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Mujahideen fighters in the Afghan mountains. (Al jazeera) As the 1970s came to a close, Soviet power seemed to be on the ascent. New military technology contributed to a rising fear of nuclear war, regime change in Iran marked a rebalancing of power in the Middle East and the aggressive foreign policy of Russian leadership…
This article is a revised version of an essay submitted for academic credit at the University of Toronto. A French child greets British Indian soldiers during a break from the front lines. (Reddit) At the outset of WWII, Britain had one of the best armies in the world. Years of small but tough engagements such…
When referring to various parts of the world, people use terms like "third world countries" or "first world powers". This language has generally fallen out of favour; ranking different countries based on their wealth or prosperity strikes many people as outdated, even colonial. But what is the basis for this classification in the first place?…
US Marines engage IJA troops on Okinawa. (Britannica) By the spring of 1945, WWII was drawing to a close in Europe. The Axis in that region were either on the run (the Germans) or had already switched sides (the Italians). As Allied command began talking of dividing up liberated Europe in the wake of the…
Greek Hoplites on their "mad dash" towards the Persian lines. (Youtube.com) By the 490s BCE, the Persian Empire was the dominant power in the Mediterranean, having spent the past 40 years smashing smaller nations into submission. Luckily for the Greek poleis (city-states), the Persians had focused much of their energy on North Africa and the…
The battle, by Paja Jovanović. (Handelsblatt.com) By 9 CE, the Roman Empire was booming. Rome's first Emperor Augustus had consolidated his power and strengthened the legal framework of the government whilst expanding the empire in all directions.The so-called pax romana (Roman Peace) was in full effect: nobody really wanted to mess with Rome's Legions of…
The Battle of Gaugamela. (Wikimedia Commons) Most people know that Alexander the Great - King of Macedon, legendary military leader - was a wildly successful general who conquered huge swaths of Eurasia and the Mediterranean and kicked off the Hellenistic Age, a renaissance of Greek culture. Through a series of impressive military victories, Alexander and…
Mongolian soldiers during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. (Wikimedia Commons) The Western narrative of WWII often forgets much of what happened in the far East. Although the Pacific Campaign gets a considerable amount of American attention, many readers and researchers focus largely on the North African and European theatres. Most sources agree that WWII began…
The aftermath of the battle. (Wikimedia Commons) In the early 1400s, Anglo-French relations were in a pretty bad place. New English King Henry V - who succeeded his father Henry IV in 1413 - faced mounting pressure to stabilize his own kingdom and settle issues of succession with the French crown. Henry claimed ownership of…
An IDF Chieftain tank rolles past destroyed Egyptian military vehicles. (Popular Historia.se) In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Israel was an emerging power player in Middle Eastern politics. Although surrounded by relatively unfriendly neighbours (Egypt, Syria, and Jordan), the small Mediterranean nation had held its own in local conflicts since 1948 with the aid…
ASAP History 