Ross Jenkins

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Allen Dulles: The Life of the CIA’s Most Powerful and Notorious Director

Allen Dulles: The Life of the CIA’s Most Powerful and Notorious Director

The 28-year period from 1933-1961, bracketed on one end by Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and on the other by the very height of the Cold War, was marked by a remarkably stable succession of American presidents. In fact, only three men held office...

America's Legendary Frontier Towns: The History of Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City

America's Legendary Frontier Towns: The History of Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City

The Wild West has made legends out of many men, but it has forged a lasting legacy for the city of Tombstone, Arizona, a frontier boomtown that has come to symbolize everything about the Old West. In many ways, Tombstone fit all the stereotypes...

Crusading against the Ottomans: The History and Legacy of the Christian Battles against the Ottoman Empire in Central Europe

Crusading against the Ottomans: The History and Legacy of the Christian Battles against the Ottoman Empire in Central Europe

In terms of geopolitics, perhaps the most seminal event of the Middle Ages was the successful Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453. The city had been an imperial capital as far back as the 4th century, when Constantine the Great shifted the power...

History's Famous Women Pirates

History's Famous Women Pirates

The people who have lived outside the boundaries of normal societies and refused to play by the rules have long fascinated the world, and nowhere is this more evident than the continuing interest in the pirates of centuries past. As the subjects of...

Legendary Commanders Who Challenged Ancient Rome

Legendary Commanders Who Challenged Ancient Rome

In the history of war, only a select few men always make the list of greatest generals. Napoleon. Caesar. Alexander. They are always joined by Hannibal, who has the distinction of being the only man who nearly brought Rome to its knees before its...

Real Pirates of the Caribbean

Real Pirates of the Caribbean

The Golden Age of Piracy generally refers to the era when history’s most famous pirates roamed the seas of the West Indies from 1670-1720, engaging in colorfully daring and oftentimes murderous attacks on any ship they felt emboldened enough to take...

Saratoga and Yorktown: The History of the American Revolution’s Most Important Campaigns

Saratoga and Yorktown: The History of the American Revolution’s Most Important Campaigns

At the end of 1776, the American war effort was on the verge of collapse, and despite Washington’s success at Trenton, the British were confident that they could quell the rebellion in 1777. That winter, the British planned a complicated campaign in...

The Greatest Generals of the Ancient World

The Greatest Generals of the Ancient World

Over the last 2,000 years, ambitious men have dreamed of forging vast empires and attaining eternal glory in battle, but of all the conquerors who took steps toward such dreams, none were ever as successful as antiquity’s first great conqueror....

The Historic Triangle of Virginia: The History of the Settlements and Battles at Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown

The Historic Triangle of Virginia: The History of the Settlements and Battles at Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown

Jamestown is fondly remembered today for being the first permanent English settlement in the colonies, but it was not fondly remembered by those who lived and died there. The English quickly learned it would be difficult to establish a permanent...

The Rise of Islam in the Balkans: The History of the Ottoman Empire’s Islamization Efforts in Eastern Europe

The Rise of Islam in the Balkans: The History of the Ottoman Empire’s Islamization Efforts in Eastern Europe

In terms of geopolitics, perhaps the most seminal event of the Middle Ages was the successful Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453. The city had been an imperial capital as far back as the 4th century, when Constantine the Great shifted the power...

The Texas Revolution and Mexican-American War: The History and Legacy of the Conflicts that Led to Mexico’s Cession of the American Southwest

The Texas Revolution and Mexican-American War: The History and Legacy of the Conflicts that Led to Mexico’s Cession of the American Southwest

The most important war of all for Texas came in the early 19th century, and the common story heard in America is about rebellion against intolerance, oppression and Mexican cruelty. The Battle of the Alamo in particular, surrounded by legend and...

The Turkish War of Independence: The History of the Conflicts that Created the Modern State of Turkey

The Turkish War of Independence: The History of the Conflicts that Created the Modern State of Turkey

The fall of the Ottoman Empire set the political and geostrategic scene of the new Middle East. In 1920, two years after the end of the war, the region was already experiencing growing instability. The issues and trends that would plague the region...