The November issue of Military History Matters, the British military history magazine, is now on sale.
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In this issue:
ON THE COVER: The Vikings at high tide
Alfred the Great halted the first wave of Viking assaults on England, but a second, stronger wave carried a Danish warlord to the English throne in the early 11th century. In our special this issue, Wayne Bartlett weighs up the evidence in the controversy around Viking brutality, while Jeffrey James charts the second surge, with a special focus on the Battle of Assandun – which gave Cnut control of England – and the Battle of Clontarf – which saved Ireland from Viking overlords.
Allenby: The Battle of Arras
Simon Innes-Robbins assesses Allenby’s conduct of the Battle of Arras. Is the criticism of his leadership justified?
Yamato: Imperial Japan’s king battleship
Patrick Boniface recalls the history of the most powerful battleship ever built.
Italian cowardice: Exploding the myth
Pier Paolo Battistelli and Andrew Sangster take issue with the old slander about poor Italian performance in WWII.
Conflict Archaeology: HMS Olympus
Timmy Gambin and Lucy Woods report on the investigation of a British submarine lost off Malta in 1942.
Also in this issue:
War Reporters, Behind the Image, War Culture, Book Reviews, Museum Review, War on Film, Back to the Drawing Board, Listings, and more.
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From the editor
The Vikings have a reputation as formidable warriors and ruthless marauders. Our special this issue takes a close look at their role in the history of the British Isles in the century before the Norman Conquest, and a critical look at their dark reputation in the popular mind.
Jeffrey James contrasts the different outcomes of the Battles of Assandun and Clontarf – the first a Viking victory over Anglo-Saxons, the second a Viking defeat at the hands of the Irish. In a complementary piece, Wayne Bartlett discusses whether the Vikings deserve their exceptional notoriety.
Simon Innes-Robbins deals with another controversy in his piece on Edmund Allenby. His twin victories in Palestine made him one of the most successful generals of the First World War. What of his earlier conduct at the Battle of Arras on the Western Front?
Yet another debate is the concern of Pier Paolo Battistelli and Andrew Sangster in their piece on Italian ‘cowardice’ in the Second World War. They offer a more rounded picture of Italian performance.
Also this issue, Patrick Boniface charts the career of one of the greatest battleships ever built – Yamato of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War – while Timmy Gambin and Lucy Woods report on the archaeological investigation of the wreck of the British submarine HMS Olympus off Malta.
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