Spanish explorers were accustomed to finding new trails across difficult terrain, as they accompanied padres to their missions and established cordial relations with the Native Americans, whose lands had to be crossed to reach Spanish settlements. The Spanish also wanted to enlist the help of Native American tribes in obstructing... More
On 1 May 1898, the US Asiatic squadron, led by Commodore Dewey, decimated the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in the first battle of the Spanish-American War. After the February sinking of the USS Maine, believed by the US to be an act of Spanish aggression in response to American... More
The Spanish explorer and conquistador, Juan Ponce de Léon, landed in Florida in 1513, claiming it for Spain. Successive expeditions by De Narvaez (1528–29) and De Soto (1539–42) ranged as far as modern day Texas and Oklahoma, but the first lasting settlement was established at St Augustine in 1565. Clusters... More
From 1941 onwards, No. 138 and No. 161 Royal Air Force Squadrons were reformed as Special Duties Squadrons and deployed on hundreds of missions under the guidance of the Special Operations Executive. This was a top secret government organization involved in espionage operations all across occupied Europe. Overseeing a large... More
In the 1800s travel across the United States could take weeks. Thomas Jefferson, the third president, implemented a programme of transportation links to facilitate both trade and the movement of people. He constructed waterways and dirt roads, while encouraging the use of steamboats, boats, barges and canoes on the nation’s... More
By 1860 the American Industrial Revolution was fully underway, helped by inland waterways where steamboats used river systems to carry bulk traffic. Some rivers were connected by canals to speed up the movement of people and goods. Railroads were first built in 1825 and by 1860, there were more than... More
The Battle of Spotsylvania, Virginia (8–21 May) was the second major battle of Union commander Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's campaign against Confederate commander General Robert E. Lee. Grant was determined to capture the road junction at Spotsylvania, a vital crossroads on the route to Richmond, the Confederate capital. Although... More
Islam swept the Mediterranean margins of Africa in the 7th century at the point of a sword. Southward permeation was more gradual: invasions of Christian Makuria were twice repulsed, in 642 and 652. Thereafter, the primary vehicle for conversion was via the trade routes, across the Sahara and down the... More
On Europe’s periphery, Ireland was a late recipient of the Black Death. It arrived first in the port of Drogheda in August 1348, but spread rapidly: soon, a 100 a day were dying in Dublin. It also entered the country through the southern ports of Waterford, Cork, New Ross and... More
The St Nazaire Raid was conducted with the objective of destroying the Germans’ vital Atlantic repair port. Without it their warships had to venture past heavily defended UK waters for repairs. The British plan involved the use of HMS Campbeltown, an obsolete destroyer that had been stripped to raise its... More
As the start of the winter push to remove the Germans from Stalingrad, the Red Army conducted Operation Uranus to encircle the German 6th Army, which had become embedded in the city after months of fighting. On 19 November the operation began with a heavy attack focussed on the Romanian... More
The summer of 1942 saw a huge push of German Army Group South into southern Russia towards the city of Stalingrad as part of the larger movement towards the oilfields of the Caucasus. The German 6th Army advanced rapidly towards Stalingrad following a Russian fighting retreat whilst Army Group A... More