Portugal maintained neutrality at the start of the Seven Years War. However, the action of the British fleet in its territorial waters provoked the hostility of France and Spain and in 1762 Spanish troops invaded the country. The Spanish and French considered the Portuguese Army completely unprep
In 1942 the Allies had already started planning the liberation of Europe from the Germans. British Prime Minister Churchill had considered the use of large floating platforms, from which Allied aircraft would take off, which would provide immediate cover for the landing Allied divisions. At the s
In all the conquered areas, the Germans formed armed divisions and units mainly to fight the partisans. One of the worst was the 1st Albanian Division. Albania was occupied by the Italians in April 1939. After the occupation of Greece and Yugoslavia, Italian Albania expanded territorially to include
The historical Order of the Knights of St. John settled in Malta in 1530 after his expulsion from Rhodes. From there he fought the Ottomans and their allies for about two centuries. However, it succumbed to the military superiority of Napoleons France in 1798. In 1776 the Grand Master of the Orde
The Timariot horsemen of the Ottoman Army were, quite literally, the horsemen of destruction that the sword threatened to put even central Europe under the crescent moon. The Timariote cavalry formed the basis of all Ottoman Armies until the middle of the 19th century. The timariots, i.e. timari
In 1919, following a decision by El. Venizelou, the Greek 1st Army Corps (SS), with the 2nd and 13th Infantry Divisions (MP) were sent to what was then called Southern Russia (Ukraine) to fight against the Bolsheviks, alongside French, Polish, Romanian and White Russian troops. By Pantelis Karik
After the defeat of Austria in 1805 and Prussia in 1806, Napoleon proceeded with his plan to reorganize the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (Reich) based on French interests. The many small German states were either integrated with each other or dissolved, forming, under French tutelage,
The Germans, during World War II, always wanted to create a super-heavy tank, heavier than the Tiger I and II. They eventually built the Pz VIII Maus (mouse), but too late to have any impact on the development of operations. Only two prototypes of the Maus were built and they never saw combat. On
As in hunting, so in war, which in a sense was an extension of it, the dog accompanied man, providing valuable services, both as a guard, and in some cases, as an impact weapon! Teams of domesticated dogs accompanied the early warriors and attacked opponents based on their cow instinct. Later th
The Kings Musketeers, known as Musketeers to many, were the most elite soldiers of Bourbon France, writing pages of glory on the battlefields and igniting the popular and literary imagination. The company of mounted musketry guards was formed in 1622 by the French king Louis XIII. It was an evolu
The Vought F-8 fighter, the first cousin of the attack A-7 Corsair, was one of the best fighters of the US Naval Air Force, in the period 1957-1976. Aircraft of the type also participated in the Vietnam War, operating from American aircraft carriers, which were usually anchored in the Gulf of Tonkin
It is often said that anything can become a weapon if the wearer has enough imagination and ingenuity and it seems to be absolutely true. Perhaps this is why British soldier William Speakman won his countrys highest honour, the Victoria Cross, fighting in Korea with... bottles. Having exhausted
The French Army of 1940 had four types of fast moving divisions, Light Cavalry Divisions, Light Armored Divisions, Mixed Armored Divisions and Motorized Infantry Divisions. The motorized infantry divisions had the same composition as the regular infantry divisions. But they had motorized means of tr
The term Streltsi was used to describe a soldier who carried a handgun and fired with it. The Streltsy were an infantry corps, equipped, initially, with arquebuses and then muskets, formed for him by Ivan the Terrible, in 1552. It was the first regular corps of the Russian Army and was formed accord
On September 1, 1939, the German Army breached the Polish border. World War II was already a fact. Against Poland and its western allies (Britain, France), the German Army had neither numerical nor qualitative superiority, despite the opinions to the contrary circulating. The Germans were superi
In 1526 the huge army of Suleiman the Magnificent crushed the small army of the Hungarian king Laios at Mohács in southern Hungary. After this glorious victory, the Ottoman troops, after spreading death and destruction, conquered the rest of Hungary without a fight and reached Vienna, which they uns
Erwin Rommel, on July 10, 1910, joined the 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment as a probationary officer. According to the then current system, the future officers were classified as cadets in the various regiments and after a useful service of about two years, they were called officers. So did
Hitler, since the Western Allies refused to recognize his conquest of Poland and insisted on war against Germany, was obliged to attack them. Time was working in favor of the West, at least as Hitler believed, because the German economy was also suffering and the Soviets were becoming more demanding
The French Foreign Legion is one of the most famous corps in military history, which has truly written indelible pages of glory on all the battlefields of the world, from Europe, to the ends of the Sahara, Mexico, Indochina, Madagascar. And yet the Legion had rather humble origins. The Foreign L
The Sumerians were an unknown people. Even the name by which they are known was given to them by archaeologists in the 19th century. Nevertheless, they left behind strong marks of their military art. From at least the 5th millennium, a great civilization flourished on the banks of the Tigris and
On January 6, 1943, the German administration decided to form a second Croatian Infantry Division (MP) with the sole purpose of fighting the partisans. The division received the number 373. But its men gave it the nickname Tiger Division. The division had two Grenadier Regiments, the 383rd and 384th
On the night of August 23 to 24, 1939, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia signed a “non-aggression” pact, also known as the German-Soviet pact. The 1st September 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. Within the framework of the pact, Poland is divided in two:the Germans occupy the western part, the Russians the
The arrival of man on the Moon, on July 20, 1969, constitutes one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century. On July 20, 1969, two American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, became the first human beings to set foot on lunar soil. A third, Michael Collins, stayed in orbi
If someone thinks that the tricksters of esotericism are a product of our time, they are completely wrong. Quackery is as old as speech and history is full of impostors, storytellers and frauds:there have always been false and enlightened prophets who take advantage of their talk to do business. One