Military

Liverpool and the American Civil War

Sentiment, profit and commercial laissez-faire bound the merchants of England's busiest port ever closer to the rebel confederacy across the Atlantic after 1861. John D. Pelzer explains how and why.

Aztec Warfare

Ross Hassig questions whether the rationale behind the fighting in Mexico which Cortes encountered in 1519 has not been misunderstood.

Re-thinking Japan, 1937-45

Irrational chauvinists or fearful protectionists? Gordon Daniels looks at the new research and arguments reshaping our view of Japan's rulers before and after Pearl Harbour.

The American Revolution: A War of Religion?

Jonathan Clark probes the anti-Catholic actions and millenarian rhetoric of 18th-century America, challenging the assumption that 1776 was solely a product of secular and constitutional impulses.

The Abortive Crusade

To export the Revolution's benefits across Europe was the early hope of the French - but the unenthusiastic response from the liberated peoples rapidly soured the vision. Tim Blanning chronicles that descent from optimism to realpolitik.

Women Aviators in Pre-War France

In the years after the First World War, aviation became the most exciting form of transport, the spirit of a new age; but for French women, as Sian Reynolds explains, it was also a paradigm of their struggle for equality.

Uncivil War: The Military Struggle

On the 50th anniversary of the end of Spanish Civil War, Michael Alpert chronicles the ebb and flow of battle between Republican and Nationalists.