By Michael Fredholm von Essen Tokugawa Ieyasu’s decisive victory at Sekigahara in 1600 concluded Japan’s civil wars, confirmed his position of military supremacy as shogun (generalissimo), and inaugurated the Edo period (1600-1868), so named because Ieyasu after the battle established his capital in Edo (modern-day Tokyo). We all know this from history, fiction, and television. But what happened afterwards? In 1635 the shogunate government suddenly imposed a policy of enforced seclusion. The seclusion policy under Tokugawa rule, together with the comfortable way of life in the new capital of E ..read more

By Stephen Turnbull Writing books can be a very lonely occupation; I stare at the computer scene and wonder where the next battle is coming from. Sometimes I go out and walk the dog and inspiration finally arrives. I have been doing that for over fifty years, so it is nice that on several occasions I have been called upon to use my samurai expertise in a different way. That is the altogether more exciting task of providing advice to film studios, computer game designers and television companies. It may be that my role amounts to no more than eating a good lunch, and I am not complaining a ..read more

By Pauli Kidd Sea Hunt Out in the islands of the inner sea, a Dutch ship has run aground upon a rocky shore. The crew – all but a handful of survivors – are dead. With her planks staved-in and her masts gone, the vessel is a mere hulk, battered by the waves. The wreck lies in ground that is occupied by a village of nomadic fisher folk. This region is normally of little value, and lies between two sea-going clans. However, the wrecked ship represents considerable wealth: the ship’s cannon alone are worth a fortune. Two clans have arrived on scene intent on seizing this windfall. But they must ..read more

This review appears in the latest issue (no. 26, December 2023) of Records, the journal of the Douglas Haig Fellowship, and is republished here with permission of the Editor. This new biography of Lord Birdwood does what every good book should do: it makes you want to read more about its subject. It also reminds us that those who held senior command during the Great War did not appear in the world in 1914, red tabs and all, but had already enjoyed long and often highly distinguished careers. Born in India, a son of a prominent member of the Indian Civil Service, Birdwood was educated at Clift ..read more

By Stephen Turnbull In November 2023 I had the pleasure of representing Helion at a very special event. The Historical Museum in Oslo have been running a very successful and spectacular exhibition of samurai arms and armour, and in November they invited me to be the lead speaker at a public seminar.  It was to be followed by a book signing and the official launch of my latest work in the Helion From Retinue to Regiment 1453-1618 series Hojo: Samurai Warlords 1487-1590.  The event attracted a considerable response and all the tickets sold out very quickly, as did all my signed co ..read more

My first experience with reporting from war zones came in 2003 with the fall of Baghdad. I’d been reporting as a freelancer in Cairo with little experience so I couldn’t get a full-time job. When I watched on TV about the fall of Baghdad, I couldn’t believe I’d wait to get a job to report from there, but I thought it would be an expensive venture. Luckily, I found a job in Cairo for one week with a Canadian TV station to interview Egyptians about protests in the Arab countries against the American invasion. When I received my money in dollars I started to plan for my trip to Baghdad. I had off ..read more

The American War of Independence (1775-1783) lies roughly in the middle of the period covered by From Reason to Revolution and has always been at the heart of the series. The titles in the series that cover the American Revolution include regimental histories such as The Pattern (33rd Foot), A Very Fine Regiment (47th Foot), and These Distinguished Corps (The Grenadier and Light Infantry Battalions), all of which dispel many of the myths surrounding the tactics and training of the British Redcoats. The role of African Americans in the Continental Army is studied in They Were Good Soldiers. Wag ..read more

By Stephen Ede-Borrett In 2020 I wrote a blog entry here about the early uniformologist René North, who died in 1971: René North Helion and I are trying to contact whoever now owns the copyright to North’s cards, as well as his work for Huber and Tradition.  After North’s death the cards passed to John Edgecunbe and then to John Heayes, however all attempts to find or contact either, or their heirs, have been unsuccessful. The work done for Tradition and for Huber would, I would assume, now rest with René North’s own heirs but again all attempts to track down who that might be have been ..read more

By Erik Faithfull To coincide with the release in 2021 of my translation of Eirik Hornborg’s Carl Gustav Armfelt and the Struggle for Finland during the Great Northern War from the Century of the Soldier 1618-1721 series, I wrote a blog describing how that project came about through research into my extensive Swedish ancestry which includes many who served in the nation’s numerous wars. A Swedish Military Dynasty I concluded that article by describing a personal project to translate the Napoleonic War memoirs of my 3x great grandfather. I am delighted to say that Helion were equally int ..read more

By David Wilson and Jørgen Kofoed Larsen The From Reason to Revolution team were pleased to see this recent positive review of the third and final volume of David Wilson’s trilogy on the Danish Army in the Napoleonic Wars – https://www.napoleon-series.org/book-reviews/books-on-military-subjects/the-danish-army-of-the-napoleonic-wars-1801-14-volume-3-norwegian-troops-and-militia/ – but it flags up a controversy over one particular episode and the differing interpretations placed on it by British and Danish accounts. The Battle of Køge, 29 August 1807, was undoubtedly a Danish defeat, in which u ..read more