On 3 August 1864, Union forces laid siege to Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island to help Union Admiral David Farragut and his 18-strong fleet seal the last major southern port from Confederate blockade runners. The runners were moving cotton, weapons and supplies for the Confederate forces through the Gulf of... More
Admiral David Farragut had urged an assault on Mobile Bay since the fall of Port Hudson in July 1863, but it was not until the following summer that troops were provided for an amphibious operation. The soldiers under General Gordon Granger were landed at Dauphin Island, training a gun on... More
Pope Eugene III called the Second Crusade in 1144, when England was in the throes of a 20-year civil war. Nevertheless, a powerful force was raised, some 13,000 sailing from Dartmouth in territory held by the Angevin opposition to King Stephen. This force achieved the only substantive success of a... More
Monarchy describes a system of government in which the sovereign rules by order of succession, usually hereditary. Since the 19th century, the growth of parliamentary authority and the rise of communism has steadily extinguished hereditary monarchies; between 2010 and the present, there were only 43 monarchies in the world. Half... More
Christianity in Kievan Rus dates back to the 9th century, becoming the dominant religion after the conversion of Vladimir the Great in 988. Early Russian monastics were often cave–dwellers and/or hermits like St Anthony of Kiev; the size of a typical community was in single figures, or met only for... More
After overrunning the Jin Dynasty of northern China in 1234, the Mongols at first avoided the well-fortified cities of the southern Song. An early foray captured Hangzhou (1242), then the Mongols outflanked the Song to the west, conquering Yunnan (1253). Under the leadership of Kublai Khan (r. 1260–94), the Mongols... More
Kublai Khan (r. 1260–94), the fifth Khan of the Mongol Empire, made himself Emperor of China and, in 1271, renamed the Mongol occupied northern territories, 'the Empire of the Qa’an and Yuan’, despite not fully conquering the region until 1279. His empire was isolated from the other khanates, which paid... More
Alexander and Frederick the Great brilliantly exploited the military foundations laid by their fathers. The genius of Julius Caesar and Napoleon was nourished by the might and wealth of Rome and France. Of the iconic conquerors, only Genghis built from scratch, spending over 20 years bringing the warring tribes of... More
The name Mons Graupius is given to a battle fought between the Romans and Caledonians in 83 CE. The actual site has not yet been found, with the Roman historian, Tacitus, stating that it was fought at ‘Mons Graupius’ (in modern Scotland). Tacitus is thought to have exaggerated the Romans’... More
In the 18th century Montenegro was an ecclesiastical principality that had existed since 1686 and was made up of territories controlled by warlike clans, who were loyal to the Eastern Orthodox theocracy that controlled the country. During this period, Montenegro lost the patronage of Venice, but gained Russian support, which... More
In contrast to General Eisenhower’s ‘Broad Front’ plan, General Montgomery envisaged a better option in the form of a ‘Single Thrust’ into Germany. He believed that by consolidating Allied forces to the north ready for a quick, powerful drive through the German defences and on to Berlin, the Allies could... More
General Montgomery’s plan for the Allied invasion of Normandy was a modified version of existing plans drawn up by the Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Morgan. General Montgomery took the COSSAC plan and added two beaches to the three that were originally proposed. By... More