The June issue of Military History Matters, the British military history magazine, is now on sale.
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In this issue:
The Troubles: Northern Ireland, 1968-1998
From 1968 to 1998, Northern Ireland was quagmired in one of the most controversial, protracted conflicts of the Western world. This issue, former British Army officer and regular MHM contributor Patrick Mercer, who was present during the campaign, analyses the guerrilla insurgency that challenged the British Army’s occupation of Northern Ireland.
Battle of Preston: Cromwell & the 17th-century military revolution
Martyn Bennett analyses the generalship of Oliver Cromwell, England’s great revolutionary leader, looking in detail at Preston, the decisive engagement of the Second Civil War.
Solferino, 1859
Europe was at peace for most of the 19th century – but there were moments of exceptional violence, and the Battle of Solferino was one of the worst. David Norris reports.
Rise of Japanese Militarism
Japan became a highly militarised and expansionist society, implementing policy that aimed to match the brutality of the Axis powers with whom Japan had allied itself. Edmund West traces the roots of the new ideology.
Walter Tull: Britain’s First Black Officer
Walter Tull was a trailblazing sportsman and soldier, who succeeded against the odds. But his name is little known. Undeservedly, argues Christopher Warner.
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
The murder of Lyra McKee has reminded us all. It lasted 30 years and caused ‘only’ 3,500 deaths. This makes it a war that was both exceptionally protracted and of exceptionally low intensity. Yet the Northern Irish ‘Troubles’ gave rise to a range of military problems as challenging as any.
Our special this time is a departure from the norm, in that we have asked a former participant, ex-soldier Patrick Mercer, to analyse the Troubles from the perspective of a military historian (and regular MHM contributor).
Neither side won. The Provisional IRA could not destroy the British-backed Loyalist state. The British Army could not destroy a guerrilla network rooted in the minority Catholic community. Patrick’s two complementary articles seek to explain why the war produced stalemate and stasis.
What was Europe’s most terrible battle between 1815 and 1914? A strong case can be made for Solferino in 1859, the murderous clash between France and Austria that opened the Italian Risorgimento, analysed this issue by David Norris.
And where does Oliver Cromwell stand in the ranking of history’s great captains? Martyn Bennett puts a strong case for seeing the future ruler as a leading exponent of the 17th-century ‘military revolution’.
Also this issue, we have Edmund West on the roots of 20th-century Japanese militarism, and Christopher Warner on the footballer, front-line officer, and pioneer of black advancement, Walter Tull.
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