The Hellish Battle of the St. Eloi Craters, 1916: Pt. 1
St. Eloi was part of the Flanders front, near Ypres.
Ypres, and the surrounding region and province known as Flanders, was synonymous with the British Expeditionary Force during World War I. Ypres was historically one of Belgium’s most important cities, being a key economic powerhouse in the region, especially in the textile industry. While the city in scope of size and importance had dropped by 1914, it was still an important regional marketplace. The fighting around Ypres had ground the city into rubble by the war’s end.
In 1914, the professional, hardened British Army clashed with the green German Army in this corner of Belgium, in the First Battle of Ypres (October 19-November 22, 1914). German forces slammed into the British again and again. The small British professional army, with famous names like the Coldstream Guards, Black Watch, and the Connaught Rangers, was decimated, requiring a flood of British volunteers to fill the ranks. The British were successful; they held off the Germans, but were now locked in place, squeezed into a salient.
That was the beginning.
The General Who Got Away With Murder: The Scandalous Life of Daniel Sickles
Daniel “Devil Dan” Sickles is one of the Civil War’s most divisive figures. A lifelong Democrat politician, Sickles saw a tremendous rise in his military stature. He joined the Union Army with no military experience and shot up through the officer ranks to become a corps commander, where he famously saw his corps decimated at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Major General Daniel Sickles was the only Union Army corps commander who didn’t hail from the United States Military Academy during the Civil War. It was his aptitude for politics, his lack of a West Point education, and his personal attacks on professional army officers that solidified his support from the Radical Republicans faction during the Civil War.
General Irvin McDowell's Inevitable Failure: McDowell and the First Battle of Bull Run
Everything worked against the Union Army of Northeastern Virginia and its commander.
The Confederacy's Biggest Blunder
The relatively unknown Battle of Spring Hill was a catastrophic blunder for the Confederate Forces in the West.
Fighting Joe Hooker's Rise and Fall as Commander of the Army of the Potomac
Fighting Joe Hooker's Rise and Fall as Commander of the Army of the Potomac
Confederate Medical Case Review: Avoiding Surgery for Battle Wounds (Confederate States Medical Journal Part 2)
Confederate Civil War Surgeons were not always quick to operate on patients. Civil War Surgeons were more conservative in their decision to operate, even studying the effect of avoiding surgery.
The Medical and Surgical Journal of the Confederate States. (Part 1)
The Confederate Medical Department made strides to modernize medicine during the Civil War. While most of their work was lost forever during the Richmond Evacuation Fire in April, 1865, the Medical and Surgical Journal of the Confederate States gives us a valuable look into the discoveries and advancements made by the department during the war. Check out Part 1 here. In Part 2 I will delve deeper into the actual medical literature contained inside.
Calm Before the Storm: A difficult situation for both armies before the Battle of Liege, 1914.
German apprehension to invade neutral Belgium in 1914 failed to change their plans.
1914: The Battle of Liege Part One
The Battle of Liege, which occurred in August 1914, kicked off World War I on the Western Front. The Belgian forts were no match for German modern firepower. Decades of planning left the Belgians ill-prepared for what was to come.
The Modern American Interventionist Playbook: Woodrow Wilson’s 1915 Haiti Invasion
American foreign policy has largely been a disaster. Besides that point, the United States' playbook for future foreign policy endeavors was scribbled into play by Woodrow Wilson and his 1915 invasion of Haiti. Most people aren’t even aware this unhappy chapter occurred, but it did in the early phase of America’s rising global dominance.
