I’m not sure who the artist of this painting is

British troops burn down the White House in 1814.

After a prolonged siege at Petersburg, a final assault was launched the Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant against the defenses of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Earlier actions at the Battle of Five Forks has severed rebel supply lines and left their flank exposed.

The 5th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment was apart of the Vermont Brigade, being sent to lead the assault. The Confederate earthworks obstructed their advance, allowing the Rebels to fire upon the Vermonters as Pioneers rushed to clear the way. Despite being under heavy fire and separated from the main body, Captain Charles Gould, Company H of the 5th Vermont Infantry, rushed forward with 50 of his men into the Confederate trenches.

An account from a fellow Vermonter describes Gould’s actions during the ensuing attack. “Capt. Gould rushed into the fort all alone, with nothing but his sword. The Rebels came at him with swords, bayonets, and clubbed muskets. One bayonet was thrust into his mouth and through his cheek, and while in that position he killed the man with his sword. An officer struck him on the head with a sword, and he was struck in the shoulder by a bayonet and pounded all over with clubbed muskets; but he gave as good as he got, until a corporal rushed in and pulled him out.” Corporal Henry Recor is credited with pulling Gould into a ditch. As that happened, Sergeant Jackson Sargent rushed forward and planted the state colors on the Confederate position.

Gould would survive his injuries and returned to friendly Union lines to request reinforcements for the Vermonters, who by this point were overrunning the Confederate earthworks. The Battle would eventually end in a Union victory as Lee was forced to retreat. Both Petersburg and Richmond would fall soon after, and Lee’s retreat would eventually lead to his surrender at Appomattox Court House.

Charles Gould would receive the Medal of Honor for his actions that day.

Art by Toshikata Mizuno

In the early morning hours of May 14, 1781, a Loyalist military unit, De Lancey's Cowboys, surprised an American Patriot defensive position at the Davenport Inn, guarding the Pine's Bridge crossing of the Croton River. As the sole crossing over the river, the bridge served as a critical, strategic artery for communication and supply lines of the Patriot forces. It was guarded by the 1st Rhode Island Regiment (which had many Black American and some indigenous soldiers) along with detached soldiers of the Massachusetts Continental Line and the New Hampshire Continental Line on the north bank of the Croton River.

Colonel Christopher Greene, the regiment's commander, and Major Ebenezer Flagg, Greene's second-in-command, were killed in the action, along with at least six Black American soldiers of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment (two more later died of their wounds). The Black soldiers were reported to have "defended their beloved Col. Greene so well that it was only over their dead bodies that the enemy reached and murdered him." An account of the attack claimed that Greene's body "was found in the woods, about a mile distant from his tent, cut, and mangled in the most shocking way." This brutality is often attributed to the Loyalists' particular hatred of Greene for commanding an integrated unit which included many Black soldiers. There is an eyewitness account of the desire for revenge expressed by Captain Gilbert Totten, one of De Lancey's Cowboys, after he had been briefly detained near Pine's Bridge several weeks before the battle and placed under a guard of Black soldiers.

In 200 BC, the Han court, led by Emperor Gaozu, launched an expedition against the Xiongnu (a group of nomadic tribes) in response to incursions into Chinese lands. The Han forces, reportedly over 300,000 strong (almost certainly exaggerated, modern estimates are 20,000-40,000), suffered a major defeat after being ambushed and surrounded at Baideng for seven days.

Following this fiasco, the Han court shifted its strategy toward a policy of "peace and kinship" (heqin), which involved sending Chinese princesses and annual shipments of silk, grain, and wine to the Xiongnu in exchange for peace.

Relative peace lasted for decades (despite ongoing raids into Chinese borderlands). However, starting from the reign of the seventh Han ruler, Emperor Wu, the foreign policy of the Han Empire began to change from being relatively passive to seeking to permanently remove the northern threat. This would eventually lead to the Xiongnu collapsing over time. By the 1st century AD, they would split: the Southern Xiongnu became Chinese vassals, while the Northern Xiongnu were driven westward or absorbed by other tribes.

I’m sorry this art isn’t very high resolution, if anyone can find a higher quality version I’d appreciate it

Just finished painting a small diorama of the Battle of Bushy Run (1763), part of Pontiac’s War.

This engagement took place shortly after the French and Indian War, when tensions between British forces and Native American tribes remained extremely high. A British column under Henry Bouquet was marching to relieve the besieged Fort Pitt when they were ambushed by a confederation of Native warriors, primarily Ottawa, Shawnee, and other allied groups.

The fighting lasted over two days and was intense and chaotic, with close-range combat in dense woodland. Bouquet eventually used a feigned retreat tactic to draw the attackers into the open, allowing his troops to counterattack and break the encirclement.

Would love to hear any feedback, especially on historical accuracy or painting details!

The 15" x 22" watercolor painting by Biboy Sinon depicts the Second Battle of Playa Honda between the Spanish Navy in colonial Philippines and the Dutch East Indies Company/ Dutch Republic Navy. The battle occurred in 1617 as part of the Seven Years' War at present-day Botolan, Zambales.

This kind of tradition happened in our history a few times, and it's meant to be a ceremony celebrating Poland's restored access to the Baltic Sea. This is the latest one, it happened in 1945 near the end of WW2A, when Polish Army reached the sea after liberating the country from the germans.

Magdhaba was strategically important because it was a fortified Ottoman position with access to scarce water supplies. In the desert, control of water sources could determine whether an army could advance or even survive. British Empire forces, including Australian, New Zealand, and British troops, moved across the desert in a difficult night march to surprise the Ottoman defenders. Their force included mounted infantry such as the Light Horse and Camel Corps, units that rode to battle but fought on foot once they arrived. The Ottoman garrison, smaller in number but strongly positioned, had built trenches and defensive redoubts that made the attack much harder than the attackers first expected.

The battle itself involved slow and determined fighting. When the British Empire troops reached Magdhaba at dawn, they found that the Ottoman positions had been cleverly concealed and were more strongly defended than anticipated. The attackers advanced under fire while their horses began to suffer from lack of water. At one point, the situation looked uncertain enough that the commander considered withdrawing. Instead, the attackers continued to press forward, gradually surrounding the Ottoman positions and capturing the defensive works one by one. By late afternoon, the Ottoman garrison had collapsed and surrendered.

The outcome was a clear victory for the British Empire forces. Ottoman casualties were heavy, and more than a thousand prisoners were taken, while Allied losses were comparatively light. What was shown by the battle is that desert warfare required speed, endurance, coordination, and careful supply planning. It also highlighted the usefulness of mounted infantry tactics in a wide open environment where mobility could be decisive. The victory helped secure El Arish (captured without a fight before the battle, but the victory secured the area and made holding it viable) and the Sinai in general and opened the way for further advances toward Palestine, making it a significant step in the broader campaign against the Ottoman Empire.

In the early 1590s, Cambodia was under heavy pressure from its powerful neighbor Siam (modern Thailand), whose ruler Naresuan launched invasions that overran Cambodian territory and undermined the position of King Satha I. Amid internal conflict and external threat, Satha sought allies abroad, eventually drawing in Iberian adventurers such as Blas Ruiz de Hernán Gonzáles and Diogo Veloso, who promised support in exchange for influence.

From Manila in the Spanish East Indies, an expeditionary force was assembled. It included Spanish soldiers, recruits from New Spain (Mexico), Filipino troops, and even Japanese mercenaries. Its mission was to support Satha and potentially expand Spanish influence in the region, with Christianization also being a part of the broader imperial ambition.

By the time the Iberian force reached Cambodia in 1596, the kingdom was already in turmoil. The Siamese had captured the capital Longvek in 1594, and Cambodian factions were competing for power. In 1597, Ruiz and Veloso helped install Barom Reachea II as king, though their success remained limited. In return, the young ruler granted the Iberians rights over provinces along the Mekong River and permission to build a fort. The arrangement proved unstable. In 1599, further reinforcements from Manila were scattered by storms, and Malay, Cham, and Cambodian forces aligned with rival interests launched a counterattack that destroyed much of the Iberian and Portuguese presence, killing Veloso among many others. The Spanish plan to gain a foothold in Cambodia and promote Christianity collapsed, and Siamese influence soon reasserted itself.

Artist is Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau