History of War - Issue 100, 2021

1870: FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR

Defeating their powerful neighbour to the west was the crowning glory for the Confederation and signalled the birth of the German Empire

1866: AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR

The main opponent to Bismarck's plan for unification was defeated in just seven weeks

1848 & 1864: SCHLESWIG WARS

Prussian leader Otto von Bismarck's first roll of the iron dice came in a war against two duchies controlled in part by Denmark

CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE

After dissolving the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon established a pro-French military alliance of German states that loosely resembled a united Germany

SHREWSBURY

In 1403, English archers faced each other in battle for the first time as rebels sought to topple Henry IV

VIETNAM’S 'BAND OF BROTHERS': Q&A WITH IAN GARDNER

How 3rd Battalion, 506th Airborne overcame adversity in the jungles of Southeast Asia, continuing the legacy of their WWII forebears

HO CHI MINH’S ART OF WAR

The leadership of North Vietnam’s revolutionary premier succeeded in defeating the colonial French state, and later South Vietnam and its Western allies

PETER BADCOE

This major of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam displayed conspicuous bravery on three separate occasions, leading members of the territorial forces of South Vietnam in Thua Thiên-Hué Province

BOMBER COMMAND: THEIR FINEST HOUR

In June 1944, the Allied invasion fleet launched to begin the liberation of Occupied Europe did so in a cocoon of protective air power. Fighters swept ahead and above; maritime patrol aircraft shielded the flanks; and vast fleets of transport aircraft carried the paratroopers who would seize bridges and causeways behind enemy lines. An often overlooked contribution to Operation Overlord was the role of the heavy bombers, who attacked the Nazi shore defences and carried out several other critical missions that paved the way for Allied success

SHERMAN THE MAKING OF A WAR WINNER

The M4 Sherman medium tank was produced in huge numbers during WWII and became the Allies' most prominent yet controversial land weapon of the conflict