In 480 BCE the Achaemenid Persians had launched a second attempted invasion of Greece, but the Greeks, led by the Athenian and Spartan armies and navies, had fought them off in a series of land and sea battles (Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, Mycale, Plataea), the last of which had seen the... More
General Sherman’s invading army In Georgia held a 2:1 numerical advantage over General Johnston’s Confederate defending forces, but rather than attempting to steamroller them, he elected for a game of cat and mouse, using Generals Thomas and Schofield (Armies of the Cumberland and Ohio) to engage the Rebels frontally, while... More
The Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) serves points south to Florida, north to Richmond, Virginia, and east to Birmingham, Alabama. It also travelled along the Atlantic coastline, linking the important ports of Norfolk, Wilmington and Charleston. Its highest concentration of lines was in Florida, where its numerous passenger trains contributed to... More
In May 1945 the Allies defeated Germany but the war in the Pacific theatre continued. Faced with the prospect of a ground invasion of Japan, which would cost many thousands of US lives, President Harry S Truman chose “prompt and utter destruction” and authorized the use of the atomic bomb.... More
The Austrian Empire was created in 1804 by the Habsburg ruler Francis I, who correctly foresaw that Napoleon’s hoovering up of the German princedoms and principalities would fatally undermine the Holy Roman Empire. The new Empire teetered on the edge of oblivion in its first decade under the Napoleonic onslaught,... More
In 1900 the Austro-Hungarian Empire was economically strong, with an excellent manufacturing and banking base. Although the absolute ruler was the Austrian Emperor, Franz Josef, it was run by a dual monarchy, with Austria and Hungary having their own governments and internal autonomy. Described as a ‘multinational democracy’, with all... More
The Babylonian emperor, Hammurabi, is famous for his legal code, which addressed issues as wide-ranging as cowboy builders and medical malpractice. However, when it came to boundary disputes, he wrote his own laws. He first allied with the Persian Gulf state of Larsa to repulse an invasion from Elam, then... More
The Battle of Vienna (1683) effectively marked the end of the Ottoman threat to the West, and initiated the erosion of its territorial possessions in Europe. The Treaty of Karlowitz (1699) saw the Habsburgs gain Hungary and Transylvania, while their Venetian allies acquired Morea. Smarting from these losses, the Ottomans... More
To ensure security to the southeast before invading Russia, Germany needed to occupy both Yugoslavia and Greece. A coup d’etat in Yugoslavia, revoking the terms of the Tripartite Pact between the Axis powers that granted German passage through Yugoslavia to Greece, had unsettled Hitler. Additionally, in October 1940, there had... More
By 1360 the various Balkan states were becoming increasingly fragmented as internal rivalries and the rise of the Ottoman Empire began to take effect. With a victory near Gallipoli, the Ottomans acquired their first territory in Europe in 1354, whilst Wallachia returned to the Kingdom of Hungary as a vassal... More
The Balkans in the early 20th century was predisposed to conflicts. The piecemeal expulsion of ailing imperial power, the Ottomans, created new states – Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania – and incorporated both Greece and Romania into the geographical make-up of the region. But fired by liberation, the arbitrary boundaries brokered... More
General D’Esperey, commander of the Allied Army of the Orient was, in theory, well matched by the German-backed Bulgarian forces facing him along the Macedonian Front in September 1918. The Bulgarians had proved doughty opponents in the past but their Central Powers allies were now in a state of collapse... More