The Mamluks

1250-1517

Il. Angus McBride. In Europe the Mamluks of Egypt are remembered as so-called 'Slave Kings' who drove out the Crusaders from the Holy Land; but they were far more than that. Though its frontiers barely changed, the Mamluk Sultanate remained a 'great power' for two ...

Armies of the Muslim conquest

Illustrated by Angus McBride. The dramatic eruption of the Arab peoples from Arabia after their adoption of the Muslim faith in the 7th century remains one of the most extraordinary events in world history. By the end of that century they ruled a state that ...

Byzantine Infantryman

eastern roman empire c.900-1204

Illustrated by Angus McBride The Byzantine Army was the closest the middle ages came to producing a military superpower. Built on a strong belief system emphasising stealth, surprise, swift manoeuvre and overwhelming force, the Byzantine infantryman was trained in survival, sword, spear and archery techniques ...

The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades 1100-1500

Illustrated by A. McBride This book describes and illustrates the armour, weapons, fortifications and ships of one of the least-known phases of the Medieval Crusades - the expeditions by Scandinavian Catholics against the pagan peoples to the east of the Baltic Sea, and their subsequent clashes ...

Armies of Ivan the Terrible

russian troops 1505-1700

Illustrated by Angus McBride It is generally assumed that the military reforms which propelled Russia into the modern world were due solely to the genius of Peter the Great. In fact, his reforms were built upon changes that had taken place during the previous 200 ...

Romano-Byzantine armies 4th-9th centuries

By the late 4th century the pressures on the frontiers of the Roman Empire had transformed the nature of the army which defended it. With the western half of the empire in economic decline and chronic manpower shortages the army had proved incapable of defending ...

Byzantine armies 886-1118

Byzantine armies

AD 1118-1461

The Mongols

The Moors

the islamic west 7th-15th centuries AD

The high point of medieval islamic expansion was the 700-year presence of the 'Moors' in Spain and Portugal. The Arab and Berber conquest was followed by the establishment of a richly distinct culture in Andalusia, where for a while Muslim and Christian co-operated as often ...

Granada 1492

the twilight of moorish Spain

The Hussite Wars 1419-36

Illustrated by Angus McBride In 1415, the judicial murder of the religious reformer Jan Hus sparked a major uprising in Bohemia. His death led within a few years to the 'Hussite' revolution against the monarchy, the German aristocracy and the Church establishment. For two decades ...

Lake Peipus 1242

battle of the Ice

Illustrated by Angus McBride The battle of Lake Peipus took place in 1242 between the Teutonic Knights and the Russian city-state of Novgorod, led by its inspirational leader Alexandre Nevskii. The Teutonic Knights were a powerful military order, backed with the crusading zeal of Europe ...