Tag: History

One of Winston Churchill’s most iconic speeches took place on this day in 1940. Europe was embroiled in the beginnings of World War II, which Britain, France, and Belgium were ill-prepared for and were about to be swept from the mainland under the onslaught of the German blitzkrieg. Churchill addressed Parliament in the House of […]

The Star model BM Spanish service pistol was an excellent firearm for its time. The pistol saw service with the Spanish military and police but also was used by the South African Defense Forces and found its way into the Rhodesian bush war. Although it looks strikingly similar to the 1911, the Star BM is […]

May 11, 1812 — British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval strode into the House of Commons through the lobby. It was a Monday evening and the prime minister sought to settle affairs with the Orders in Council. It was around a month before the United States would declare war on the United Kingdom in the War […]

The Colt 1903 was the predecessor to the famous Colt 1911 that is still in use today in some small capacities. The 1903 was carried primarily by officers but also favored for concealed carry because of its small size and “hammerless” design; something that is not entirely accurate because it does have a hammer contained […]

The Polish P-64 is a unique pistol in that it probably draws more inspiration from the Walther PPK than other Eastern Bloc designs but the influence of the Makarov  remains obvious — it even uses the Russian 9x18mm round for the military variant. Developed in the late 1950s at Poland‘s Institute for Artillery Research, the P-64 was designed […]

May 3, 1469 — Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence, in the Republic of Florence located in modern-day Italy. He was a politician, a philosopher, a diplomat and an early Italian humanist. He was devoted to the unification of Italy and penned many politically inclined philosophy books that would eventually make him (according to some) the […]

The tabletop mountain fortress of Masada in modern-day Israel near the Dead Sea was the site of the culminating battle between Rome and first Jewish Revolt during the period of 70-73 CE. The siege was chronicled by a Jewish prisoner Flavius Josephus, who became a historian and wrote the definitive story of the small band […]

April 25, 1915 — Allied forces in WWI land on six beaches on the Gallipoli peninsula of the Ottoman Empire, including troops from France, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. There, Turkish forces lay in wait and set up a fierce resistance to the landing parties. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) were located […]

The International Space Station has been in orbit around our planet since 1998, providing the human race with a (semi) permanent habitable space at the front door of the great beyond. That timeline offers an interesting bit of perspective — as you come to realize that America’s latest generation of enlisted warfighters, joining the service […]

Chemical weapons have dominated the headlines recently — two Russians were exposed to the Novichok nerve agent in the UK, sparking an international incident; the airstrikes in Syria were spawned from reports of a chemical attack on civilians. In Douma, Syria, the specifics aren’t exactly known about the agents used, but most sources say it […]

In telling the stories of war, we have a natural inclination to focus on the action, the drama of the front lines. Heroes, villains, and violence unlike most people have ever seen has a unique way of grabbing at the human attention span, luring us in with via own aspirations of heroism, or our own […]

The old methods of exploration — seeking out uncharted territories, risking life and limb to brave new terrain, indigenous people and unknown wildlife — have all seemed to fade into the past. Cartographers aren’t hand-drawing maps from memory and cutting through lush jungles with machetes as much anymore. Although, it could be argued that every […]