The March issue of Military History Monthly, the British military history magazine, is on sale today.
In this issue we cover:
Alfred the Great and the Vikings
This month Jeffrey James reviews Alfred’s war of resistance to the Vikings, and Martin Whittock analyses the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents. Includes:
– Background
– Alfred
– The burhs
– Vikings
– Battle Map
Swordsmen of the King
Jeffrey James describes the military exploits of King Charles I’s two German nephews, Rupert and Maurice, during the English Civil War.
Mapping the Second World War
Peter Chasseaud tells the story of WWII through maps.
Regiment: the Lancashire Fusiliers
Editor Neil Faulkner explores the Battle of Spion Kop, 24 January 1900.
Also in this issue: Behind the Image; War Culture; Conflict Scientists; War on Film; Book of the Month; Book Reviews; Museum Review; Event Listings; Competitions; and much more.
From the editor
I have long believed that a strong thread of continuity links Hastings, Agincourt, Blenheim, and Waterloo. Ways of fighting – like ways of living – are often deeply embedded in what the French call la longue durée.
What were the chief characteristics of the British way of war? Essentially that you fought on foot, in close-packed lines, with emphasis on defensive resilience, and with reliance on first the bow and later the musket.
Last issue, our article on the arms and armour of Agincourt noted how Edward III had re-engineered English society in the 14th century to provide the combined-arms ‘bow and bill’ force that had proved such a battle-winner. And when you think about it, are not the tactics of Edward at Crécy essentially those of Wellington at Waterloo?
What is the root of this approach to war? I think it is Alfred the Great and the Anglo-Saxon ‘shield-wall’. And Harold II’s military system in 1066 was essentially the same: a wall of men, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, many ranks deep, seeking to block the way.
In our special this month, Jeffrey James reviews Alfred’s war of resistance to the Vikings, and Martyn Whittock analyses the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents.
Also this time, Peter Chasseaud introduces his new book Mapping the Second World War, Jeffrey James writes again, on the role of Princes Rupert and Maurice in the English Civil War, and we have the second in our new Regiment series, looking at the ordeal of the Lancashire Fusiliers at the Battle of Spion Kop in January 1900.