History

On this day in history: The British Prime Minister is assassinated

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 service pistol

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 service pistol

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 […]

On this day in history: The birth of Niccolò Machiavelli

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 […]

Siege of Masada, Scene of the Sicarii Heroic Last Stand

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 […]

Anzac Day: Remembering Gallipoli

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 […]

Space Legends: Was there really a mutiny aboard Skylab in 1973? Well … sort of

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 […]

Chlorine gas: A weapon of WWI

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 […]

A dose of history: Robert Peary and Matthew Henson

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 […]

‘Denazification’ and a post WWII Germany

The picture above was taken on April 5, 1935, exactly 83 years ago today. One look at this picture and one can already surmise the difficulties Germany may have had after the fall of the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler — just because the military and political infrastructure were defeated did not mean that all […]

A brief history of bulletproof vests and armor

The evolution of the firearm is an interesting one — from the unknown Chinese origins of gunpowder, to the fire lance, and the slow development of handheld tubes that use gunpowder to force a projectile outward and into an enemy target. By the 1300s, what we consider guns today were well along in development, and […]