u/GameCraze3

Original art by Togekon

In the early sixteenth century, the Inca Empire was the dominant power in the Andes, ruling a vast territory stretching along much of western South America. Its political center was Cuzco, in modern Peru. When Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador who had come to South America in search of wealth and new territories for Spain, arrived in the region in the early 1530s, however, the empire had just been devastated by a civil war between two sons of the recently deceased emperor Huayna Capac: Atahualpa and Huáscar. Atahualpa had defeated Huáscar and was consolidating his power when Pizarro arrived.

Pizarro had only a small force (roughly 160–200 Spaniards alongside an unknown number of native auxiliaries) but he possessed horses, steel weapons, firearms, and considerable experience exploiting political divisions. In November 1532, he invited Atahualpa to meet him at Cajamarca. Atahualpa arrived with a large entourage, but apparently did not expect the tiny Spanish force to pose a serious threat. Pizarro's men suddenly attacked, killing large numbers of Atahualpa's followers and capturing the emperor himself.

Atahualpa attempted to buy his freedom by promising an enormous ransom of gold and silver. The Spanish received a spectacular quantity of treasure, but Pizarro nevertheless had Atahualpa executed in 1533. Pizarro then marched on Cuzco, which fell to the Spaniards later that year. Although Inca resistance continued for years, including a major revolt under Manco Inca, the Spanish had effectively destroyed the empire's central political structure. Pizarro subsequently founded Lima and became governor of the conquered territory.

The conquest, however, did not make Pizarro and his fellow conquistadors friends. His most important former partner was Diego de Almagro, who had helped finance and participate in the expeditions. The two men had long-standing disputes over who was entitled to which territories and how the spoils of conquest would be divided. Their disagreement eventually became a civil war. Almagro seized Cuzco in 1538, but Pizarro's half-brother Hernando Pizarro defeated him. Almagro was captured and executed. His death created a powerful faction of bitter former followers who believed that Pizarro had murdered their leader and stolen their rightful rewards.

Three years later, their revenge finally came. On June 26th 1541, a group of Almagro's former supporters, associated with his son, Diego de Almagro II ("El Mozo"), decided to kill Pizarro in Lima. The conspirators marched through the city and broke into Pizarro's palace

Pizarro was about 65 years old and was reportedly eating dinner when the assassins attacked. Taken by surprise, he and several of his companions attempted to defend themselves. Pizarro grabbed a sword and fought back, but the attackers overwhelmed him. He was stabbed repeatedly, including a fatal wound to the throat. According to the traditional account, Pizarro used his own blood to make the sign of the cross before dying.

After his death, Almagro's son briefly proclaimed himself governor of Peru. The Spanish Crown eventually crushed his faction, and the conquistadors continued fighting among themselves until the Spanish monarchy imposed firmer control over Peru.

Artist: Giuseppe Rava

The Battle of Bouvines, fought on July 27th 1214, was one of the most important battles of medieval Europe. It was the decisive confrontation of a wider struggle between King Philip II of France and a powerful coalition led by King John of England and Emperor Otto IV of the Holy Roman Empire. The conflict grew out of the long rivalry between the Capetian kings of France and the Plantagenet kings of England, who possessed enormous territories in France. Philip II had spent years weakening English power on the continent, including conquering Normandy in 1204, along with Anjou and other Plantagenet territories. John was determined to recover these lands.

In 1214, John assembled a major coalition against Philip. His allies included Otto IV, Ferdinand, Count of Flanders, and several powerful French and German nobles. The plan was to attack France from two directions: John would advance from the southwest while Otto and the northern allies invaded from Flanders. John initially made progress, but his campaign collapsed when his French allies refused to risk a major battle and he was forced to retreat after the Battle of La Roche-aux-Moines. Philip could therefore turn his attention northward against Otto's army.

On July 27th, Philip's army encountered the allied forces near Bouvines, in Flanders. The two armies formed up with infantry in the center and cavalry on the wings. The fighting was fierce and initially uncertain. At one point, the allied attack broke through the French center and Philip himself was surrounded by enemy forces. According to near contemporary account by William the Breton, they reached the king and used hooked weapons to pull him from his horse. Once Philip was on the ground, they attempted to kill him. His armor protected him from the blows, while several of his followers desperately fought to save him. One of his knights, Peter Tristan, reportedly placed himself directly between Philip and the enemy, while Gales de Montigny raised the royal standard to signal that the king was in danger. Other French knights rushed to his aid and managed to get Philip back onto a horse. After being rescued, he remounted and returned to the fighting.

On the French wings, the coalition's forces were gradually defeated, while several important enemy commanders were captured. Finally, Otto's position collapsed and the emperor fled the battlefield. Ferdinand of Flanders and Renaud of Boulogne were captured, effectively destroying the coalition's ability to continue the campaign.

John's attempt to recover his lost French possessions had failed, while Philip II's authority was dramatically strengthened. Otto IV's defeat also helped his rival, Frederick II, secure the imperial throne in Germany. In England, John's disastrous campaign contributed to the political crisis that culminated in the Magna Carta in 1215, as his barons became increasingly unwilling to tolerate his rule and military failures. For France, meanwhile, Bouvines became a celebrated royal victory and an important step in the consolidation of the Capetian monarchy.

Artist is Graham Turner

The invasion of Baekje in 660 AD was the result of the growing rivalry among the Three Kingdoms of Korea (Silla, Baekje, and Goguryeo). Silla had increasingly found itself threatened by the alliance between Baekje and Goguryeo, particularly after years of conflict along its western frontier. Seeking to eliminate Baekje and weaken its larger ally Goguryeo, Silla's King Muyeol forged an alliance with the powerful Tang dynasty of China in 648. China ultimately agreed to invade Baekje alongside Silla, with the two armies approaching from different directions: a Tang expeditionary force advanced by sea and up the Geum River, while Silla sent troops westward under Kim Yu-sin.

Silla's General Kim Yu-sin advanced with roughly 50,000 troops (according to traditional historical accounts anyways), while Baekje could muster only about 5,000 soldiers under the renowned General Gyebaek. Realizing that his army was vastly outnumbered, Gyebaek reportedly rallied his men with a speech invoking the ancient Chinese king Goujian, preparing them to fight to the death.

Despite the enormous numerical disadvantage, Gyebaek's army initially performed remarkably well, repulsing Silla attacks five times and causing Silla's morale to deteriorate. In response, the Silla commander Kim Pumil sent his young son and Hwarang warrior Gwanchang into battle. Gwanchang was captured twice by the Baekje forces; after his second capture, Gyebaek ordered his execution but reportedly respected the young warrior's courage. Gwanchang's death became a rallying point for the Silla army, which launched another major assault and eventually overwhelmed the exhausted Baekje defenders. Gyebaek was killed along with most of his army.

The defeat at Hwangsanbeol left Sabi exposed, and the Silla-Tang armies captured the capital within days. King Uija surrendered in July 660 AD, bringing the Baekje kingdom to an apparent end after roughly 700 years of existence. The Tang dynasty established military administrations to govern the conquered territory, while King Uija, his crown prince, and numerous Baekje officials were taken to China. However, the conquest did not immediately end Baekje resistance. Former Baekje elites and soldiers launched a determined restoration movement, eventually placing Prince Buyeo Pung on the throne and receiving military assistance from Japan. The resistance continued for about three years until the Silla-Tang alliance defeated the Baekje restoration forces in 663 AD, particularly at the Battle of Baekgang and the fall of their remaining strongholds. The destruction of Baekje dramatically altered the balance of power in Korea and allowed Silla and Tang to turn their attention toward Goguryeo, which fell in 668.

Artist of the painting is Oh Seung-woo

This battle was part of the long struggle for control of Italy between France and the Habsburgs. Francis I had already fought the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V over Milan and other territories in northern Italy. In 1524, Francis invaded Italy again and captured Milan, but instead of withdrawing, he decided to besiege the Imperial garrison at Pavia, a heavily fortified city south of Milan. Charles V's commanders, including Fernando d'Avalos, Marquis of Pescara, and Charles de Lannoy, assembled an army to relieve the garrison inside.

The siege dragged on for months. By February 1525, the Imperial army was increasingly desperate, but the French position was not as secure as it appeared. The French army was divided between the troops surrounding Pavia and a separate force guarding against the approaching Imperial relief army. Meanwhile, the Imperial commanders devised a plan to attack the French camp during the night.
On the night of February 23-24th, Imperial troops secretly moved through the Mirabello Park, a large hunting park north of Pavia. They broke through a section of the park's walls and began infiltrating the French position. The attack caught portions of the French army by surprise and fighting quickly spread through the park, with French and Imperial troops becoming entangled in confused close combat.

Francis I personally entered the battle. This was not unusual for a Renaissance monarch but it was extraordinarily dangerous. Francis was an experienced warrior and reportedly fought aggressively alongside his knights. His initial response to the Imperial attack was successful in some areas, and the French heavy cavalry managed to inflict serious losses on the Imperial troops.
The battle, however, gradually turned against the French. The Imperial commanders had brought together a remarkably diverse force, including Spanish arquebusiers, German Landsknechts, Italian troops, and cavalry. Their firearms proved particularly important. French cavalry, despite its traditional prestige and battlefield effectiveness, found itself vulnerable to concentrated arquebus fire.

The decisive moment came when the French army became increasingly fragmented. Francis's forces were attacked from several directions, and the king's immediate escort was gradually reduced. French commanders struggled to understand what was happening elsewhere on the battlefield. According to contemporary accounts, Francis was eventually surrounded by Imperial cavalry. His horse was killed or incapacitated, leaving the king fighting on foot amid the chaos. Several French nobles around him were killed, while others attempted to protect him. At this point, Spanish soldiers recognized that the heavily armed knight they were fighting was the French king himself.

Francis was eventually seized by Imperial troops. The precise details of who physically captured him became the subject of competing claims, with several soldiers and nobles later asserting credit. What mattered was that the king had fallen into the hands of Charles V's army. Francis had entered the battle as the ruler of one of Europe's most powerful kingdoms; he left it as a prisoner.

The French army subsequently collapsed. Thousands of French soldiers were killed or captured, while the survivors abandoned the siege of Pavia. The battle was an overwhelming Imperial victory. More importantly, however, the capture of Francis transformed what had been a military defeat into a major political crisis for France.

Francis was initially taken to Pizzighettone and subsequently transferred to Spain, where Charles V intended to use his prisoner as leverage. Charles demanded substantial concessions from Francis, including French renunciation of claims in Italy and territorial concessions elsewhere. Francis initially resisted, but imprisonment placed enormous pressure on him. Eventually, in 1526, he agreed to the Treaty of Madrid, promising major territorial concessions and agreeing to return to captivity if the terms were not fulfilled. Francis was released after his two sons were given as hostages. Once back in France, however, he repudiated much of the agreement, arguing that a treaty signed under coercion could not legitimately bind him. The result was another phase of the Italian Wars, as France and several other European powers attempted to contain Habsburg power.

Artist: Graham Turner

When Prohibition began in 1920, Chicago's enormous demand for beer and liquor created an immensely profitable black market. Gangs such as the Torrio-Capone organization, the North Side Gang, the Genna brothers, and numerous smaller neighborhood organizations competed for control of bootlegging operations. The conflict was therefore much broader than the famous rivalry between Al Capone and Bugs Moran.

Control of "territory" primarily meant control over customers, distribution, and protection. A gang might supply speakeasies in a particular neighborhood and expect them to purchase its beer exclusively. Rival gangs attempting to sell their own beer in that area threatened the established gang's profits and authority. Violence, intimidation, and political corruption were used to enforce these arrangements. Smaller gangs could operate independently or become allies of larger organizations, making Chicago's criminal geography complicated and constantly changing.

One of the lesser-known figures caught up in this world was John "Dingbat" Oberta, a powerful gangster from Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood. Oberta was associated with Joe "Polack" Saltis and the influential political fixer "Big" Tim Murphy. He became involved not only in bootlegging but also in neighborhood politics and other forms of racketeering. Saltis's organization controlled much of the illegal beer trade in the Back of the Yards area, making Oberta an important figure in the local criminal hierarchy.

Oberta survived several attempts on his life before finally being murdered in March 1930. He and his associate Sam Malaga were abducted and taken on what Chicago gangsters called a "one-way ride." Their bodies were subsequently discovered southwest of Chicago, both having been shot. The precise circumstances and motive remain unconfirmed, however the murder came only days after gangster Frank McErlane had been attacked in his hospital room, allegedly by men connected to Oberta. McErlane reportedly vowed to "take care of it."

The Beer Wars gradually culminated in the dominance of Capone's organization, although numerous independent gangs continued operating. One estimate from the Mob Museum puts the death toll during the Beer Wars from 1922-1926 alone at 475 people.

The Palmyrene state had emerged during the Crisis of the Third Century, a period of civil wars, invasions, economic problems, and political instability that severely weakened Roman authority across the empire. Palmyra, a wealthy trading city in Syria, became increasingly important because its ruler, Odaenathus, organized forces to defend the eastern Roman provinces against the Sasanian Persians after the Roman emperor Valerian was captured in 260 AD. Odaenathus remained formally loyal to Rome and was recognized by Emperor Gallienus as the leading Roman authority in the East, but his territory became increasingly autonomous in practice.

After Odaenathus was assassinated in 267 AD, his young son Vaballathus inherited his position, with his mother Zenobia acting as regent. Zenobia gradually expanded Palmyrene control over the eastern provinces. Her forces took control of Syria, Arabia, and eventually Egypt, one of Rome's most strategically important provinces. Initially, Zenobia continued to present her government as operating within the Roman imperial system rather than openly declaring independence. However, by 271–272 AD, she and her son began adopting imperial titles, effectively transforming Palmyra's autonomous sphere of influence into a rival imperial state.

This expansion coincided with the rise of Aurelian, who had become emperor in 270 AD and restored Roman stability in the West and along the northern frontier. Once he had dealt with Rome's other major threats, Aurelian turned east to reunify the empire. In 272 AD he invaded Palmyrene territory, while Zenobia's general Zabdas assembled an army near Antioch to stop him. The resulting Battle of Immae became the opening clash of the campaign.

Zabdas relied heavily on Palmyra's powerful cataphract cavalry, but Aurelian deliberately exploited their advantages against them. Roman cavalry initially advanced toward the Palmyrenes before suddenly retreating, enticing the heavily armored cavalry into a long pursuit. Once the Palmyrene horsemen were exhausted, the Romans turned and attacked them. The maneuver succeeded spectacularly, destroying much of the Palmyrene cavalry.

After Immae, Zenobia withdrew to Emesa, where she and Zabdas reorganized the Palmyrene army for another battle. Aurelian pursued them and defeated them again at the Battle of Emesa, forcing Zenobia to retreat to her capital, Palmyra. Aurelian then besieged the city, while Zenobia attempted to flee eastward toward the Euphrates and seek Persian assistance. She was captured before she could cross the river, and Palmyra subsequently surrendered, bringing the short-lived Palmyrene Empire to an end

Artist of the painting is Jose Morán

Old Wardour Castle in Wiltshire was the site of two sieges during the First English Civil War, fought between Royalist supporters of King Charles I and Parliamentarian forces.

Old Wardour was the ancestral home of the Arundell family, a wealthy Catholic family that strongly supported the Royalist cause. When the war began, Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour, left his family home to join the King's forces. He left his wife, Lady Blanche Arundell, in charge of the castle. In May 1643, a Parliamentarian force commanded by Sir Edward Hungerford approached Wardour. Hungerford's army reportedly numbered around 1,300 men, while the castle was defended by only a small garrison of approximately twenty-five soldiers, along with members of the Arundell household. Despite being vastly outnumbered, Blanche refused to surrender.

The Parliamentarians began a siege as opposed to attempting an immediate assault as Old Wardour's thick walls made it a difficult target and the attackers possessed limited artillery. Blanche and her defenders continued to resist while the besiegers established positions around the castle. Members of the household, including women, helped the defenders by performing tasks such as reloading firearms.

Eventually, the Parliamentarians resorted to explosives. They prepared a gunpowder charge intended to damage the castle and threatened to detonate it unless Blanche surrendered. Faced with the potential destruction of the castle and the lives of those inside, Blanche agreed to surrender on May 8th 1643, after approximately six days of resistance. The surrender was supposedly accompanied by guarantees concerning the safety of the defenders and the property within the castle, although Blanche and members of her family were subsequently treated less generously than the terms suggested. Blanche, her daughter-in-law Cicely, and the children were taken prisoner and sent to Shaftesbury. They were reportedly deprived of their possessions and left with only the clothes they were wearing. Only eleven days after the surrender, Thomas Arundell died from wounds he had received while fighting for the Royalists.

Parliament installed a garrison under Edmund Ludlow and strengthened the castle's defenses. However, the strategic situation in the western counties soon changed, and in December 1643 Henry Arundell, Thomas and Blanche's son, brought a Royalist force against the castle. Old Wardour was therefore besieged for a second time, but the roles were now reversed. The Parliamentarians held the castle while the Royalists attempted to recapture it.

The second siege lasted approximately three months. The Parliamentarian garrison, numbering around seventy-five men, again benefited from the strength of the castle's fortifications. The Royalists consequently resorted to the same general technique that Parliament had employed during the first siege: mining and explosives. They dug beneath the castle and prepared a gunpowder mine in an attempt to destroy part of its defenses. In March 1644, the mine exploded, badly damaging the castle and creating a breach. The Royalists then attacked through the breach. When another mine was threatened, Edmund Ludlow finally surrendered. The second siege ended on March 18th 1644, giving Henry Arundell control of his family's ancestral home once again. However, the victory came at a tremendous cost. The castle had been so badly damaged by the fighting and explosives that it was effectively ruined. Although the Arundells eventually recovered their estates following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, they did not restore Old Wardour to its former condition. Instead, a new residence was constructed nearby, while the ruined castle was preserved and eventually became the picturesque ruin visible today

This site has some photos of the castle today as well as more history about it: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/04/06/wardour-castle-the-14th-century-hexagonal-castle-was-once-one-of-the-most-daring-and-innovative-homes-in-britain/

Artist is Philip Corke

The Hokuetsu Campaign was one of the fiercest campaigns of the Boshin War, a civil war in Japan that accompanied the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate and the establishment of the Meiji government in 1868. Fought primarily in Echigo Province, in what is now Niigata Prefecture, the campaign pitted forces loyal to the new imperial government against the Nagaoka Domain and other domains belonging to the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, or Northern Alliance.

In the lead up to the war, growing political tensions, foreign pressure, and dissatisfaction with the shogunate allowed powerful domains such as Satsuma and Chōshū to rally around the restoration of political authority to Emperor Meiji. Although Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu initially surrendered political power to the emperor in an attempt to preserve Tokugawa influence, Satsuma and Chōshū pushed for the complete removal of the Tokugawa family from government.

Following the imperial victory at Toba-Fushimi and the fall of Edo, shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu surrendered. From then on, the new government sought to eliminate remaining opposition from domains that continued to support the shogunate or resisted imperial demands. In northern Japan, several domains formed an alliance to resist the government. Among them was the Nagaoka Domain, whose military affairs were directed by Kawai Tsugunosuke, a talented reformer who had spent years modernizing the domain's forces. Nagaoka attempted to maintain a position of armed neutrality and avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but the new government's refusal to accommodate its position helped push the domain into the conflict.

Nagaoka was particularly well prepared for a domain of its size. Kawai had obtained modern Western weapons, including French rifles and Gatling guns. The Gatling guns were especially valuable because automatic weapons were extremely rare in Japan at the time. Kawai also organized his troops according to modern military principles, combining traditional samurai leadership with Western-style firearms and tactics.

The fighting started in May 1868. Imperial forces advanced into Nagaoka territory and occupied important positions such as Enokidō Pass. Kawai responded with a counterattack on May 10th, recapturing the position and then advancing toward Asahiyama, where Nagaoka forces established artillery positions. The terrain of the region (mountains, rivers, rice fields, and difficult roads) favored defenders and made the imperial army's advance considerably more difficult. Nagaoka's forces repeatedly inflicted significant losses on the attacking troops.

One of the most important episodes came on May 19th when imperial troops launched a surprise operation against Nagaoka Castle. Rather than attacking directly from the positions where the two armies were facing each other, government troops crossed the Shinano River under difficult conditions and landed behind the defenders. The surprise attack succeeded, and Nagaoka Castle fell. Kawai attempted to organize a defense using his Gatling gun, but the imperial troops had already gained the advantage. The fall of the castle forced the Nagaoka leadership and its forces to withdraw.

The loss of Nagaoka Castle, however, didn’t end the campaign. Fighting continued across the region for months, with Nagaoka and allied forces repeatedly resisting the imperial advance. The conflict became a prolonged struggle involving fortified positions, river crossings, mountain passes, and repeated attacks and counterattacks. The Northern Alliance also benefited from support from other domains, particularly Aizu and Yonezawa, while Niigata's port was strategically important because it could be used to supply the alliance with weapons and other materials. The imperial government therefore sought not merely to capture Nagaoka but to break the entire military position of the Northern Alliance in Echigo.

In late July and August, the campaign entered another important phase. Nagaoka's forces succeeded in launching a surprise attack across the Hachōoki marshes and recaptured Nagaoka Castle. The success was nevertheless temporary. Imperial forces counterattacked, and Kawai was seriously wounded by a bullet in the leg while directing the fighting. His injury was devastating to Nagaoka's military organization and morale.

The imperial forces eventually retook Nagaoka Castle. Kawai and the surviving Nagaoka troops were forced to retreat toward Aizu through the extremely difficult Hassenri Pass. Kawai's wound deteriorated during the retreat, and he eventually died from from the injury. The fall of Nagaoka and the collapse of the Northern Alliance's position in Echigo effectively ended organized resistance to the new government along the Sea of Japan coast of Honshu.

The defeat at Hokuetsu isolated Aizu, one of the principal remaining centers of resistance to the Meiji government. With Echigo and the Sea of Japan coast brought under government control, the Northern Alliance's ability to coordinate resistance was severely weakened. The imperial armies could then concentrate their efforts against Aizu, whose defeat became one of the next major stages in the Boshin War.

Painting by Yoshiyuki Takagai

The disastrous Byzantine defeat at Manzikert in 1071 had allowed the Seljuk Turks to make major gains in Asia Minor, while political instability and civil wars had weakened the imperial government. At the same time, the Normans, originally descendants of Scandinavian settlers who had established themselves in France, had conquered much of Byzantine southern Italy. By 1081, their leader, Robert Guiscard, had turned his attention across the Adriatic toward Byzantine territory.

Robert Guiscard had built a powerful Norman state in southern Italy, capturing Bari in 1071, Palermo in 1072, and Salerno in 1076. He now sought to expand further, and Dyrrhachium (modern Durrës, Albania) was an ideal target. The city was a major port and the gateway into the western Balkans, meaning that its capture could open the road toward the heart of the Byzantine Empire. Robert crossed the Adriatic with a large Norman army and laid siege to the city. At almost exactly the same time, Alexios I had just seized the Byzantine throne after years of political turmoil, making the battle his first major test as emperor.

Alexios marched west with an army containing a mixture of Byzantine troops and foreign mercenaries, including the famous Varangian Guard. He hoped to relieve Dyrrhachium before the Normans could capture it. The two armies met outside the city on October 18th. Initially, the Byzantine position appeared promising: the Norman cavalry was confronted by the Varangians and other Byzantine troops, while Alexios attempted to exploit weaknesses in the Norman formation. However, the battle gradually turned against him. The Norman cavalry launched a devastating attack, and the Varangian Guard was badly mauled. Parts of the Byzantine army then broke and fled, forcing Alexios himself to retreat after suffering heavy losses. Alexios was eventually separated from his bodyguard and pursued by Norman soldiers. According to his daughter Anna Komnene's Alexiad, the pursuers caught up with him near a difficult stretch of terrain between the River Charzanes and a steep rock. Nine Norman soldiers attacked him with spears, striking at his left side and forcing him toward the edge of the terrain. Alexios was in danger of being knocked from his horse, but his sword happened to be firmly planted against the ground, helping keep him upright, while his spur caught in the saddlecloth and prevented him from falling. He managed to escape the immediate danger, but was subsequently struck in the forehead and badly wounded, losing a considerable amount of blood. He and his surviving men eventually reached safety at Ohrid after a difficult journey through the mountains.

The victory was a major success for Robert Guiscard. Dyrrhachium fell, giving the Normans a foothold in the Balkans and opening the possibility of a much larger invasion of Byzantine territory. However, Alexios proved remarkably capable of recovering from military defeats.

After capturing Dyrrhachium in February 1082, Robert pushed eastward along the Via Egnatia, the ancient Roman road leading toward Constantinople. His forces reached as far as Kastoria, and the invasion was becoming a genuine threat to the Byzantine Empire. But Alexios had realized that he probably couldn't defeat Robert directly, so he attacked the Norman invasion indirectly. He cultivated an alliance with Henry IV, the German king and future Holy Roman Emperor, and provided him with a huge financial subsidy. Henry was already in conflict with Pope Gregory VII, whom Robert had sworn to defend. When Henry invaded Italy and threatened Rome, rebellion also broke out among Robert's subjects in Apulia. Robert therefore had a serious problem: his army was deep in the Balkans while his own territories were rebelling and his papal ally was in danger. In April 1082, he returned to Italy, leaving his son Bohemond in command of the Balkan army.

Bohemond initially continued the invasion with considerable success, defeating Alexios in several engagements and advancing deep into Greece. He eventually besieged Larissa, a strategically important city in Thessaly. Alexios, however, rebuilt his army and changed his tactics, avoiding the kind of direct confrontation that had failed at Dyrrhachium. In 1083, he used feigned retreats and an ambush to defeat Bohemond's forces near Larissa. Combined with growing dissension among the poorly paid Norman troops, this forced Bohemond to abandon his conquests and withdraw toward the coast.

In 1084, Robert returned to the Balkans with a new army and fleet, retaking Corfu and continuing the campaign against Byzantium. His forces then moved toward Cephalonia, but the expedition was cut short when Robert suddenly became seriously ill. He died of a fever on July 17th 1085, effectively bringing the Norman invasion to an end; his death allowed Alexios to consolidate the Byzantine recovery of the territories the Normans had conquered.

Artist is Marek Szyszko

Source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/92344865

The Battle of Helsingborg, fought on March 10th 1710 during the Great Northern War, was a decisive Swedish victory that ended Denmark-Norway’s attempt to reconquer the Scanian provinces from Sweden. Denmark had actually fought Sweden at the beginning of the war in 1700, but was quickly forced out after Charles XII invaded Zealand and threatened Copenhagen. Under the Peace of Travendal, Denmark withdrew from the war and remained neutral for the next nine years. After Sweden's disastrous defeat at Poltava in 1709, however, Denmark saw an opportunity to resume the conflict and recover its former territories in southern Sweden. Denmark re-entered the war in late 1709 and sent an army of roughly 14,000–16,000 men into Scania.

By February 1710, Stenbock had assembled a force of roughly equal size and advanced into Scania, forcing the Danes under Jørgen Rantzau back toward Helsingborg. On March 10th, the two armies met north-east of the city. Stenbock maneuvered his army around the difficult terrain and pressured the Danish position, while fighting became particularly intense on the flanks. A vigorous Danish cavalry counterattack initially threatened the Swedish line, but the Danish cavalry became separated from its infantry and was eventually overwhelmed. Stenbock then exploited weaknesses in the Danish formation, attacking its center and causing the entire army to collapse.

The Danes suffered approximately 7,000–7,700 casualties compared to roughly 3,000 Swedish casualties. The surviving Danish forces withdrew into Helsingborg before evacuating Scania entirely several days later. The battle therefore ended Denmark’s hopes of recovering Scania by force and secured Swedish control of the province. It was arguably also one of the most important Swedish victories of the Great Northern War, particularly because it came shortly after the catastrophe at Poltava and demonstrated that Sweden could still field an effective army despite its severe losses elsewhere.

Both of these were made by digital artist Manuel Krommenacker. The first depicts the Swedish Jönköping Regemente during the battle while the second depicts Danish Grenadiers Corps

“Reese Russell, a tall, slender, fun loving, and handsome young man with jet-black hair and dark brown eyes, was thirty years old when the United States entered World War 1 in April 1917. He came from the little Appalachian mill town of Ceder Bluff in Tasewell county, Virginia, a place of quiet mountain charm where community picnics, summer bandstand concerts, and church revival meetings were the order of the day. He and most of his friends had never been more than 20 miles from home. Why travel, people joked, when they already lived in the most beautiful place on earth? Russell registered for the draft in the Summer of 1917, and the US Army called his number soon afterward. Putting down his banjo and straw hat, he kissed his girl good-bye and joined the 317th Infantry Regiment of the 80th 'Blue Regiment' infantry division, a unit made up of draftees from rural Virginia, West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania. He went to France and fought in the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne, at obscure places like Béthin-court and the Dannevoux. After less than a week in combat in the fall of 1918, he was evacuated to the rear, with poison in his lungs and demons in his mind. Neither ever left him. In 1919 he came home to Ceder Bluff to spend 'the rest of his life', as his daughter remembered, 'traveling a lonely road, out of step with his family, his friends, and his surroundings.' His lungs ruined, he could no longer breathe properly and collapsed periodically into uncontrollable spasms of coughing. He never spoke of what he had seen in France, and forbade his family to mention the war in his presence. His uniform, helmet, gas mask, rifle, and bayonet stayed packed away in a trunk, strictly off-limits to his family. When he wasn’t looking, his children secretly opened the trunk and fingered the mementos. To them, he had become a remote presence. As they handled the items, the children tried to guess what their father had experienced in the foggy, shell-torn fields and forests of the bloodiest battle in American history, the Meuse-Argonne. Russell began drinking as soon as he returned home. He drank through the economic recession of 1919, which an ex-Doughboy could not find a job, and the boom years that followed. He drank through the Great Depression, and during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidential administrations, when New Deal’s Promised Land always seemed just a step away. In 1941 America entered the Second World War, Russell drank even more, as if in sympathy for the GIs about to die, or in realization that his war — the so called 'War to End All Wars' — had been fought in vain. And he never slept. He went through the motions — lying down in bed between midnight and 5 a.m. — but he never closed his eyes in sleep, 'unless', his daughter recalled, 'one could call the stupor he fell into when he drank in his later years, sleep.' Perhaps he feared that his dreams would take him back to the war. He died a broken man at age sixty-one. As his daughter Heard- taps played over his lonely country grave, a sense of relief enveloped her. At last, her father’s torments had ended, and he could sleep”

Source: "To Conquer Hell: Meuse-Argonne,
1918 the epic battle that ended the First World War"

By the 1830s, the Sikh Empire, led by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, had become the dominant power in much of the Punjab. Over the previous few decades, Ranjit Singh's armies had expanded rapidly, taking territory from Afghan rulers and bringing places such as Peshawar under Sikh control. This expansion eventually brought the Sikhs to one of the most important gateways between the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan: the Khyber Pass.
In 1836, the Sikh general Hari Singh Nalwa, one of Ranjit Singh's most trusted commanders, captured Jamrud, a settlement located at the eastern entrance of the Khyber Pass. The location was extremely important. For centuries, the Khyber Pass had been one of the principal routes through which armies, merchants, and migrants traveled between Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent. By controlling Jamrud, the Sikhs could effectively guard the eastern entrance to the pass and keep a close watch on movement between the two regions. Nalwa immediately began strengthening the position by constructing a fort there.

The Afghan ruler, Dost Mohammad Khan, was deeply concerned by this expansion. The Sikhs had already taken Peshawar, and now they had established a fortified position almost directly at the entrance to the Khyber Pass. From the Afghan perspective, this raised the possibility that the Sikhs might eventually try to push even farther west into Afghanistan.

In the spring of 1837, Dost Mohammad saw an opportunity to strike back. Much of the Sikh military leadership and many of its best troops were away in Lahore for the wedding of Ranjit Singh's grandson, Nau Nihal Singh. With Jamrud relatively weakly defended, Dost Mohammad sent a large Afghan army toward the fort, commanded in the field by his son Akbar Khan. The exact size of the Afghan force is disputed, but it greatly outnumbered the Sikh defenders, who numbered only several hundred to roughly a thousand men depending on the account.

The Afghans surrounded Jamrud and placed the small Sikh garrison under intense pressure. The defenders nevertheless refused to give up the fort and sent urgent messages to Peshawar requesting help. Hari Singh Nalwa was stationed there at the time and was reportedly ill, but when he learned how serious the situation had become, he decided to march to Jamrud with whatever troops were available. Rather than simply remain behind the fortifications, Nalwa led his men out to confront the Afghan army. His arrival turned what had begun as a siege into a much larger battle.

The fighting was extremely fierce. The Sikh forces initially attacked the Afghans successfully, throwing parts of their army into confusion and forcing them back. The battle then became a chaotic and extremely close-range struggle, with heavy casualties on both sides. During the fighting, Hari Singh Nalwa was mortally wounded. The exact circumstances of his death are uncertain, and later Sikh and Afghan traditions contain dramatic stories about his final moments. What is much more firmly established is that Nalwa was fatally wounded during the battle and died shortly afterward.

Nalwa's death was a tremendous blow to the Sikh Empire. He had been one of Ranjit Singh's most experienced commanders and had played a major role in the empire's expansion toward the northwest. His loss was particularly serious because the Sikh frontier in this region was difficult to defend even under normal circumstances. However, the Sikh position at Jamrud did not collapse with him.

The garrison continued to hold the fort while Sikh reinforcements were sent toward the frontier. The Afghans had succeeded in inflicting severe casualties and killing Nalwa, but they had failed to capture Jamrud. When Sikh reinforcements eventually arrived, the Afghan army withdrew from the area. Jamrud remained in Sikh hands, as did Peshawar, and the Afghan army had returned to Afghanistan without achieving its main objective. At the same time, the death of Nalwa left a major hole in Sikh military leadership. The battle had shown that the Sikh frontier could survive a major Afghan assault, but it had also demonstrated how difficult and costly defending that frontier could be.

After Jamrud, Dost Mohammad had a potentially important opportunity. Hari Singh Nalwa was dead, the Sikh army had suffered heavy casualties, and the Afghan forces had demonstrated that the Sikh frontier could be challenged. Yet Dost Mohammad did not follow up by launching a full-scale attempt to retake Peshawar. Dost Mohammad instead approached the British government in India, particularly Governor-General Lord Auckland, seeking British involvement in resolving the dispute over Peshawar. He essentially wanted the British to help him deal with the Sikh Empire and recover territory that Afghanistan regarded as rightfully belonging to it. Contemporary and later accounts describe this as part of Dost Mohammad's broader effort to obtain British support against the Sikhs. This was significant because Britain was becoming increasingly interested in Afghanistan. The British were worried about Russian influence in Central Asia and wanted Afghanistan to serve as a buffer between British India and potential Russian expansion. The British, however, had their own interests. They were reluctant to simply hand Peshawar back to Afghanistan or openly confront Ranjit Singh on Dost Mohammad's behalf. And this eventually became part of the much larger diplomatic crisis that led to the First Anglo-Afghan War.

From the Sikh perspective, Jamrud had revealed something rather uncomfortable. The Sikh Empire had been extremely successful at conquering territory in the northwest. But maintaining that territory was much harder. Peshawar was a particularly difficult province to govern. It was populated largely by Pashtun communities, many of whom had their own local political structures and had resisted Sikh rule. The Sikh government therefore couldn't simply administer Peshawar in the same way it administered Lahore or Amritsar. And now Nalwa (the man who had been one of the most important figures in securing the northwest) was dead.

Paolo Avitabile was the Kardar (administrator/governor) of Peshawar. Nalwa was primarily a military commander who had personally led Sikh expansion into the northwest while Avitabile's principal job was to make Sikh rule actually function, and he was extraordinarily harsh. Avitabile became notorious for using severe punishments, executions, and intimidation to suppress resistance. Later accounts famously characterized his administration as a rule of “gallows and gibbets.” His brutality wasn't simply random sadism, though; it was part of a deliberate attempt to impose order on a frontier where the Sikh government had struggled to exercise consistent authority.

In the long run, however, the Sikh Empire's position deteriorated rapidly. Ranjit Singh died in 1839, and the strong central leadership that had held the empire together disappeared. What followed was a period of political instability, with several rulers succeeding one another in quick succession and growing tensions between the royal court and the powerful Sikh army. The British East India Company, which already controlled much of the territory surrounding the Punjab, increasingly took advantage of this instability. The result was the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845-1846, which ended with a Sikh defeat and much greater British influence over the empire. A second conflict, the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848-1849, ended with the British decisively defeating the Sikh forces. On March 29th 1849, the British formally annexed the Punjab, bringing the Sikh Empire to an end only twelve years after the Battle of Jamrud. The young Maharaja Duleep Singh was removed from power, and the former Sikh territories became part of the expanding British Empire.

I’m not sure who the artist is sadly

The Seventh Crusade started when Louis IX, determined to recover Jerusalem, chose to attack Egypt, believing that control of the wealthy Nile valley would provide a powerful base from which the Crusaders could later reclaim the Holy Land (plus, Egypt was the strategic center of Ayyubid power). After landing in Egypt, Louis captured the strategically important port of Damietta in June 1249 and then advanced south along the Nile toward Cairo. His progress was slowed by the difficult terrain and the Nile's waterways, giving the Ayyubids time to concentrate their forces around Mansurah.

By the winter of 1249-1250, the Crusaders were facing a fortified Egyptian army across the Bahr al-Saghir, a branch of the Nile. For weeks, the two armies remained separated by the waterway. The Crusaders attempted to find a way across while the Egyptians prevented them from establishing a secure bridgehead. Eventually, a local Christian informed Louis's forces of a ford that could be used to cross the canal. On February 8th 1250, Louis ordered his army to cross. The vanguard was commanded by his brother, Robert of Artois, and included the Knights Templar and an English contingent. Robert was supposed to secure the opposite bank and wait for the rest of the army, but instead he decided to exploit the element of surprise and attack the nearby Egyptian camp immediately.

The initial attack was remarkably successful. The Egyptian camp was caught off guard, and its commander, Fakhr al-Din ibn al-Shaykh, was killed during the fighting. The Egyptian troops fled toward Mansurah, apparently leaving the Crusaders with an opportunity to seize the city. Robert of Artois, however, made a disastrous decision: rather than waiting for Louis's main army to cross the river, he pursued the retreating Egyptians into Mansurah itself. The Knights Templar and other troops followed him, despite warnings that the rest of the Crusader army had not yet arrived.

The narrow streets of the city deprived the heavily armored Crusader cavalry of much of its advantage, while the Egyptian forces regrouped and launched a counterattack. Among the commanders organizing the defense was Baibars, a prominent Mamluk officer who would eventually become one of the most powerful sultans in the Islamic world. The Egyptian defenders allowed the Crusaders to penetrate into the city before surrounding and attacking them. Robert of Artois was killed, along with William of Salisbury and much of the Crusader vanguard. The Knights Templar suffered particularly severe losses.

Although the destruction of Robert's force had turned the initial Crusader success into a catastrophe, Louis and the remainder of his army had managed to cross the waterway. The Egyptians counterattacked, and the Crusaders were forced into a desperate defensive battle around their newly established bridgehead. Eventually, additional Crusader troops arrived, allowing Louis to prevent his army from being destroyed outright. The immediate fighting therefore didn’t result in the complete annihilation of the Crusader army, but the strategic situation was disastrous: Louis had failed to break through to Cairo, his army had suffered heavy losses, and the Egyptians remained in control of Mansurah.

The consequences became even worse in the following weeks. The Crusader army remained trapped in the region while disease and shortages weakened it. The Egyptians also disrupted Louis's communications and supplies, while reinforcements strengthened their position. Louis eventually attempted negotiations, but the Egyptians refused his demands. On April 5th 1250, the Crusaders started retreating toward Damietta. The retreat rapidly turned into a catastrophe, culminating in the Battle of Fariskur on April 6th. Louis IX was captured along with many of his soldiers, and he was eventually released only after a massive ransom and the surrender of Damietta, effectively ending The Seventh Crusade.