Biography

Erich von Ludendorff

Biography 13 Min Read

William II with his generals. Erich von Ludendorff. (April 9, 1865–December 20, 1937) German Staff Officer Brilliant but mercurial, Ludendorff possessed one of the best tactical minds of World War I. When coupled with the steadying influence of Paul von Hindenburg, they constituted a formidable offensive team. However, Ludendorff proved stubborn and shortsighted in a strategic sense, and his policies…

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Biography 13 Min Read

Henry II – the Conqueror

The Devil’s Crown The Devil’s Crown is a thirteen-part drama series.  Produced by the BBC, Radiotelevisione Italiana, TF1, Time-Life Television Productions, TĂ©lĂ©cip and TĂ©lĂ©vision Suisse-Romande, it was first broadcast on Sundays, from 30 April to 23 July 1978 (BBC2, various times). Malmesbury, in Wiltshire, was a wretched little town, as…

Biography Medieval 16 Min Read

Henry II – A Scandalous Wife

Eleanor of Aquitaine book cover illustration by Duncan Long for a book by Robert Fripp On 18 May 1152, at the cathedral in Poitiers, Henry duke of Normandy married Eleanor duchess of Aquitaine. Planned in haste and with the utmost secrecy, the ceremony had been executed as quickly as possible.…

Biography 8 Min Read

Louis XV (1710-1774)

The Battle of Fontenoy, 11 May 1745, showing Maurice de Saxe presenting the captured British and Dutch prisoners and colours to Louis XV and the dauphin. Battle of Lawfeld, 2 July 1747: Louis XV pointing out the village of Lawfeld to Maurice de Saxe King of France When Louis XIV…

Biography British 4 Min Read

Major General Sir (John) Frederick Maurice, (1841–1912)

A member of the Ashanti Ring, Major General Sir (John) Frederick Maurice was a highly talented but controversial military intellectual, theorist, historian, editor, and educator. He was also Field Marshal Viscount Garnet J. Wolseley’s “lifelong friend, apologist and amanuensis” (Preston 1967, p. 244). Maurice, born on 24 May 1841, was…

Biography Russia 4 Min Read

Gendarme of Europe

Nicholas I (Nikolai I Pavlovich; 6 July 1796 – 2 March 1855) was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855. He was also the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He is best known as a political conservative whose reign was marked by geographical expansion, repression of…

Biography British 10 Min Read

Samuel Hood

1784 portrait by James Northcote British admiral. Born 12 December 1724, Samuel Hood entered the navy in 1741 as captain’s servant on the Romney (50 guns). In 1743 he joined the Garland (24), and he became midshipman on the Sheerness (24) that November. After service in other ships, he was…

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SOVIET FIGHTER ACES IN KOREA

Russian MiG-15 Aces in Korea, from left to right: Aleksandr P. Smorchkov (8 kills), Nikolai…

DEMETRIUS I, KING OF MACEDON

Marble bust of Demetrius I Poliorcetes. Roman copy from 1st century AD of a Greek…

Tamerlane and the Golden Horde

TAMERLANE (1336–1405). Turkic chieftain and conqueror. He was not Mongol, but sought to trace Mongol…

CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA

Chandragupta had defeated the remaining Macedonian satrapies in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent by…