Methodology

🔍Primary and secondary source analysis

📚Secondary source research

Secondary sources—such as the books depicted in Figure 1 or authoritative web resources—are often the most useful starting point for researching historic battles. In a secondary source, someone else has already conducted the initial research and synthesised the data into a narrative or analytical form. The downside of relying solely on secondary sources is that the author may introduce their own biases, may have worked with an incomplete sample of data, or may have omitted critical information.

📜Primary source research

Once thoroughly grounded in the narrative history, my preference is to shift the research focus to primary sources, including battle orders, campaign diaries, after-action reports, battlefield sketches, photographs, and period maps—such as those depicted in Figure 2.

First-hand accounts, letters, and intelligence reports frequently describe physical features—such as ridgelines, roads, vegetation, or sightlines—that can be matched to the ground. These references can be invaluable in reconstructing movements, positions, and tactical decisions.

Memoirs and post-war recollections are also helpful but must be treated with caution. Authors may exaggerate their contributions or omit unfavourable details. They are most valuable when cross-checked against other sources such as official reports and contemporary correspondence.

🗺️ Terrain and mapping techniques

Period maps, sketches, and diagrams are essential for understanding a battle and the battlefield as they existed at the time of the event. Troop dispositions, movements, defensive works, and village or town layouts are often depicted in military mapping.

🧭 Historical Mapping and Battlefield Reconstruction

Pre-18th-century maps are usually stylised and depict relative rather than absolute locations—that is, they show where features were in relation to each other, but not with geographic precision. By the 18th century, cartographic skills had become well-developed, and by the mid-19th century, many military maps were accurate enough to be geo-referenced in modern digital mapping. Figure 4 shows an animation of overlaying a 1947 French operations order graphic onto modern digital terrain.

🗺️ Overlaying maps onto modern terrain

Before undertaking a battlefield study, I always seek out primary source mapping and aerial photographs, if available. I only rely on secondary source mapping—created after the event—when primary material is unavailable.

I overlay modern digital terrain models with period mapping by aligning persistent geographic features such as watercourses, ridges, reentrants, hills, roads, and tracks. This process often enables a highly accurate reconstruction of the battlefield as it was at the time. Other sources, such as narrative descriptions and unit histories, can then be used to refine the spatial data. Figure 5 shows a trench map from July 1918 overlaid on the modern terrain near Le Hamel in the Somme Department, France.

✈️ Using Aerial Photography

Aerial photographs are also extremely useful, as they capture infrastructure and landscape boundaries that may no longer exist. I used 1970-vintage aerial photography to locate the site of the Sơn Tây prison camp, the target of the Sơn Tây Raid on 21 November 1970, outside Hanoi. Figure 6 shows how I used this imagery to analyse the surrounding terrain.

🏹Organisation, Weapons, and Doctrine

Understanding how armies fought in the past requires an understanding of their organisation, equipment, and doctrine. Armies are created to serve the strategic aims of the authority that raises them—be it a monarch, an emperor, a tribal confederation, or a modern state. Their structure, equipment, and doctrine reflect the political and cultural context in which they operate.

🧱 Organisational structures and roles

An army’s organisation is shaped by its era, cultural context, military purpose, and the nature of the authority that raises it—whether a city-state, empire, kingdom, or modern nation-state. Its structure reflects both strategic intent and societal norms, from the Greek lochos, the Roman legion, and the Mongol tümen, to the medieval feudal levy, the Swiss Fähnlein, the Spanish tercio, and later battalions and regiments. Organisation also encompasses the army’s combat specialisations—such as infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers—which are grouped and integrated according to the doctrine and logistical capabilities of the time.

📘 What is doctrine?

Doctrine refers to a set of fundamental principles, guidelines, and practices that shape how a military force prepares for and conducts warfare. It governs both strategic planning and tactical execution, often evolving to reflect changes in technology, geography, and threat environment.

🪖 Weapons and their influence on doctrine

An army’s doctrine and tactical application are significantly influenced by the weapons it employs. In the Bronze Age, warfare was dominated by muscle-powered weapons—such as swords, spears, javelins, and bows—leading to tactics based on shock, momentum, and hand-to-hand combat.

From the Roman to Medieval periods, the weapon set changed little, but innovations in tactical deployment, mobility, and combined arms were transformative.

💥 The Gunpowder Revolution

From the mid-15th century, gunpowder weapons—firearms and artillery—began to alter the character of battle. By the late 16th century, the flintlock musket had become dominant, remaining central to infantry combat for more than two centuries.

🔁 Firearms innovation: 1830–1884

Beginning around 1830, firearm development accelerated dramatically, progressing from flintlocks to percussion locks, then to breechloaders, self-contained cartridges, and eventually repeating rifles. These rapid innovations reshaped tactics, the size of armies, logistic requirements, and casualty rates among combatants.

The infantry weapons depicted below are drawn from my personal collection and illustrate this evolution from 1740 to 1884. Take particular note of the rapid increases in range and rate of fire from the mid-19th Century onwards.

📷 Visual records and period imagery

Period images are an invaluable source for exploring historic battlefields. Fortunately for the modern researcher, battlefields have long fascinated artists, soldiers, chroniclers, and correspondents—many of whom went to great lengths to record what they saw.

Today, we benefit from an extensive visual record of photographs, paintings, and sketches that capture battlefield landscapes and features at or near the time of combat.

📷 Photographic records

As researchers, we have access to battlefield photography dating back to the Crimean War. Alexander Gardner’s stark photographs of the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam (1862) were groundbreaking. One of my earliest battlefield explorations, in the 1990s, involved locating the sites where Gardner had taken his photographs of Antietam and recreating those shots from the same vantage points (Figure 15).

🏞️ Matching terrain features to digital terrain

I was able to identify the exact location of the Operation HIRONDELLE drop zone near Lang Son, Vietnam, by comparing a period photo with 3D terrain in Google Earth Pro. By digitally matching the horizon line and terrain features, I was able to locate the precise spot where the original photograph had been taken—and then travel there to capture a modern comparison photo (Figure 13).

🎨 Battlefield sketches and artwork

In the eras before photography became commonplace, sketches and paintings can also provide valuable insight into historic terrain. While pre-19th-century battlefield art is often stylised or allegorical—useful mainly for understanding relative positioning or interpretation—by the mid-19th century, artists such as Alphonse de Neuville were producing highly realistic works based on direct observation.

Some of De Neuville’s paintings are so precise that I’ve been able to photograph the same locations he depicted. Figure 14 presents a “Then and Now” comparison between my November 2024 photograph and De Neuville’s 1881 painting, The Cemetery of Saint-Privat.

✈️Aerial photographs

Aerial photography is a relatively recent addition to the pool of primary sources, but it provides an exceptional level of accuracy for geo-referencing both natural and man-made features.

The comparison slider at Figure 17 is taken from my article on Operation ANTHROPOID, the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Czech Resistance operatives in May 1942. By comparing May 1942 Allied Bomber Command aerial photographs with contemporary 2024 aerial imagery, I was able to pinpoint the exact location—accurate to within a metre—of Heydrich’s vehicle at the moment it was ambushed by the Czech operatives.

It is important to note that roads and urban layouts have changed over time. For example, the sharp corner visible in the 1942 photos of Heydrich’s destroyed vehicle no longer exists in the current street layout.

🛰️ 3D Diagrams and Flythroughs

For some battlefield studies, I produce 3D diagrams or animated flythroughs to provide a fully immersive visualisation of the terrain. By overlaying military symbols and manoeuvre graphics onto 3D digital terrain models, I can present a highly realistic perspective of how the ground influenced the course of battle.

This process is time-consuming, so I don’t create a flythrough for every study—but for particularly terrain-sensitive battles, it provides significant value. Recent examples include:

• Battle for Dien Bien Phu (1954):
  A 3D flythrough illustrating how the surrounding hills dominated the French positions and shaped Viet Minh siege tactics.
• Omaha Beach landings (1944):
  A flythrough focused on the critical importance of the beach exits during the D-Day landings and the challenges faced by the first assault waves.
• Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876):
  A reconstruction of the manoeuvres of Custer, Reno, and Benteen as they advanced toward the Indian encampment along the Little Bighorn River.
• Rorke’s Drift (1879):
  A visual sequence tracing the path of No. 2 Column across the Buffalo River, the defeat at Isandlwana, and the subsequent defence of Rorke’s Drift.
• Battle of the Catalaunian Fields (451AD):
  A flythrough of Attila the Hun’s invasion of France, the counter-moves by the combined Roman/Visigothic Army and the climactic battle near Troyes.

Figure 19. 3D flythrough of the battle for Dien Bien Phu, 13 March – 7 May 1954

🥾 Firsthand battlefield exploration

Every battle on this site has been walked, measured, and documented through photography. On-site visits help me to:

• Integrate terrain, mapping, and narrative sources into a unified interpretation
• Confirm line-of-sight, fields of fire, and intervisibility between positions
• Measure distances between key landmarks and tactical points
• Assess changes to the terrain since the time of the battle (e.g. deforestation, urbanisation)
• Photograph modern landmarks for use in overlays, reconstructions, or visitor orientation

Below: Walking the battlefields of Dien Bien Phu (1954), Austerlitz (1805), Route Coloniale No 4. (1950), Pegasus Bridge (1944), Waterloo (1815), Suomussalmi-Raate Road (1940), Bannockburn (1314), Blood River (1839), Saratoga (1777)

📊 Synthesising the data

Once sources, terrain, and on-site observations are aligned, each battlefield study is compiled into five structured sections:

🎯 Strategic Context

Outlines why the battle occurred, its political backdrop, and how it fits into the broader campaign or conflict.

🛡️ Opposing Forces

Details the composition, organisation, leadership, and capabilities of the combatant armies.

🗺️ Battle Narrative (Chronological)

A step-by-step account of how the battle unfolded, integrating terrain, tactics, and source material.

⚖️ Outcomes & Implications

Assesses the immediate results of the battle, longer-term consequences, and key lessons learned.

📍 The Battlefield Today

Describes the experience of visiting the site today, changes in the terrrain and vegetation, what remnants or memorials remain, and how modern terrain compares to historical accounts. This section also describes any visitor centres or museums associated with the battlefield.

Source material is listed, and battle studies are continuously updated as new insights emerge.