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Warfare

The craze for collecting toy soldiers began with the French in the 18th century. In this scene, British foot soldiers attack a French officer.

The Great Battles of History, in Miniature

At a museum in Valencia, Spain, over one million toy soldiers stand at attention, prepared to reenact the wars that shaped the world

The Union is defeated at Ball's Bluff, where Col. Edward D. Baker becomes the only U.S. senator to be killed in battle as illustrated here in Death of Col. Edward D. Baker: At The Battle of Balls Bluff Near Leesburg, Va., October 21st, 1861.

Scattered Actions: October 1861

While the generals on both sides deliberated, troops in blue and gray fidgeted

Union generals lost a week long siege of Lexington, Missouri, shown here, but took control of Ship Island, off Mississippi's coast.

September 1861: Settling in for a Long War

During this month, the civil war expands to Kentucky and West Virginia, and President Lincoln rejects an attempt at emancipation

Ruins in front of the Capitol in Richmond showing some of the destruction caused by a Confederate attempt to burn Richmond.

Battlefields

Casualties mounting on two fronts

After Union troops refused to evacuate Fort Sumter, today a National Monument, Confederates opened fire.

The Civil War

Fort Sumter: The Civil War Begins

Nearly a century of discord between North and South finally exploded in April 1861 with the bombardment of Fort Sumter

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Reconsiderations

Botched battles and preconceptions overturned

In the 1940s, the Soviet Union launched an all-out espionage effort to uncover military and defense secrets from the US and Britain (Klaus Fuchs, left, and David Greenglass, right).

Spies Who Spilled Atomic Bomb Secrets

As part of the Soviet Union’s spy ring, these Americans and Britons leveraged their access to military secrets to help Russia become a nuclear power

A group of men dressed as the communist militia from 1980s walk in Warsaw during the 24th anniversary of martial law, in 2005.

Poland’s War

Remembering martial law 25 years later

Between 6 B.C. and A.D. 4, Roman legions established bases on the Lippe and Weser rivers.

The Ambush That Changed History

An amateur archaeologist discovers the field where wily Germanic warriors halted the spread of the Roman Empire

Each evening in northern Uganda, children by the thousands leave their huts to trek to safe havens to avoid fanatical rebels.

Uganda: The Horror

In Uganda, tens of thousands of children have been abducted, 1.6 million people herded into camps and thousands of people killed

A 6-year-old girl played with the radioactive material, coating her hands with the cesium dust while eating.

The Hunt for Hot Stuff

In the former Soviet Union, “rad rangers” are racing to find lost radiation devices before terrorists can turn them into “dirty bombs”

A fireman stands behind rubble.

Aftershocks

Plume of September 11 attack seen from space by NASA

Carrying On

After a cataclysm, The editors wrestled with how to respond

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Outsmarting Napoleon

War games enthusiasts use miniature soldiers and multiple-terrain boards to simulate real battles

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How the Great War on War Surplus Got Won or Lost

Getting rid of $34 billion worth of old ships, planes and guns, not to mention seven million tubes of toothpaste, was no picnic

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