Anything about military history you’ve always wanted to know? Submit your question to us at MHQeditor@weiderhistory.com. You can even suggest the expert you’d like us to query. Q: What is the origin of the belts that United States Navy and Army officers have been wearing since at least the Civil War?
Posted inUncategorized
Churchill Charges Forth With Sword and Pen
As a young soldier-newspaperman at the turn of the 20th century, Winston Churchill found himself appalled—and fascinated—by war. His experiences were given to few young men, and few young men would so comprehensively have understood them and put them to such world-shaping use some 40 years on.
Posted inStories
Red Sun Rising: An American Reporter in the First Sino-Japanese War
American reporter James Creelman, on assignment for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, describes Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in October and November of 1894 on the road to the shocking massacre at Port Arthur.
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Fighting Words: Robert E. Lee, Tycoon?
The noun tycoon had a quite different meaning during the war. It signified a top leader, and was applied to Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee, among others. Christine Ammer has edited encyclopedias and written several dozen wordbooks, including Have a Nice Day—No Problem! A Dictionary of Clichés (1992).
Posted inStories
Scandinavian Twist: Churchill’s 1940 Fiasco in Norway
In Norway in 1940, Hitler and Churchill gamble their careers and the futures of their respective countries. The campaign was a fiasco for Churchill, yet it propelled him into office and ensured Hitler would fail to turn back the D-Day invasion four years later.
Posted inWeapons & Gear Manual
1939: Polish Cavalry vs. German Panzers (Preview)
During the September Campaign in Poland in 1939, no mounted Polish cavalrymen ever charged at German tanks with lances, but their story is on of bravery and professionalism in the face of overwhelming odds, and it clearly indicates that far from being a military anachronism, the Polish lancer was a tough and dangerous adversary.
Posted inReview
MHQ Reviews: Cry Havoc
John M. Taylor reviews Joseph Maiolo’s book Cry Havoc: How the Arms Race Drove the World to War, 1931-1941.
Posted inReview
MHQ Reviews: The Civil War of 1812
Thomas B. Allen reviews Alan Taylor’s book The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, and Indian Allies.
Posted inPortfolio
Lost and Found: Robert Capa’s Mexican Suitcase
Highlights from the International Center of Photography’s 2010 exhibition, “The Mexican Suitcase,” the nickname given three cardboard boxes lost for a half a century that contained negatives of film taken by Robert Capa and two colleagues—his lover and business partner Gerda Taro, and David Seymour, also known as Chim—around the time of the Spanish Civil War.
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Daily Quiz for November 10, 2010
He committed suicide after losing the Battle of Tannenberg.