Temujin, the future Genghis Khan, and Jamukha were childhood blood brothers, who became drawn to opposing sides in the ceaseless conflicts of the Mongolian tribes. In 1201, in the Battle of the Thirteen sides, confederacies of Mongol tribes were pitted against one another, with Temujin and Jamukha the generals. Defeated,... More
The Battle of Coronel took place off the coast of Chile, near the city of Coronel, in November 1914 and resulted in the destruction of British Admiral Cradock’s squadron by German Admiral von Spee. Intelligence was received of a plan by Spee’s commerce-raiding squadron to intercept shipping in the trading... More
The small fortified island of Corregidor, which sits at the entrance to Manila Bay, had been occupied by Japanese imperial forces since 6 May 1942 when the American and Filipino forces posted on the island surrendered following a lengthy siege and ferocious battle. American forces returned on 16 February 1945... More
In mid-July 1346, during the Hundred Years’ War, Edward III and his son Edward, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince), landed on the French Cotentin Peninsula with an army of around 16,000 men. After successfully attacking Normandy, they moved south. Under pursuit by a large army of the French king,... More
On 15 July 1916, 3,150 men of the 1st South African Brigade were tasked with clearing the Germans from Delville Wood. This was part of the Somme offensive and General Haig’s ‘great push’ to end the war. Under exacting conditions, including inclement weather and enemy artillery fire, the South African... More
On 24 January 1915, decrypted intelligence revealed a planned German raid on Dogger Bank’s North Sea fishing fleet. British Vice-Admiral Beatty was sent to neutralize the German battlecruiser convoy, which headed to Dogger on 23 January. Early on 24 January, German Vice-Admiral Hipper, realizing British battle cruisers were approaching, starboard... More
In the opening encounter of the English Civil War, both armies were largely raw recruits with a sprinkling of veterans of continental conflicts. The Royalists had been marching on London and were well positioned on the scarp of Edgehill in southern Warwickshire when the Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex... More
In 1298, the ‘Hammer of the Scots’, King Edward I, was in no mood for compromise. The Scottish rebel, William Wallace now wore a sword-belt made from the flayed skin of Edward’s Scottish treasurer, slain at Stirling Bridge. When Edward invaded, Wallace at first retreated, hoping to pick off the... More
The Battle of Flamborough Head was a naval battle between Continental (French-American) warships and the British in the Atlantic, Irish and North Seas between 21– 23 September 1779. The French, under the Treaty of Alliance, were fighting on behalf of the Americans in their War of Independence. The Franco-Spanish fleet... More
A major battle in the Nine Years’ War, the Battle of Fleurus saw Prince Waldeck lead an Allied army of 38,000 men in battle against a French force of 35,000 under the Duc de Luxembourg. Waldeck’s infantry were positioned in two lines, protected by both cavalry and the River Orme,... More
Flodden was the first battle in the British Isles that used significant artillery deployment, and the last in which a British sovereign – James IV of Scotland – was killed in combat. The Scots had the advantage in numbers and position, stationed above the English on the slopes of Flodden... More
In response to French successes in Normandy, in the winter of 1449 Sir Thomas Kyriell and his small army sailed to Cherbourg with the aim of reinforcing Caen. Supported by troops led by Sir Matthew Gough, the English army captured Valoges and was marching towards Bayeux when Comte de Clermont’s... More