The 'wooden walls' of the Royal Navy formed the country's most important line of defence during the Napoleonic Wars, protecting Britain from Napoleon's intended invasion. Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, perhaps Britain's most popular hero, instilled unswerving confidence in his men and led them to[...]

Europe's great powers formed two powerful coalitions against France, yet force of numbers, superior leadership and the patriotic fervour of France's citizen-soldiers not only defeated each in turn, but closed the era of small, professional armies fighting for limited political objectives. This perio[...]

During the 19th century Britain entered into three brutal wars with Afghanistan, each one saw the British trying and failing to gain control of a warlike and impenetrable territory. The first two wars (1839-42 and 1878-81) were wars of the Great Game; the British Empire's attempts to combat growing [...]

The Soviet invasion of its neighbour Afghanistan in December 1979 sparked a bloody nine-year conflict in that country until Soviet forces withdrew in 1988-89, dooming the communist Afghanistan government to defeat at the hands of the Mujahideen, the Afghan popular resistance backed by the USA and ot[...]