Air Force Chief of Staff General David C. Jones briefs the National Security Council on possible military options during the second meeting on the Mayaguez crisis, 1975

The Mayaguez Incident: The Last Chapter of the Vietnam War

Reeling from defeat in Vietnam, the US invaded a Cambodian island to rescue a US freighter—just before its crew members, who were elsewhere, were released.
USS Nautilus arriving at New York City in 1958

Eisenhower and the Real-Life Nautilus

The voyage of the USS Nautilus under the North Pole in August 1958 was a strategic use of technological spectacle as propaganda under Eisenhower.
soldier using tablet computer hands closeup pnk background pixelated neural network concept

As Militaries Adopt AI, Hype Becomes a Weapon

Few things provoke quite the same amount of anxiety as the effect AI could have on warfare.
Cadets of the 3rd Regiment approach their objective as a simulated mortar shell explodes in the distance in Training Area 9 during Army ROTC Cadet Summer Training on July 1, 2021 in Fort Knox, Kentucky

From Weapons to Wildlife?

While war is an environmental as well as human disaster, readiness and preparation for armed conflict is more ambiguous ecologically.
Woman in military clothes on a background of rainbow

From Handcuffs to Rainbows: Queer in the Military

The US military has done an about face on LGBTQ+ rights in just over a decade.
Patients stand in the Red Cross building in Walter Reed Hospital, c. WWI

The Birth of the Modern American Military Hospital

The founding of Walter Reed General Hospital at the beginning of the twentieth century marked a shift in medical care for military personnel and veterans.
Episode of the Siege of Sebastopol During the Crimean War in 1855

Empire: The Russian Way

Russia's rise as an imperial power was built on intercontinental expansion, and a mission of "civilizing, protecting and educating" the conquered.
A press gang seizing a seaman

The Role of Naval Impressment in the American Revolution

Maritime workers who were basically kidnapped into the British Royal Navy were a key force in the War of Independence.
A British soldier training in 1941

The Bayonet: What’s the Point?

According to one scholar, the military sees training in this obsolete weapon as helpful on the modern battlefield.
A man in a uniform holding a camel

The US Army’s Remarkable Camel Corps of the 1850s

Imported from Mediterranean ports, the marvelous pack animals served to great acclaim in the military.