Simón Bolívar, the vaunted “Libertador” of South America, was in serious trouble. Outflanked on the left by Spanish royalists at Vargas Swamp in New Granada (present-day Colombia), his troops had withdrawn in disorder, threatening Bolívar’s patriot army with collapse. The situation called for immediate action. Without hesitation James Rooke led his battalion of 2nd Rifles … Lire la suite

No one can argue that Toyota vehicles are dependable, affordable, and abundant. But ask any veteran of the last 50 years and they’ll tell you these Japanese automobiles are vehicles of war. In fact, there was even a Toyota War fought in the late ’80s between Libya and Chad, named thus for the Toyota Hilux … Lire la suite

IN APRIL 1944, the United States War Department was consumed with thoughts of France. Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, was only weeks away, and American and British war planners were enmeshed in the details of executing the world’s largest amphibious invasion. While Washington and London’s attentions were focused on Overlord, a little-noticed decision made … Lire la suite

Belarus has reportedly banned the sale of the book “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” effective May 19. But why would a book about a chronically depressed, chain-smoking bureaucrat in a fictional country strike such fear into totalitarian governments? And how did such a novel come about in the wake of the Spanish Civil War and World War II? … Lire la suite

On a baby-blue sky fall afternoon, Richard Clem and I stand among the remains of cornstalks in a field on the old Otho J. Smith Farm near the Antietam battleground. The South Mountain range stretches across the horizon to the east; roughly 350 yards away stand large, modern farm buildings. A hint of cow manure … Lire la suite