This ruggedized PS3 is going to war

Talent serial modder Ben Heck has designed a ruggedized portable Playstation 3 for recreational use by US forces stationed in Afghanistan.

The modded PS3 is protected from the elements by a Pelican Storm casing that allows soldiers to carry the unit around like a large toolbox.

As expected, the battle-ready, yet tricked-out portable PS3 also features some sweet specs…

HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

A renewal of hostilities?

It is a commonplace that the war beginning in 1939 is a continuation of the one which ended in 1918, much as European conflicts of the 18th century (such as the Seven Years’ War) were often a return to unfinished business. In many respects the commonplace is true, and it is reflected in everyday…

HISTORY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The diplomatic drift towards war: AD 1890-1914

In the years leading to World War I there are five major powers within Europe – Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain. The cast list is unchanged since the early 18th century (except that Prussia is now Germany), and the players are well used to the game of diplomacy in which…

HISTORY OF WARFARE – LAND

Preliminary skirmishes

Fighting between primitive tribes consists either of raids on rival settlements (where surprise is important, and disorder inevitable) or of structured and even ritualistic clashes. In either case the struggle is made up of a large number of one-to-one encounters.

This does not fit the pattern or what is normally called a battle. The story of warfare…

HISTORY OF THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION

Spain’s distant cousins: AD 1690s

During the 1690s all Europe awaits the death, thought likely to be imminent, of Charles II, the king of Spain. He is childless and has no cousins in the immediate Spanish Habsburg line. The question of the day is who will inherit the vast Spanish domains.

The two most powerful European rulers, Louis XIV of France…

HISTORY OF THE WAR OF THE GRAND ALLIANCE

Alliances against France: AD 1686-1697

The military adventures of Louis XIV prompt other European powers to form alliances against expansionist France. The first is the League of Augsburg, put together in 1686 by the Austrian emperor Leopold I. He brings into it his Habsburg cousins in Spain and various states of the Holy Roman empire. This…

HISTORY OF THE WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION

Charles VI and the Pragmatic Sanction: AD 1720

The great issue dominating Austria in the years after the War of the Spanish Succession is again a problem of succession – this time relating to the remaining Habsburg territories, ruled from Vienna. The emperor Charles VI has a son, born in 1716, but the child dies before…

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Steps to independence: AD 1775-1776

Events during 1775 should leave the British government in no doubt as to the strength of the resentment felt by their American colonists. The engagements at Lexington and Bunker Hill provide a powerful display of military confidence, while the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia demonstrates a strong political resolve. So there are…

HISTORY OF TOGO

German colony: AD 1884-1914

The first German connection with Togo is the arrival of missionaries in 1847 to work among the largest tribal group in the region, the Ewe. German traders soon follow, establishing a base at Anécho on the coast.

When Bismarck decides to put together an off-the-peg German empire in Africa, Togo is one of the three places which…

HISTORY OF TIMUR

Timur and the Chagatai Turks: 14th century AD

The regions north and south of the Hindu Kush, approximating to modern Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, form an indeterminate part of the empire of Genghis Khan. They are inherited by descendants of his son Chagatai, but the district is fought over by many rival cousins. Here, more than anywhere in the Mongol empire,…

HISTORY OF THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR

Ingredients of a complex war: AD 1618-1648

The conglomeration of conflicts known as the Thirty Years’ War can be seen as the tidying up of the patchwork quilt to which Germany has been reduced by two different historical processes. The fragmented nature of the region results originally from the feudal structure of the Holy Roman empire. It has been further…