The latest installment for War of Words, my column in Military History Monthly, is out now in Issue 84. The topic of the month is ‘press gang,’ the compulsory service of sailors in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Impressment was a big deal, as the Navy struggled to find enough men for its ships. It also caused huge problems with the Americans, who were sometimes impressed to serve on British ships, and was a leading cause of the War of 1812.

Check it out!