The First World War began solemnly, in almost all the capitals of the wars. Paris was no exception as there was hope of recovering Alsace and Lorraine from Germany. But soon for the men who faced the reality of war the celebrations came to an abrupt end. What my colleagues knew of war came from patr
Soviet nationals served in the German armed forces by the thousands after the German invasion of the USSR. Many of them were prisoners who preferred cooperation with the enemy to a slow, torturous death by starvation. Some were conscious anti-communists, others mere opportunists. Usually the Sov
At the beginning of 1595 the ruler of Transylvania, Sigismund Bathory, caused a revolution against the Moldavian prince Aaron the Tyrant. Aaron was captured by his mercenaries and sent as a gift to Bathory. Aaron, however, was a subordinate and protégé of the Turks, who naturally reacted immediat
The chancellor of Prussia, the famous Otto von Bismarck, managed to put so much diplomatic pressure on Napoleon IIIs France that the French emperor had no choice but to declare war. Many German states allied with the Prussians. In June 1870, Napoleon III ordered his forces to invade Saarbrucken.
The Battle of Tskhinvali was the only real battle of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war. Tskhinvali is the capital of South Ossetia, a region that broke away from Georgia and declared, at the mercy of Russia, an independent republic ». On August 8, 2008, Georgian troops entered the city after friendly a
The Treblinka death camp was one of three in Operation Reinhardt to exterminate the Jews. Began operations on July 23, 1942 in a forest northeast of Warsaw. In it 700-900,000 Jews and about 2,000 Gypsies were murdered. Treblinka was the deadliest German camp after Auschwitz. The Germans at first
The Battle of Sushi was fought on 8 May 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenian and Azeri forces. The city is a strategic point in the mountains of Nagorno-Karabakh and the occupation provided the controller with strategic advantages. Nagorno-Karabakh was an autonomous province of
France in the 1680s was the largest and most powerful European country. He had the largest army. Under the Sun King Louis XIV France gained territory and twice defeated the Dutch. Louis expansionist policy had frightened Europe. Especially after the restoration of the Dutch William of Orange to the
Armand de Vignero, 3rd Duke of Richelieu was a peculiar personality with a strongly developed sense of honor, due to his descent from the eponymous cardinal-prime minister and the fact that he was sponsored by the king himself Ludovikos ID. Richelieu had already been imprisoned once for dueling,
Despite Israels decisive victory in the Six Day War, Egypt continued hostilities, refusing to sit down at the negotiating table. Gradually, the Egyptian armed forces were significantly strengthened by the Soviet Union. The Egyptians, on March 8, 1969, began what became known as the War of Attriti
Was Goliath of Greek origin? A new international genetic scientific study suggests this may be the case, after concluding that the Philistines, the biblical Israelites greatest rivals, were descended from people who had come to the Palestine region from the Aegean, Southern Europe and the Mediterran
2006 was also an anxious year for Western soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. In the region of Panjwai, southwest of Kandahar, near the border with Pakistan, there was much fighting during the spring and summer. Operations in the area were resumed in the early autumn and the Princess Patricias Cana
The War for the Zarumila Territory was the conclusion of a 111-year dispute between Peru and Ecuador over the possession of a zone of jungle... in the area of the Amazon tributary Zarumila. Peru had regrouped its armed forces in the 1930s, even acquiring 24 Czechoslovak LTP-38 tanks , Italian C
At 05.00 on 16 May 1940 a company of the 8th Panzer Regiment (SPA) was ambushed in a rubble-strewn street in the French village of Stonne. The previous year the village had changed hands several times as the French troops tried to hold back the wave of German Panzers. The artillery of the two opp
In the late 1950s the German army was looking for a new rifle. The then West German armed forces were established in 1955, 10 years after the end of World War II. German soldiers were initially equipped with American M1 Garand rifles. However, as the Warsaw Pact forces were equipped with the excelle
Zigmund Rascher was born in 1909. He was the child of a doctor and followed his fathers career. He began studying medicine in 1933 when Hitler came to power. Immediately Rusher became a member of the Nazi party. In 1939 he joined the SS. Thanks to his wifes connections with Himmler, Rascher was imme
The M3 tank, known as Grant or Lee, after the names of the famous generals of the American Civil War, was the first battle-worthy medium tank of the American army. However the M3 first fought under the British flag in the hot African desert. The M3 was an American copy of the French Char B1 bis.
Madrid was captured by Napoleons French on March 23, 1808. The French had initially appeared as friends and protectors, but soon revealed their true colors. Napoleon had, in effect, arrested the Spanish kings, father and son. Napoleon ordered his marshal and sister-in-law Joachim Myra to capture the
Osowiec Fortress is located in north-eastern Poland. It was built in the period 1882-92 with the aim of covering the then Russian Poland from a German attack from East Prussia. It was built on the Biebrza River, north of Bialystok, 50 km from the border. The fort was covered by the marshes around
Legend has it that during the period when the English occupied India, the country was richer and the standard of living of its middle class was comparable to that of the Europeans, and that the Indians lived a lavish life despite being under tutelage. But thats probably not the case:a new report
The religious movements that culminated in the great religious reform of the century XVI began in the Middle Ages, through theologians John Wycliffe and Jan Huss. These movements were repressed, but in England and Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), reformist ideals persevered in circumstances hidden
According to an anonymous work written in 727 AD. entitled Liber Historiae Francorum (Book of the History of the Franks), after the fall of Troy a large group of 12,000 Trojans, led by Priam and Antenor, fled to the Tanais (Don) river and settled in Pannonia by the Sea of Azov. There they founded a
In 1954 the Algerian war began. But faced with a conflict that escalates, successive governments fail to provide an adequate response to the decolonization movement that has been underway since the end of the Second World War. If the war can find a favorable military outcome for France, the politica
The Battle of Ferbelin is not particularly well known. Ήταν μια μικρής κλίμακας σύγκρουση μεταξύ των στρατών μιας υπερδύναμης της εποχής, της Σουηδίας, και μια υπερδύναμης που επρόκειτο να δημιουργηθεί, του δουκάτου του Βρανδεμβούργου, της μελλοντικής Πρωσίας. Ωστόσο η μάχη είχε τεράστια πολιτική ση