Italy needed to go on the offensive when it entered the war on the Allied side in May 1915. The unexpected pivot away from the Central Powers had been sold to raucous populist support, as a strategy to win back the terre irredente (‘unreclaimed lands’) from Austria-Hungary. This was a... More
Italy’s military operations in World War 1 would assume a repetitive pattern dictated by geography. The one route available for an assault on Austria-Hungary by conventional means was along the Isonzo valley. After a short delay, while Italy’s modest standing army was swelled by a massive conscription programme, the first... More
Upon learning of Jackson’s exploits in the Shenandoah, President Lincoln ordered General Irvin McDowell to the Valley. With Banks and Fremont sent back, three Union armies were now dedicated to Jackson’s apprehension. Fremont and McDowell set off in pursuit of Jackson following, respectively, the north and south forks of the... More
‘Stonewall’ Jackson’s troops earned the sobriquet ‘foot cavalry’ for the speed with which they marched 650 miles (1,050 km) in 48 days in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. It all began with a rare defeat, when he ill-advisedly attacked a much larger Union army at Kernstown. But his rashness worked to... More
The French mariner Jacques Cartier (1491–1557) was the first European to navigate the St Lawrence River, and his explorations and discoveries in northeast Canada during the course of the three expeditions he made there from 1534–42 were the basis for French claims in North America. He was despatched to North... More
Towards the end of the 16th century, warrior and dictator Toyotomi Hideyoshi led Japan from a time of war and feudal battles to national unity. He began as a humble warrior, growing to prominence in the army of Oda Nobunaga. After Nobunaga’s death by suicide in 1582, Hideyoshi emerged from... More
The exchanges of embassies with China played a critical role in the development of Japanese culture and society, and many Chinese methods and ideologies were readily adopted. The fall of the Later Han dynasty in 220 CE and China’s subsequent unstable structure of regional kingdoms halted early exchanges. During this... More
By 1582, the ruthless daimyo (‘warlord’) Oda Nobunaga was close to securing dominance in Japan following over a century of internecine strife, but he was assassinated by a disaffected lieutenant, Akechi Mitsuhide. He was swiftly revenged by another lieutenant, Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the battle of Yamazaki, fresh from his capture... More
The Japanese aimed to exploit the overstretched British and Commonwealth forces in India by launching the U Go offensive in the Brahmaputra Valley region of northeast India in March 1944. The Japanese aimed to take the city of Imphal and the town of Kohima to the north, which was an... More
Burly Japanese admiral Chuichi ‘King Kong’ Hara said of Pearl Harbour, ‘we won a great tactical victory… and thereby lost the war’. The air strike on the US Pacific Fleet was entirely unexpected, delivered without warning and devastating in its impact. Conducted in two waves spanning just 90 minutes, the... More
The attack on Midway was conceived in a similar vein to the attack on Pearl Harbor, primarily aiming to cripple the US Pacific Fleet and establish a defensive perimeter on Midway. A formidable Japanese fleet comprised of multiple groups was assembled for the attack on Midway, whilst a separate fleet... More
In their defense of Burma, the British falsely assumed that Siam would remain neutral, meaning that if Japan did invade, they would approach from the sea. The first Japanese attacks began in January, aided by Siamese forces and the newly formed Burmese Independence Army. Progress was quickly made from the... More