Wars
Lamoral Graaf von Egmont, (1522–1568)
Portrait of Lamoraal, Count of Egmont by Frans Pourbus the Elder Flemish general, statesman, and Dutch nationalist hero whose execution helped spark the national uprising in the Netherlands against Spanish rule. Lamoral Egmont was born on November 18, 1522, into one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the Low Countries at the family estate of La Hamaide near…
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Peter the Great 1702-25 – Russian Army at War I
Given the enormous shortcomings of the Petrine army, how did Peter the Great manage to win the Great Northern War? In order to answer, we must look at Petrine economic and military innovations. The economic policies of Peter the Great were of significance because they allowed him to expand Russia’s…
Peter the Great 1702-25 – Russian Army at War II
If Peter’s economic policies sustained Peter’s army, albeit barely, they do not account for the outcome of the Great Northern War. The economic mobilization of Russia ensured that Peter would have something to fight with, but it did not foreordain his victory. To understand how the Swedes were defeated we…
Peter the Great 1702-25 – Russian Army at War III
Peter could consequently select from a range of options, or he could elect some sort of synthetic plan which combined the best of each. Indeed, Peter often went outside the military council itself for suggestions and advice about operational and strategic questions. Sometimes such input was the product of espionage…
WAR IN CHINA 1840–54
Engagement between HMS Volage and Hyacinth and a fleet of 25 Chinese war junks. Opium routes between British-controlled India and China. In the 1850s, the United States and the European powers grew increasingly dissatisfied with both the terms of their treaties with China, and the Qing Government’s failure to adhere…
The Russo-Japanese War – Japanese Army I
To many informed observers the advent of the new twentieth century heralded the demise of the old China. Japan’s victory had exposed China’s military weakness, which the western powers were quick to exploit, placing the empire in danger of dismemberment. In January 1898 Germany secured a ninety-nine-year lease on the…
Peace of Utrecht
Battle of Denain, by Jean Alaux. In Napoleon’s words, ″Denain saved France.” In 1711, the War of Spanish Succession was now to take an unexpected turn through some unforeseen occurrences. In the course of 1710 that famous change of administration had taken place in England by which the Whigs were…