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MEDIEVAL MILITARY HISTORY: c.500-c.1500

Perhaps the most well-known and influential Japanese military manual in Japan and the West was written by an undefeated samurai at the beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings or Go Rin No Sho (1643) is an instruction manual on strategy, outlining his philosophy and techniques for achieving victory in combat, emphasizing adaptability and mental clarity. It focuses more on the psychology and philosophical aspects of Japanese swordsmanship rather than an in depth study of martial techniques (he rarely goes into specifics concerning techniques or tactics, instead he focuses on how practitioner should react to given situations). (Click image for the complete article) 

19TH CENTURY HISTORY AND CONFLICT

On September 10, 1847, on the outskirts of Mexico City, and just two days before the Battle of Chapultepec, Captain George Turnbull Moore Davis, an aide-de-camp of General Winfield Scott, witnessed the execution of sixteen former US Army soldiers convicted of desertion. The hangings that day took place at San Angel.  (Click image for the complete article)

D-DAY AND THE EUROPEAN THEATER

During World War II, American editorial cartoonist Bill Mauldin was renowned for his uncanny ability to capture the hardships and misery of the American foot soldier through his cartoons. No other wartime artist or cartoonist was able to capture the hardship and misery of the American foot soldier, or infantryman like Bill Mauldin. (Click image for the complete article)

MEDIEVAL MILITARY HISTORY

William Wallace evaded the iron grasp of English forces for years; however, the shadow of betrayal followed him as closely as his enemies. On the fateful day of 5 August 1305, it was John de Menteith, a Scottish knight pledged to King Edward, who turned the tide of fate against Wallace. In the darkness of pre-dawn at Robroyston, near Glasgow, Wallace was apprehended and ensnared by English soldiers—a moment of infamy marked by a Celtic cross monument today. (Click image for complete article.)

MEDIEVAL MILITARY HISTORY: c.500-c.1500

The most identifiable symbol of warfare in the European Middle Ages (c.500-c.1500 CE) is that of the mounted knight, and the foundation of that medieval heavy cavalry was the warhorse itself. The horse had to be a warrior in its own right, capable of entering the chaos of battle at a charge without panicking at the sounds and smells of warfare. (Click image for the complete article.)

D-DAY AND THE WAR IN WESTERN EUROPE

World War II was one of the most devastating conflicts in human history, resulting in the loss of millions of lives and ravaging entire nations. The myriad of causes that led up to the war were both complex and multifaceted, originating from various economic, political, and ideological factors that contributed to the global climate of tension, aggression, and mistrust. (Click image for complete article.)

AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR: 1775-1783

The conclusion of the American Revolutionary War on 3 September 1783, resonates profoundly in the annals of global history. The signing of the Treaty of Paris on this date marked the formal cessation of hostilities between Great Britain and the United States, inaugurating a new era for both nations.  (Click image for complete article)

EARLY 20TH CENTURY WAR AND CONFLICT

Roosevelt’s involvement with the Russo-Japanese War began with a close following of the battlefield developments. By January, 1905, Roosevelt was seen as a possible peace mediator. In diplomatic negotiations, Roosevelt kept telling his Harvard classmate, Baron Kaneko, that Japan should not make “exorbitant” demands as a price for peace.  (Click on the image for the full article.)

WAR IN FILM AND PROPAGANDA

HBO’s Band of Brothers, which debuted in 2001, stands as one of the seminal achievements in historical television. As the series approaches its 25th anniversary in 2026, its continued influence on audiences, scholars, and broader cultural discourse surrounding the Second World War remains remarkable. (Click Image for the full article)

19TH CENTURY MILITARY HISTORY

On September 10, 1847, on the outskirts of Mexico City, and just two days before the Battle of Chapultepec, Captain George Turnbull Moore Davis, an aide-de-camp of General Winfield Scott, witnessed the execution of sixteen former US Army soldiers convicted of desertion. The hangings that day took place at San Angel. “The sixteen who were executed at our camp were launched into eternity at one and the same moment,” Davis wrote, “each being dressed in the uniform of the enemy in which he had been captured, the white caps being drawn over their heads.” (Click image for the complete article.)

WAR IN THE PACIFIC

The Battle of Peleliu was a pivotal moment in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Codenamed Operation Stalemate II, the battle was fought between the United States and Japan from 15 September to 27 November 1944. The objective was to capture the airfield on the small coral island, which was a part of a larger offensive campaign known as Operation Forager.  Click on the image for the full article.

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

The Battle of Antietam, fought on 17 September 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, remains one of the most significant battles of the American Civil War. It was the first major engagement in the Eastern Theater of the war to take place on Union soil and resulted in the bloodiest single day in American history, with a combined total of 22,726 casualties. Click image for full article

D-DAY AND WAR IN WESTERN EUROPE

Operation Market Garden, one of the most ambitious military plans of World War II, was designed to bring the war on the Western Front to an end by the end of 1944. However, the operation turned out to be a costly failure that resulted in the loss of almost one-third of the British 1st Airborne Division, an American unit, and thousands of other Allied troops. (Click image for complete article.)

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on 19-20 September 1863, was a turning point in the American Civil War. The Union forces, under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, were defeated by the Confederate Army of Tennessee, led by Gen. Braxton Bragg, in what would become one of the bloodiest battles of the war in terms of casualties. Click on the image for the full article.

WORLD WAR II - WESTERN EUROPE

The Battle of Hürtgen Forest has been regarded as one of the most underreported and least understood battles of World War II. The battle, which lasted from 19 September to 16 December 1944, marked the longest and most grueling battle ever fought by the United States Army on German soil during the war. (Click image for complete article)

WORLD WAR I AND THE INTERWAR YEARS

The Western Front, in the region today called Grand Est, saw the largest number of American soldiers in history fight in the Meuse–Argonne offensive. This epic confrontation was a critical battle in the final year of World War I, lasting from 26 September 1918 to 11 November 1918. This involved the largest contingent of American soldiers in any battle, with 1.2 million soldiers taking part. (Click on the image for the full article.)

WAR ON THE EASTERN FRONT

The discourse amongst historians has revolved around identifying the turning points of World War II, spanning from 1941-42 to the spring of 1943. Winston Churchill considered the Battle of Kursk in 1943 following Stalingrad as the decisive moment. Richard Overy, on the other hand, believes that the years between 1942 and 1944 had several turning points, and specifically, 1943 and the Battle of Stalingrad. (Click image for complete article.)

MODERN WAR AND CONFLICT

The Battle of Mogadishu, also known as the Black Hawk Down incident and in Somali as Maalintii Rangers ('Day of the Rangers'), was a significant conflict during Operation Gothic Serpent. It took place on 3-4 October 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia, and saw United States forces, under the support of UNOSOM II, engage with the Somali National Alliance (SNA) and local militia from southern Mogadishu. (Click image for complete article)

WORLD WAR I

The First Battle of Ypres was a significant military engagement during World War I that occurred between 19 October and 22 November 1914. This battle was part of the wider First Battle of Flanders that occurred between the German, French, Belgian and British armies. It was fought from Arras in France to Nieuwpoort on the Belgian coast, with the battles at Ypres marking the end of the Race to the Sea. (Click image for complete article)

BATTLE FOR THE SEAS

The Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle in World War II and one of the largest in history and a decisive victory for the Allies, and it had far-reaching implications for the course of the War in the Pacific. The battle demonstrated the superiority of Allied naval power and marked the end of Japan's naval dominance. It took place in the waters near the island of Leyte in the Philippines from 23 to 26 October 1944. (Click on image for complete article.)

THE HOME FRONT

The Great Depression was a catastrophic economic event that had its origins in the United States in the aftermath of World War I but soon spread to the rest of the world. The roaring twenties, as they came to be known, brought prosperity and considerable wealth to the Americans. However, the good times were not to last, and a series of economic crises led to one of the most severe economic downturns in human history and ultimately to another World War. (Click image for complete article)

WORLD WAR II IN NORTH AFRICA

The Axis forces had been continuously advancing since the start of the North African campaign in February 1941. The capture of Tobruk by the German-Italian forces in June 1942 resulted in the Axis armies being at the doorstep of the strategically important Suez Canal. However, this advancement stalled in July 1942 at the first Battle of El-Alamein where the British forces successfully blocked the Axis forces. (Click image for complete article)

VIETNAM WAR: 1955-1975

Known in recent years before his death in 2018 as a 'maverick' politician, the late Arizona senator was a U.S. Navy pilot whose five-and-a-half year struggle as a POW in North Vietnam became legendary. John Sidney McCain III was born on 29 August 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone. Growing up in a military family, he was exposed to the navy life at an early age.  (Click image for complete article)

MEDIEVAL MILITARY HISTORY: c.500-c.1500

During Europe’s Age of Crusades in the Latin East (1099-1291 CE) urban fortifications, existing castle improvements and new castle construction became essential elements to the new Catholic occupiers’ strategy to first secure and then expand their foothold in the Levant during the First (1096-1099) and Second Crusades (1147-1149), and hold on to imperiled possessions after the successful Muslim counter crusade by Salah al-Din ibn Ayyub (Saladin in the West, r.1174-1193), and the contraction of Latin holdings from the Third Crusade (1189-1192) forward until the end of the crusading era in the Levant, usually dated with the fall of the Crusader stronghold at Acre in 1291. (Click image for the complete article.)

MEDIEVAL MILITARY HISTORY

The Crusades were a series of religiously motivated military expeditions that took place between 1095 and 1291. The primary goal of the Crusaders was to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslim infidels who had taken control of Jerusalem. These expeditions marked one of the most significant moments of the medieval era, and their impact on Western civilization remains evident to this day.  (Click image for complete article)

WORLD WAR I: 1914-1918

The Russian Civil War of 1917 marked the beginning of a new era in Russian history. The overthrow of the social-democratic Provisional Government in the October Revolution led to a multi-party conflict, with different factions fighting for control over Russia's political future. The conflict gave rise to the formation of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, which later transformed into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, spanning most of its territory. (Click image for complete article)

VIETNAM WAR ERA: 1955-1975

The Battle of Ia Drang during the Vietnam War is a significant military engagement that is notable for being the first major battle between the United States Army and the People's Army of Vietnam. The battle was part of the Pleiku Campaign conducted early in the Vietnam War at the eastern foot of the Chu Pong Massif in the central highlands of Vietnam in 1965. The battle is significant because it set the blueprint for the Vietnam War, with the U.S. forces relying on air mobility, artillery fire, and close air support, while the PAVN neutralized that firepower by quickly engaging American forces at very close range. (Click image for the complete article)

WAR IN THE PACIFIC

The Battle of Tarawa, fought on 20-23 November 1943, was another turning point in the Allied campaign against Japan during World War II. Tarawa, an atoll in the Gilbert Islands, was the most fortified island that the Americans attempted to invade during the Pacific Campaign. The Japanese garrison at Betio, the main island of Tarawa, was heavily fortified with concrete bunkers, seawalls, trenches, and an airstrip, supported by a variety of artillery including heavy and light machine guns and light tanks. (Click image for the complete article)

KOREAN WAR: 1950-1953

The Battle of Chosin Reservoir took place in the harsh and freezing winter of 1950, when the People’s Volunteer Army (PVA) of China entered the war to counter the presence of United Nations Command (UNC) troops in North Korea. The Chinese force, numbering around 120,000, launched a surprise attack on the US X Corps, an element of the larger UNC contingent, that was stationed near the Chosin Reservoir. The battle had become one of the toughest and most infamous battles for the U.S. Marine Corps since World War II. Fought over brutal mountain terrain and extreme cold weather in North Korea, temperatures had reached -36 degrees Fahrenheit causing frostbite casualties. (Click image for the complete article)

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Sep 23, 2025 at 12:00pm to Sep 24, 2025 at 2:00pm

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BOOK REVIEWS


Perilous Fight: America's Intrepid War with Britain on the High Seas, 1812-1815

by Stephen Budiansky, author

Posted by Jim Gallen on 26 June 2025 at 11:09pm

Much of the cause of the War of 1812 arose out of maritime disputes: Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights. Perilous Fight is an exhaustive study of America’s War with Britain on the high seas, 1812-1815.   The full review · All Book Reviews

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America and the Mexican War of Independence: Insurgents, Patriots, and Brethren in Arms, 1810-1821

by Benjamin J. Swenson (Author)

Publisher: McFarland. Publication date: October 1, 2025. Softcover, 190 pages. ISBN 1476696802

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From the publisher, "In 1810, the Atlantic World was in turmoil. Revolution, pirates, proxy wars and clandestine operations ran rampant. Napoleon had invaded Spain, Louisiana Territory was in crisis, and Americans were preparing to declare war against the British."


The Battle of Manila: Poisoned Victory in the Pacific War

by Nicholas Evan Sarantakes (Author)

Publisher: Oxford University Press. Publication date: 3 February 2025. Hardcover, 528 pages. ISBN-10 0199948852

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From the publisher: "In 1945 the United States and Japan fought the largest and most devastating land battle of their war in the Pacific, a month-long struggle for the city of Manila. The only urban fighting in the Pacific theater, the Battle of Manila was the third-bloodiest battle of World War II, behind Leningrad and Berlin."


From Trenton to Yorktown: Turning Points of the Revolutionary War

by John R. Maass (Author)

Publisher: Osprey Publishing. Publication date: 11 February 2025. Hardcover, 272 pages. ISBN-10 1472863755

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From the publisher: "For eight grueling years, American and British military forces struggled in a bloody war over colonial independence. This conflict also ensnared Native American warriors and the armies and navies of France, Spain, the Dutch Republic, and several German principalities."


Manfred von Richthofen: His Life and Times in Pictures

by Tim Hillier-Graves (Author)

Publisher: Air World. Publication date: 30 January 2025. Hardcover, 272 pages. ISBN-10 1036100316

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From the publisher: "It is more than a hundred years since the First World War fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen was killed in combat on the Western Front. By then, due to a strange twist of fate, his name was becoming as well known in Britain, France and the USA as it was in Germany." 


Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation

by Bennett Parten (Author)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster. Publication date: 21 January 2025. Hardcover, 272 pages. ISBN-10 1668034689

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From the publisher: "In the fall of 1864, Gen. William T. Sherman led his army through Atlanta, Georgia, burning buildings of military significance—and ultimately most of the city—along the way. From Atlanta, they marched across the state to the most important city at the time: Savannah." 


First Blood in Normandy: The Combat History of the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division Gotz von Berlichingen

by Hans Stober (Author)

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military. Publication date: 30 May 2025. Hardcover, 520 pages. ISBN-10 1399024043

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From the publisher: "This is the first book in a series that describes in detail the establishment and combat history of the 17th SS Panzer-Grenadier-Division “Gotz von Berlichingen”. By order of Adolf Hitler, this division was established in October 1943 in France and trained there until its first actions at the beginning of June 1944."


The Skeptic Isle

by Steven Casey (Author)

Publisher: Oxford University Press. Publication date: May 1, 2025. Hardcover, 384 pages. ISBN 9780197781876

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From the publisher: "Provides a significant new interpretation of how the British government sold every aspect of the Second World War, from morale to mobilization, rationing to civil defense, the football field to the battlefield. Shows the limits to the wartime consensus, not only inside Westminster and along Fleet Street, but also across the country, as many people questioned the official information they received."


Gettysburg

by Adam I. P. Smith (Author)

Publisher: Oxford University Press. Publication date: August 7, 2025. Hardcover, 332 pages. ISBN 9780199671274

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From the publisher: "The Great Battles Series. The story of the world's most important battles -- how they were fought, how they have been commemorated, and the long historical shadows that they have cast." 


Life in the Viking Great Army: Raiders, Traders, and Settlers

by Dawn Hadley (Author), Julian Richards (Author)

Publisher: Oxford University Press. Publication date: April 9, 2025. Hardcover, 432 pages. ISBN-10 147286946X

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From the publisher: "The Viking Great Army that landed in East Anglia in late 865 had a lasting impact on English society, culture, politics, and economy. The Viking Great Army landed in East Anglia in late 865 and over the following fifteen years it fought numerous battles in all four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, made and broke peace treaties, and deposed or killed at least three Anglo-Saxon kings, replacing them with its own appointees."


Opening the Gates of Hell: Germany's Invasion of Russia, June-July 1941

by Richard Hargreaves (Author)

Publisher: Osprey Publishing. Publication date: June 3, 2025. Hardcover, 488 pages. ISBN-10 147286946X

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From the publisher: "A unique account of the opening weeks of history's largest, most brutal conflict, told through the eyes of those who were there and based on original source material from across Europe. Opening the Gates of Hell is based on over a decade's research in archives and sites across Europe."


Gettysburg: The Tide Turns: An Oral History

by Bruce Chadwick (Author)

Publisher: Pegasus Books. Publication date: May 20, 2025. Hardcover, 272 pages. ISBN-10 1639368256

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From the publisher: "The definitive oral history of the battle that turned the tide of the Civil War that combines vivid first-hand accounts with rich historical narrative. In late June of 1863, one month after his victory over Union forces at Chancellorsville, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee, head of the Army of Northern Virginia, invaded the North."


Korea: War Without End

by Richard Dannatt (Author), Robert Lyman (Author)

Publisher: Osprey Publishing. Publication date: May 20, 2025. Hardcover, 352 pages. ISBN-10 1472869753

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From the publisher: "Korea: War Without End examines the stand-off between East and West in Korea that ultimately defined the second half of the 20th century. It provides a critical analysis of the lack of preparation by the West for war; the results of the North Korean invasion in June 1950; the counter-stroke by MacArthur in September ..."


Nightmare in the Pacific: The World War II Saga of Artie Shaw and His Navy Band

by Michael Doyle (Author)

Publisher: University of North Texas Press. Publication date: January 15, 2025. Hardcover, 288 pages. ISBN-10 1574419463

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From the publisher: "World War II loomed over the twentieth century, transforming every level of American society and international relationships and searing itself onto the psyche of an entire generation, including that of seven American presidents: John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. "


Every Weapon I Had: A Vietnam Vet's Long Road to the Medal of Honor

by Paris Davis (Author)

Publisher: St. Martin's Press. Publication date: June 17, 2025. Hardcover, 256 pages. ISBN-10 1250387655

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From the publisher: "The story of a Green Beret commander's heroism during the Vietnam War, and the long fight to recognize his bravery. Every Weapon I Had is an inspiring tale of valor and sacrifice, set against the backdrop of major escalations in both the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement."


The Raider: A New England Runaway, the Chinese Communists, and the Birth of U.S. Marine Special Forces in World War II

by Stephen R. Platt (Author)

Publisher: Knopf. Publication date: May 13, 2025. Hardcover, 544 pages. ISBN-10 0525658017

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From the publisher: "The extraordinary life of forgotten World War II hero Evans Carlson, commander of America’s first special forces, secret confidant of FDR, and one of the most controversial officers in the history of the Marine Corps, who dedicated his life to bridging the cultural divide between the United States and China"


The Traitor of Arnhem: The Untold Story of WWII's Greatest Betrayal and the Moment that Changed History Forever

by Robert Verkaik (Author)

Publisher: Pegasus Books. Publication date: February 4, 2025. Hardcover, 400 pages. ISBN-10 1639368272

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From the publisher: "Revealing the hidden role of the Cambridge Spies during this Allied defeat, The Traitor of Arnhem relates for the first time the startling betrayal that changed the course of World War II. The end of World War II is in sight."


The Killing Season: The Autumn of 1914, Ypres, and the Afternoon That Cost Germany a War

by Robert Cowley (Author)

Publisher: Random House. Publication date: February 18, 2025. Hardcover, 704 pages. ISBN-10 1400068525

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From the publisher: "The final months of 1914 were the bloodiest interval in a famously bloody war, a killing season. They ended with the First Battle of Ypres, a struggle in West Flanders, Belgium, whose importance has been too long overlooked—until now."


Scorched Earth: A Global History of World War II

by Paul Thomas Chamberlin (Author)

Publisher: Basic Books. Publication date: May 6, 2025. Hardcover, 672 pages. ISBN-10 1541619269

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From the publisher: "In Scorched Earth, historian Paul Thomas Chamberlin dispatches the myth of World War II as a good war. Instead, he depicts the conflict as it truly was: a massive battle beset by vicious racial atrocities, fought between rival empires across huge stretches of Asia and Europe."


Shots Heard Round the World: America, Britain, and Europe in the Revolutionary War

by John Ferling (Author)

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing. Publication date: April 1, 2025. Hardcover, 560 pages. ISBN-10 163973015X

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From the publisher: "In April 1775, British troops marched to Lexington, where an armed group of Yankees awaited them. Despite an order to disperse, shots rang out. Militiamen were killed. The British continued marching, only to find even greater trouble in Concord and all the way down the road back to Boston."


Paris Undercover: A Wartime Story of Courage, Friendship, and Betrayal

by Matthew Goodman (Author)

Publisher: Ballantine Books. Publication date: February 4, 2025. Hardcover, 448 pages. ISBN-10 0593358929

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From the publisher: "Etta Shiber and Kate Bonnefous are the unlikeliest of heroines: two seemingly ordinary women, an American widow and an English divorcée, living quietly together in Paris. Yet during the Nazi occupation, these two friends find themselves unexpectedly plunged into the whirlwind of history."


The Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain: 1815–1945

by N. A. M. Rodger (Author)

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company. Publication date: May 13, 2025. Hardcover, 976 pages. ISBN 0393292223

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From the publisher: "Across two acclaimed volumes, preeminent naval historian N. A. M. Rodger has traced the progress of naval warfare in Britain from the seventh century through to Trafalgar, combining decades of scholarship with original insights and analysis."


The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America

by Kostya Kennedy (Author)

Publisher: St. Martin's press. Publication date: March 25, 2025. Hardcover, 304 pages. ISBN-10 125034137X

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From the publisher: "On April 18, 1775, a Boston-based silversmith, engraver, and anti-British political operative named Paul Revere set out on a borrowed horse to fulfill a dangerous but crucial mission: to alert American colonists of advancing British troops, which would seek to crush their nascent revolt."


Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War

by Lyndal Roper (Author)

Publisher: Basic Books. Publication date: February 11, 2025. Hardcover, 544 pages. ISBN-10 154164705X

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From the publisher: "The German Peasants’ War was the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. In 1524 and 1525, it swept across Germany with astonishing speed as well over a hundred thousand people massed in armed bands to demand a new and more egalitarian order. "


Remember Us: American Sacrifice, Dutch Freedom, and A Forever Promise Forged in World War II

by Robert M. Edsel (Author), Bret Witter

Publisher: Harper Horizon. Publication date: April 29, 2025. Hardcover, 496 pages. ISBN-10 140033781X

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From the publisher: "Set during the horrors of World War II, Remember Us by Robert Edsel—#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monuments Men—opens in Limburg, a small, rural province at the southern tip of the Netherlands. In the pre-dawn hours of May 10, 1940, Hitler’s forces rolled through the city, shattering more than 100 years of peace in the Netherlands."


Second Front: Anglo-American Rivalry and the Hidden Story of the Normandy Campaign

by Marc Milner (Author)

Publisher: Yale University Press. Publication date: May 13, 2025. Hardcover, 688 pages. ISBN-10 030027887X

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From the publisher: "In June 1944, an Allied army of British, American, and Canadian troops sought to open up a Second Front in Normandy. But they were not only fighting to bring the Second World War to an end. After decades of Anglo-American struggle for dominance, they were also contending with one another—to determine who would ascend to global hegemony once Hitler’s armies fell."


Bagration 1944: The Great Soviet Offensive

by Prit Buttar (Author)

Publisher: Osprey Publishing. Publication date: March 11, 2025. Hardcover, 480 pages. ISBN-10 1472863518

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From the publisher: "Throughout the war on the Eastern Front, there were two consistent trends. The Red Army battled to learn how to fight and win, while involved in a struggle for its very survival. But by 1944 it had a leadership that was able to wield it with lethal effect and with far more effective equipment than before."


Ring of Fire: A New History of the World at War: 1914

by Alexandra Churchill (Author), Nicolai Eberholst (Author)

Publisher: Pegasus Books. Publication date: August 12, 2025. Hardcover, 528 pages. ISBN-10 1639369279

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From the publisher: "The dramatic story of 1914—the start of World War I—presenting an expansive, dynamic history of the start of this truly global conflict. Most countries did not know what they were getting into during the precarious days of 1914."


Crescent Dawn: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern Age

by Si Sheppard (Author)

Publisher: Osprey Publishing. Publication date: February 25, 2025. Hardcover, 528 pages. ISBN-10 1472851463

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From the publisher: "A groundbreaking new history of the wars of the Ottoman Expansion, a truly global conflagration that crisscrossed three continents and ultimately defined the borders and future of a modern Europe. The determined attempt to thwart Ottoman dominance was fought across five theaters from the Balkans to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, from Persia to Russia."


Lincoln's Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War

by Michael Vorenberg (Author)

Publisher: Knopf. Publication date: March 18, 2025. Hardcover, 480 pages. ISBN-10 1524733172

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From the publisher: "We set out on the James River, March 25, 1865, aboard the paddle steamboat River Queen. President Lincoln is on his way to General Grant’s headquarters at City Point, Virginia, and he’s decided he won’t return to Washington until he’s witnessed, or perhaps even orchestrated, the end of the Civil War."


Devil’s Fire, Southern Cross: The Conclusion of the Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign, October 1943-February 1944

by Jeffrey Cox (Author)

Publisher: Osprey Publishing. Publication date: June 3, 2025. Hardcover, 488 pages. ISBN-10 1472864484

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From the publisher: "This page-turning history examines the closing months of the vital campaign which ultimately determined the successful conclusion of the Pacific War for the Allies. But it had not been a smooth process. The campaign continued in fits and starts with both the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy making crucial errors."


Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America

by Scott Ellsworth (Author)

Publisher: Dutton. Publication date: July 15, 2025. Hardcover, 336 pages. ISBN-10 0593475615

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From the publisher: "Told with a page-turning pace, New York Times bestselling author and historian Scott Ellsworth has written the most compelling new book about the Civil War in years. Focusing on the last, desperate months of the war, when the outcome was far from certain, Midnight on the Potomac is a story of titanic battles, political upheaval, and the long-forgotten Confederate terror war against the loyal citizens of the North."


No More Napoleons: How Britain Managed Europe from Waterloo to World War One

by Andrew Lambert (Author)

Publisher: Yale University Press. Publication date: June 24, 2025. Hardcover, 512 pages. ISBN-10 0300275552

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From the publisher: "At the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, a fragile peace emerged in Europe. The continent’s borders were redrawn, and the French Empire, once a significant threat to British security, was for now cut down to size. But after decades of ceaseless conflict, Britain’s economy was beset by a crippling debt."


The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780

by Rick Atkinson (Author)

Publisher: Crown. Publication date: April 29, 2025. Hardcover, 880 pages. ISBN-10 0593799186

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From the publisher: "The first twenty-one months of the American Revolution—which began at Lexington and ended at Princeton—was the story of a ragged group of militiamen and soldiers fighting to forge a new nation. By the winter of 1777, the exhausted Continental Army could claim only that it had escaped annihilation by the world’s most formidable fighting force."


The Knights Templar: History & Mystery

by Tony McMahon

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military. Publication date: January 30, 2025. Hardcover, 232 pages. ISBN-10 1036113485

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From the publisher: "The Knights Templar have fascinated us for centuries. They were holy warriors who fought with incredible bravery in the Crusades but were then destroyed by their own side. In battle they were the bravest knights – first on the battlefield and the last to quit.'


Martin Bormann: Hitler’s Executioner

by Volker Koop (Author)

Publisher: Frontline Books. Publication date: January 31, 2025. Softcover, 248 pages. ISBN-10 1526797518

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From the publisher: "Born on 17 June 1900, Martin Ludwig Bormann became one of the most powerful and most feared men in the Third Reich. An obsessive bureaucrat, it was Bormann who helped steer Hitler’s apparatus of terror so effectively that he became the clandestine ruler of Nazi Germany."