301 The Peninsular War

By the year 1808 France had achieved domination over the great majority of continental Europe. Britain now stood alone, secure thanks to the French naval defeat at Trafalgar. In 1806 Napoleon declared the Continental Blockade, forbidding British imports into continental Europe, Portugal remaining neutral tried to avoid the ultimatum. Napoleon needed to close Portugal, and gain tighter control over Spain since its ports were not entirely closed to British goods...

302 The Maxim Gun

The American born inventor Hiram Maxim whilst visiting the Paris Electrical Exhibition was told: "If you wanted to make a lot of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each other's throats with greater facility." His solution was the Maxim gun, the first  self powered machine gun. Adopted by the British army in 1891 by 1905 it was in use with nineteen different armies and twenty one navies. With its invention war changed forever, and would leave it's indelible mark on the casualties of the upcoming First World War....

303 Arnhem - A Bridge Too Far

Operation Market Garden was the largest airborne assault in history. Planned as the spearhead of a massive thrust into Holland, securing bridges along a thin sixty mile corridor through which the armoured columns of XXX corps [thirty core] would charge through relieving the parachutists as they went, and hopefully catching what they thought would be weak German resistance off guard, before finally capturing the Rhine crossing at Arnhem. The operation would lead Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick "Boy" Browning, commander of the airborne troops to exclaim beforehand "I think we might be going a bridge too far."

304 Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

In 9AD Publius Quinctilius Varus, the Roman Governor of Germania, marched over the Rhine to spend the summer at advanced posts far inside the recently conquered province. On his return a coalition of Germanic tribesmen, led by Arminius attacked and decimated the Romans, the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth legions would never be raised again and their commander, Varus, committed suicide. The result of the battle was that ultimately Germania remained independent and was never included in the Roman empire, the Roman Empire would be stopped at the Rhine.

305 The Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest medal of gallantry awarded by the British Armed forces, it is awarded irrespective of rank or service and even to civilians under military command. Cast from captured Russian cannons from the Crimean war this unassuming medal is only 41mm high by 36mm wide bearing a crown surmounted by a lion, and the inscription FOR VALOUR. it has only ever been awarded to just over one thousand three hundred and fifty individuals.

306 William T. Sherman

William Tecumseh Sherman is a controversial figure. The second most famous of the Union Commanders in the American Civil War he never won a major victory, yet it was his "march to the sea" splitting the confederacy and depriving it of supplies which contributed so much to the Northern victory. His scorched earth policy and the burning of Atlanta has led him to still be despised in Georgia for the devastation he caused, Sherman bluntly commented "If the people of Georgia raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking."

307 The Story of Amphibious Warfare

A few miles or so out to sea, an armada of warships is revealed by the lifting dawn mist. Fleets of landing craft battle their way through the surf to grind their way onto the beaches. Ramps slam down, boots tramp down metal and splash into water. The desperate race across the beach begins...

308 The SS

The SS was established in 1925 as Hitlers personal bodyguard, a latter-day "Praetorian guard". SS members were selected on principles of racial purity and absolute loyalty to the Nazi party. By the end of the second world war they had fought in every major battle and become feared for their fanaticism and loathed for their cruelty. It was the SS that ran the concentrations camps, organised death squads and were associated with many other atrocities.

309 The Battle of Balaclava

In 1854 war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire with Britain and France siding with the Turks. Landing in the Crimea British and French defeated the Russians at Alma, driving them back and laid siege to Sevastopol. The British dug in at Balaclava... The following battle is the stuff of legend, the "thin red line", the charge of the heavy brigade and the disastrous charge of the light brigade...

310 Tank (part 1)

Throughout history armies have looked to protect themselves whilst advancing, the greek hoplites developed the phalanx the romans the testudo. With the coming of the gun powder age nothing could stop a bullet, but the rate of fire was only limited. It was the first world war, where the mass deployment of automatic firing weapons brought attacks to a standstill and forced armies to dig in, which in turn created another innovation on a grand scale, trench warfare. The only form of attack was endless bombardments which threw thousands of tonnes of earth into the air but would cause surprisingly few casualties... It was to combat this stalemate that the modern tank was developed