18 miles, 100,000 British infantrymen — considerably more than the entire strength…
Wars on drugs
‘Of all civilisation’s occupational categories, that of soldier may be the most conducive to regular drug use.’ The problem with…
Muskets v. the Highland charge
What a wretched lot the Stuarts were, the later ones especially, the males at least. James II fled England without…
Hubris made the 20th century the bloodiest in history
Sir Alistair Horne, like that other great knight of military history, Sir Michael Howard, served in the Coldstream Guards during…
When the boys come home
Matthew Green, former Financial Times and Reuters correspondent, remains unimpressed by officialdom’s response to casualties who aren’t actually bleeding: Ever…
The bravest of the brave
‘It is the task of a Patton or a Napoleon to persuade soldiers that bits of ribbon are intrinsically valuable.…
Ten days in May
‘If the war is lost, then it is of no concern to me if the people perish in it.’ Bruno…
Battle scars
The author of this primer to the long-overdue Chilcot report, a retired sapper (Royal Engineers) major-general, nails his colours to…
The Unbeaten vs the Unbeatable
The Kaiser’s war deprived Britain of her centenary celebrations of the victory at Waterloo. It also set the propagandists something…
Outfoxed in the desert
What an unedifying affair the war in the North African desert was, at least until November 1942 and the victory…
