MHM July 2019

The July issue of Military History Matters, the British military history magazine, is now on sale.

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In this issue:

On the Cover: Capturing the USS President

The USS President was the pride of the US fleet during the War of 1812. Robbie MacNiven recalls the epic naval clash that led to the ship’s capture by the British.

Special: Julius Caesar

The story of Julius Caesar’s military career is that of a special relationship between a brilliant commander and an elite fighting force: the Roman Army. In our first feature, Graham Goodlad charts Caesar’s origins, early career, and rise to power, paying special attention to the Gallic Wars. In the second, MHM Editor Neil Faulkner analyses the Battle of Pharsalus, in which legion fought legion, and we see Caesar engaged in a very different kind of battle: one against his own kind.

Barbarossa: building the medieval German ‘Reich’

Jack Watkins reports on the Holy Roman Emperor’s attempt to subjugate Italy.

Churchill and Stalin: an unlikely alliance

From 1917 to the 1950s, Winston Churchill had a bumpy relationship with the Soviet Union, and it had a profound effect on his reputation in America. Taylor Downing charts the zigzags.

Regiment: The 97th (Earl of Ulster’s) at Sebastopol, 1854-1855

Patrick Mercer relives the exploits of a British regiment in the storming of the great Russian fortress of Sebastopol in 1855.

Also in this issue:

War on Film; Royal Deaths at War; War Culture, Behind the Image, Book Reviews; Museum Review; Event Listings; Competitions; and much more.

To subscribe to the magazine, click here. To subscribe to the digital archive, click here.

From the editor

Julius Caesar, as well as being a model of political leadership over two millennia, was also one of history’s greatest commanders. His two most hard-fought engagements were Alesia in 52 BC and Pharsalus in 48 BC.

Both were exceptionally close-run, the first against a massive Celtic tribal confederation challenging his conquest of Gaul, the second against an army of Roman legionaries, like his own, that outnumbered him more than two to one.

Graham Goodlad leads our special with an overview of Caesar’s career, especially his Gallic campaigns, while my complementary piece offers a detailed analysis of Pharsalus.

Another of history’s military giants was Frederick Barbarossa, the 12th-century Holy Roman Emperor, and he is the subject of Jack Watkins’ article this issue, while MHM regular Taylor Downing takes a close look at the awkward wartime relationship between Britain’s Winston Churchill and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Nineteenth-century warfare is the subject of two other features. One has a naval flavour, Robbie MacNiven’s account of the fatal collision between US ‘super frigate’ USS President and HMS Endymion in the closing stages of the War of 1812, while the other is Patrick Mercer’s report on the 97th Regiment of Foot’s service in the trenches of Sebastopol and at the storming of the Redan.

To subscribe to the magazine, click here. To subscribe to the digital archive, click here.