Armies
Waffen-SS Alibi of the Heer
Terrorizing the troops through the draconian application of military justice may well have helped keep them fighting long after they knew the war was lost. But what the regime increasingly required was a military force that fought out of fanatical National Socialist commitment. This was in fact available, in the shape of the Military SS (Waffen-SS ). Its history went…
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First Significant Transport Of Troops By Rail I
The first significant transport of troops by rail was the despatch of 14,500 Prussian soldiers, together with their horses and wagons, to smash the Krakow rebellion of Polish nationalists in 1846, taking just two days to cover the 200-mile journey from their garrison at Hradish in Bohemia. Then, in 1848,…
The Russian Army of 1812
The Russian Army of 1812 was, in many respects, quite different from the one Napoleon faced in 1805 and 1807. The lessons of Austerlitz, Eylau and Friedland led the Russian government to realize the need for change and to pursue a modernization through military reforms. It was a lengthy process,…
Pre-1965 Rhodesian Armed Forces
Although Rhodesian forces fought alongside British and Imperial units against the white Afrikaners during the Boer War, the settlers remained mesmerized by the spectre of an African rebellion. The defence system of the first decade of the twentieth century was geared solely towards securing the settlers against the vastly more…
Tlaxcala
Tlaxcallan soldiers Source: “Armies of the Sixteenth Century – The armies of the Aztec and Inca Empires, other native peoples of the Americas, and the Conquistadores 1450-1608” by Ian Heath. A powerful kingdom in Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest, Tlaxcala was a fierce rival of the Aztecs…
THE CANAANITES (1500-900 b. c. e)
A Maryannu warrior, elite of the Canaan army The period between 1800 and 1550 b. c. e. is called the Middle Canaanite period, when climatic conditions improved and cultural development flourished, permitting the people of Canaan to rebuild their old fortified villages into powerful new urban centers. During this time…
Late Byzantine Cavalry
The Catalan Grand Company achieved significant success against the Turks. Gregoras comments that the Catalan company was a highly organized and very effective and disciplined military force. Their high level of professionalism and experience, and the good co- ordination between cavalry and infantry and the maintenance of discipline, a field…