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On this night in 1520, famous explorer, general, and conqueror Fernando Hernan Cortes (b.1485-1547) and his conquistadors fought their way out of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan , on Lake Texcoco in modern day Mexico . La Noche Triste became one of the major events in Spain ’s conquering of Mexico and the New World . Today in history on July 30 th a riot ensued during the day which became a massacre against the Europeans and their native levies whom Hernan Cortes had employed in his army during the campaign to conquer Mexico from 1518-1522. The Night of Sadness would become both the defining moment of the early exploration of the New World as well as one of its most tragic consequences. Hernan Cortes, the Conquistador This massacre came to be known as The Night of Sadness (La Noche Triste) and it had a very important impact in regards to the Spain , the Aztec culture, and the end of the greater Aztec dynasty in Mexico . Today it is arguably the defining moment of Corte...

In China’s long history the massive size of its empire both past and present creates many geographical, cultural, and chronological problems when dealing with the study of Chinese warfare in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This issue is prevalent in our Western understanding of China after the Revolution of 1911 which succeeded in the overthrow of the the Qing Empire. China ’s first attempt at a more republican form of government was come to be a fragile coalition of Warlords who in 1912 signed a series of treaties and alliances to form the Beiyang government in what is today  Beijing, China . The Beiyang Star, a political and military symbol of the  5 major regions (Warlord cliques) of China under Beiyang Rule Two of the smaller warlord cliques in the earliest era, Kuomintang (Nationalist dominated, but nominally a Marxist-Leninist party as well) and the independent Chinese Communist Party, later struggled for control over all of China after 1928 and beyond, only interrupt...

James Thomas Brudenell (b.1797-1868), 7th earl of Cardigan, known popularly as Lord Cardigan, commander of the 600 or so British cavalrymen who participated in the Charge of the Light Brigade , at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War in 1854, is perhaps singularly one of the most controversial figures of his day and in modern military history circles as well. Amongst the many histories, homages, and works of art devoted to the Crimean War and the Charge of Light Brigade, one of the most famous and endearing must be  Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem of the same year, The Charge of the Light Brigade . Lord Cardigan, commander of the Light Brigade Modern interpretations put Lord Cardigan at the center of one of the most misunderstood but oft-cited events in military history. What is known of the Charge of the Light Brigade is that the British commander Lord Raglan (b.1788-1855), who had an lost arm serving with Wellington at Waterloo , ordered Lord Lucan, the cavalry comm...

Che Guevara (b. 1928-1967) is know single handedly for his striking portrait taken in 1960, which has become an image so popular that it is perhaps the most popular photograph ever taken. It's reproduction has appeared on countless millions of t-shirts and other miscellaneous products for years now, and certainly for years to come as his image, persona, and accomplishments remain ever popular and controversial even today. Behind the face and persona of Che , stands Ernesto Guevara, the military and political mastermind, Cuban revolutionary guerilla, and 'freedom fighter'. Che Guevara (b.1928-1967) Born in Argentina in the year 1928, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara was a well read and thoughtful adolescent who later became a doctor in part because of his strong sense of compassion. His travels throughout South America by motorcycle just added to his early lifestyle as a young idealist adventurer (as depicted in the 2004 film The Motorcycle Diaries ), a period which greatly inf...

One of the least cited "inter-war" conflicts which was also apart of the neo-colonialism era of the 20th century, the Rif War or Riffian Rebellion in Morocco was bloody and multi-state conflict.  Fought between Spain, the Berber-Morrocan rebel tribes under Abd el-Krim (1882-1963), and later France from 1920-1927, it is a major military conflict which often foregotten by many military historians and writers. What began in 1920 as seemingly a rebel uprising or revolt turned into one of the first modern conflicts of the 20th century, lasting seven years with bloody battles and atrocities  committed  by all sides. The Rif War was a revolution, it was an insurgency, and a modernist colonial venture. It ended in 1926-1927 with a victory for the Spanish military and the allied army of France who had intervened  officially  in 1925 helping to defeat the rebels and  pacify  the Rif region of North Morocco for Spanish rule. Spanish Legionnaires being b...

On the night of June 17th in the year 1462, Prince Vlad Tepes, known to history as Vlad the Impaler or Prince  Dracula (b.1431-1476), carried out a daring night raid on the armed camp of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (b.1432-1481) during the Ottoman-Wallachian Wars 1456-c.1475. A bloody battle ensued when Vlad's cavalry and infantry attacked the Ottomans outside Târgoviște (Tirgoviste) in Wallachia (modern day Romania) which came to be know as the 'Night Attack'. It is believed that Prince Vlad launched the assault in an assassination attempt on Sultan Mehmed following the Turkish invasion of Romania in 1462, in what is mostly modern day Romania and Bulgaria. Prince Vlad III on campaign The real Dracula, known also by his cognomen, Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler, was a vovoide (princely ruler ) of Wallachia, a once moderately influential kingdom in the Southern Balkans known archaically still today as a portion of  Transylvania . Prince Vlad III,  Dracula (son of the dra...

The martial history of Iceland is confined to a few brief chapters for most historians, who rather easily define that there is no martial history of Iceland! In some ways this is true because Iceland has never maintained a standing army, and yet its peoples, Norse-Dano Viking ancestors fought to first conquer and then later to defend the island nation that became Iceland. This bitterly cold  & breath taking land in the middle of the North Atlantic was founded rather peacefully by the blood thirsty Norwegian-Danish Vikings who first inhabited the island, building homes, farms and fishing villages from 874 to the mid 900's. During the same period these warrior-adventurers inhabited Greenland and later parts of North America (Canada, and maybe even America) for a time, while many more pillaged Europe's coastal cities. For the rest of the medieval age until the conversion of seemingly all of Iceland to Lutheran Christianit...