Who is Bud Feuer?

Bud is a retired newspaper journalist and history writer with sixty years experience in the publishing field. He is a World War Two U.S. Navy Veteran and was involved in the earliest forms of infrared technology during his service. His post-war civilian career began with his job as a newspaper feature writer and has since blossomed into his accomplished resume of more than a dozen published books and several hundred magazine articles.

Bud’s Latest Projects

Bud is currently working on two World War One projects. He is interested in receiving letters, photos, and diary material from relatives of the brave soldiers who served in the Dardanelles Campaign of 1915 and with the U.S. 91^st Aero Squadron from 1918 to 1919. Also, for a project dealing with the 1920s, he would like to hear from anyone who has interesting stories about relatives who lived during that decade -- particularly newspapermen, politicians, and gangsters.

Sun Tzu and the Art of War

If there is a bible for military leaders, Sun Tzu’s Art of War is it. Though written well over two thousand years ago, many of the principles in Sun Tzu’s military treatise still apply today. Many military leaders cite The Art Of War as a source of inspiration, and may have even influenced Napoleon.

Sun Tzu lived sometime between 544 BC and 496 BC. This was a turbulent time in China’s history: It was a nation torn apart by war. This was a perfect time for someone like Sun Tzu to learn a great deal about warfare.

Very little is known about Sun Tzu’s life. A biography was written about him around 300 years after he lived, which contains a story about how he convinced the King of Wu that he could train anyone to be a soldier. According to the tale, the king challenged him to train his concubines. Sun Tzu agreed, gave all the women spears, and made two of the king’s favorite concubines officers.

Though Sun Tzu patiently explained simple orders to the women, they kept disobeying him. Finally Sun Tzu said that the officers are to blame if troops continually disobey orders, and had the king’s two favorite concubines beheaded. From then on, the remaining women obeyed orders without question.

Part of The Art of War’s appeal is that it distills Sun Tzu’s knowledge in simple language that’s easy to understand. Many of its principles are relevant in other aspects of life, not just war.

Sun Tzu’s military treatise emphasizes subtlety, knowledge, and skill over strength, because strength alone does not win battles. In fact, The Art of War claims that the best victories are won without doing battle.

The Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain spanned from July 10th, 1940 to October 31st of that same year. It was the first major air force battle in history, and it was a battle that Germany might have easily won if not for some crucial mistakes.

This is not to say that Britain didn’t have plenty of advantages. Because the battle was fought over Britain itself, their aircraft could quickly land, refuel, and re-arm themselves for battle. German aircraft, on the other hand, had to travel a great distance. They could only fight for less than half an hour before being forced to return for refueling.

Another thing in Britain’s favor were radar bases, which gave them advance warning of air raids. Germany underestimated the importance of these radar bases, which would be part of the Luftwaffe’s downfall.

Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe, had a greater number of aircraft as well as more experienced and better-trained fighter pilots. However, Britain’s Royal Air Force planes—the Spitfire and the Hurricane—were good aircraft that were more what we might call “user-friendly.” The Spitfire was faster than Luftwaffe’s Bf 109E, while the durable Hurricane could take a beating and still continue flying.

Germany’s military intelligence was not very good, and the Luftwaffe’s strategies were inconsistent. At one point they might have been able to defeat the RAF, but instead focused on attacking civilian areas instead. Because they switched targets, the RAF had time to recoup their losses.

The outcome of the battle was that Britain emerged triumphant. Germany lost mainly due to poor military intelligence and the great distance their aircraft had to fly, which meant that they couldn’t sustain attacks for long.

The Battle of Marathon

The Battle of Marathon, which took place in 490 BC, was the last part of an attempt of King Darius I of the Persian Empire to conquer the rest of Greece to secure the weakest part of his western border. Almost all of what we know today of the battle came from Herodotus.

Darius sent Mardonius by land in 492 BC to Europe to strengthen Persia’s hold of Macedon and Thrace, regions that had been weakened during the Ionian Revolt. This succeeded but most of the force was lost in a storm off Mount Athos. The rest of the force returned to Asia.

In 490 BC Datis and Artaphernes were sent to subjugate the Cyclades islands in the central Aegean Sea as well as punish Athens and Eretria for their part in the Ionian Revolt. Eretria fell, at which point the Persian fleet arrived in Marathon Bay. Despite greater numbers, they were then defeated by a small force of Athenian and Plataean hoplites. The current usage of the word marathon was inspired by the long run the messenger took when he brought news of the victory to Athens.

It is believed that the fleet Darius sent to Marathon had 500 to 600 triremes. There was no estimate by Herodotus of the size of either army. Simonides, a poet, claimed the force to be 200,000, while another writer claimed 300,000. Modern historians believe it was actually much less than that. The Athenian army was believed to have had 7,000-10,000. The Battle of Marathon was significant because it was the first time the Greeks were able to defeat the Persians on land.

The Hundred Years War

The Hundred Years War was a long conflict between England and France that lasted 116 years from 1337 to 1453. The conflict arose over claims by the English kings to the French throne. There were several brief periods with a couple of longer periods of peace during the 116 years. In the end, the English were expelled from France.

The war was a series of smaller conflicts divided into four phases, the Edwardian War from 1337-1360, the Caroline War from 1369-1389, and the Lancastrian War of 1415-1429, and the appearance of Joan of Arc (1429-1453) which marked the decline of English fortunes. The conflicts weren’t thought of as a single larger event at the time. Historians created the term “Hundred Years War” much later.

The war is significant historically for many reasons. First of all, even though it was a dynastic conflict, the war started ideas of both English and French nationality. It also introduced new weapons and strategies to battle, leading to the end of feudal armies dominated by heavy cavalry, which was thought to be the most powerful unit in an army.

This belief changed by the end of the war as heavy horse was replaced by the use of the longbow and fixed defensive positions of men-at-arms. These tactics allowed the English to be victorious at Crecy and Agincourt. The first standing armies in Western Europe appeared since the time of the Western Roman Empire. The war was significant because of these things along with the great length.

The Battle of Megiddo

The Battle of Megiddo was fought between Egypt and a large Canaanite coalition in the 15th Century BC. The Egyptian forces were led by Pharaoh Thutmose III, while the Canaanite army was led by the King of Kadesh. It is significant because it was the first battle to have been recorded in reliable detail.

There are even some possible exact dates for the battle. The date most accepted by Egyptologists is May 9, 1457 BC. Others place the battle in 1482 BC or 1479 BC. The battle of Megiddo was won by the Egyptians and the Canaanite forces were routed. The Canaanites had fled to safety in the city of Megiddo, leading to the Siege of Megiddo.

Besides being the first battle with a detailed and reliable account, it was also the first recorded battle with use of the composite bow. The account of the battle also produced the first body count. All of the reports of the battle come from Egyptian sources, mainly in hieroglyphic writings on the Hall of Annals in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, Thebes, by the military scribe Tjaneni.

The victory reestablished Egyptian dominance in Palestine, with the Egyptian Empire hitting its largest size. The empire was expanded, and Thutmose III made all of the defeated kings send a son to the Egyptian Court. They received an Egyptian education and returned home being sympathetic to the Egyptians. Overall, unrest in the area of Palestine and Syria continued, with several more campaigns almost every year.

The Battle of Actium

The Battle of Actium was a conflict during the Roman civil war between the forces supporting Octavian and those supporting Mark Antony. The battle took place on September 2, 31 BC on the Ionian Sea near Actium in Greece. Octavian’s fleet was commanded by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, while Antony’s was supported by Cleopatra VII’s fleet.

Octavian’s fleet was victorious which allowed him to consolidate power over Rome and lead to his adoption of the title of Princeps and acceptance of the title Augustus from the Senate. This was to preserve the appearance of a restored Republic, although historians consider it to be the beginning of the Roman Empire.

The battle took place outside the Gulf of Actium with Mark Antony leading 220 warships through the straights to the sea. He met Octavian’s fleet, who were arranged to block his exit from the straight, at that point. Antony’s fleet was made mostly of large quinqueremes, while Octavian’s fleet was mostly smaller Liburnian vessels armed with better trained crews. Despite the defeat, Antony was able to get on a smaller vessel with his flag and escaped. Except for a few ships that escaped with him, his entire fleet was captured or destroyed by Octavian’s fleet.

After the loss, Antony’s army mostly deserted, and he eventually committed suicide. Cleopatra then tried to negotiate a surrender with Octavian, but wasn’t able to get favorable terms and also committed suicide. The conclusion of the battle also marks the final surrender of Egypt as well as the end of the Hellenistic Age and Ptolemaic Kingdom.