Black in Grey — Did Some African Americans Really Fight For the Confederacy? Historians Say No
“Some say it was a statistically insignificant handful, others maintain that it must have been ‘thousands.’“ BY THE END of the U.S. Civil War, there were approximately 180,000 African Americans fighting for the Union. This…
Allied Headhunters — Research Explains Origins of Wartime Trophy Taking
“The civilian public was shocked to learn that GIs, sailors and marines fighting the Japanese were collecting and trading the ears, teeth and heads of enemy dead.” IN THE spring of 1944, Life magazine ran…
The Mouse that Roared – Inside a Forgettable 100-Year Conflict Between France and a Tiny Village in Spain
“Nothing much came of the conflict. It’s unclear if the government of France knew or even cared that the people of the remote Andalusian town were up in arms.” WHEN Spain’s King Alfonso XII travelled…
How Early Photographers Captured History’s First Images of War
“The equipment was still sensitive and it took several moments for a successful exposure. That didn’t keep early war photographers from trying.” MATTHEW BRADY, the celebrated 19th century photographer, captured more than 10,000 images the…
A wallet, a Wellington bomber and a 70-year-old mystery that’s been solved
While it’s certainly not one of the biggest mysteries of the Second World War, identifying the owner of a decaying wallet recovered from the crash site of a Wellington bomber certainly was important to one…
There Won’t Be Blood – Holland’s 335-Year Phoney War With a Small British Island
“The obscure conflict, which began on March 30, 1651, was a curious by-product of the English Civil War.” WHAT’S THE longest declared war in history? A little-known conflict between Holland and Britain’s Isles of Scilly that…
