In the 1750s, some colonists in New Jersey complained about being forced to house British soldiers who were fighting in the French and Indian War. That conflict pitted Great Britain against France for control of areas of the New World. In an effort to placate the settlers, a stone structure was built in 1758 to…

Commentary Many years ago, I began working on a project that eventually became this article. It started when a friend of mine, a fellow veteran, sent me Victor Hanson’s 2007 piece “Why Study War.”  One of the many things that stood out to me about that article was a line from Margaret Atwood’s poem “The…

What are history’s greatest battles? Angus Konstam, author of more than 100 history books, tackles that question with his latest book, “100 Greatest Battles.” The author begins his selection in the fifth century B.C. with the battles of the Greco-Persian Wars, then moves through the next 2,500 years to the battles that made up the…

War creates cultural collisions. In Si Sheppard’s militaristic comparison and contrast of Ottoman soldiers and those of Australia and New Zealand, the cultural divisions are easy to notice even before the collision. Sheppard utilizes battles from World War I in his book “ANZAC Soldier Versus Ottoman Soldier: Gallipoli and Palestine 1915–18” to point out the…

In his new book “Military History for the Modern Strategist: America’s Major Wars Since 1861,” Brookings senior fellow and U.S. defense strategy expert Michael O’Hanlon reviewed America’s major wars since the mid-1800s, and provided a different perspective not only on history but strategy construction for the modern warfare and geopolitics. In a book discussion held…

In his new book “Military History for the Modern Strategist: America’s Major Wars Since 1861,” Brookings senior fellow and U.S. defense strategy expert Michael O’Hanlon reviewed America’s major wars since the mid-1800s, and provided a different perspective not only on history but strategy construction for the modern warfare and geopolitics. In a book discussion held…

Michael Livingston is the secretary-general for the United States Commission on Military History, a history professor at The Citadel, and the author of several works, including his latest “Crécy: Battle of Five Kings.” The Sons of History will be discussing his book on the famous medieval battle and what we misunderstand about it and the…