FEATURES
"Soldiers and Savants" — When men of letters have accompanied soldiers on their campaigns, the short-term success or failure of the military expedition has often been eclipsed by the long-term contributions to knowledge.
"D Day Revisited" — The author, laden with eyewitness accounts, spent a summer in Normandy studying history's greatest amphibious assault. He came away marveling that we managed to succeed.
"The Parameters of Warfare" — Why do naval battles usually take place close to shore? What is the most fought-over city on earth? Where are fortified lines and walls most likely to be situated? Man may ordain, but nature determines.
"The Most-Fought-Over City" — sidebar
"Mussolini's "Civilizing Mission"" — Italy's war with Ethiopia, the last effort by a European power to build a colonial empire in the Third World, was one of the most brutal of this brutal century.
"The Man Who Saved Korea" — Ask a professional soldier who is the outstanding American general of this century, and you may hear a surprising reply: Matthew B. Ridgway, As he proved with his revival of the beaten Eighth Army in 1951, individual leadership can make all the difference.
"As the Soviets Saw It: Stalingrad" — Most of the photographs in this remarkable portfolio, taken by Soviet frontline cameramen during the battle for Stalin's city, have never before been seen in the west.
"Is This Hell?" — Some 13,000 captured Union soldiers died in the open-air prison at Andersonville, Georgia. This is the harrowing story of one who survived, a Vermonter named Simeon M. Dufur. His experiences would haunt him for life.
"The Christmas Truce" — For a legendary moment in December 1914, the Great War itself took a holiday as thousands of men from both sides met in no-man's land to bury their dead, exchange gifts, and even play soccer.
"The Trauma of Betar" — The Bar Kochba Rebellion, the last Jewish revolt in antiquity and the beginning of the Diaspora, is seen by some in Israel today as an inspiration, by others as a warning.
"Austerlitz" — "There is a moment in engagements when the least maneuver is decisive and gives a victory," Napoleon said. "It is the one drop of water that causes the vessel to run over." No battle better demonstrates this than Austerlitz, his masterpiece.
"That's a fine death!" — sidebar
DEPARTMENTS
"Forum: Letters to the Editor"
"The Strategic View: Misreading Mahan" — Alfred Thayer Mahan was a prophet of maritime warfare whose theories had actual consequences—most of them unintended.
"Arms and Men: Terrible Engine" — The trebuchet, that off=center seesaw, could hurl missiles weighing up to a ton. A modern reconstruction has sent flying pigs, pianos, and even a small car.
"Experience of War: A Merchant Seaman's Tale" — A survivor of the Japanese merchant fleet in the Pacific War describes the heady early months of 1942—and the slaughter that followed.