Trial by cheese? Here are 6 of the craziest medieval ordeals
Life in ancient Germany was rough, to put it lightly. You knew who your second cousins were, because you never knew when someone and his cousins were planning to kill…
4 lopsided battles lost because of excessive pride
Leading a massive military force must be a huge ego booster for its commander. Wielding that much military power in one place has to make anyone feel confident of victory….
4 strange and unique things found inside Europe’s catacombs
For centuries, people have inhabited Europe, building new empires with more sophisticated cultural antiques than their predecessors. Out of sight and out of mind, some of the oldest places for…
The only time European pikemen squared off against Japanese samurai
Bizarre, seemingly impossible anachronistic historical matchups aren’t just for wargaming or Sid Meier’s Civilization. There’s at least one instance in recorded history where European regular infantrymen were called on to…
A Spanish woman single-handedly defeated an enemy army with a flagpole
Most people know of Spain’s disastrous effort to invade England with a massive fleet of ships that quickly ended up at the bottom of the English Channel, but that’s not…
Today in military history: Patton wins race to Messina
On Aug. 17, 1943, U.S. General George S. Patton and British Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery arrived in Messina and completed the Allied conquest of Sicily. Operation Husky, the Allied…
Why the Black Army of Hungary was the most elite fighting force of its time
There are a few things the United States military does to maintain its global supremacy. First and foremost, it maintains a standing, professional force where every soldier, sailor, airman and…
11 facts you should have learned about World War I
On this day in history, WWI began. Here’s everything you were always supposed to know about the Great War but may have never learned.