5 Essential Films About the Vietnam War

On set of “Apocalypse Now”

War movies have existed for as long as cinema itself, with 1898’s 38-second Tearing Down the Spanish Flag beginning a tradition that continues to this day. And while World War II has likely inspired more films than any other conflict, the latter half of the Vietnam War took place during an especially fruitful period in the movie industry: the director-driven New Hollywood era, a time when young, ambitious filmmakers were given unprecedented control over their work. As this era was largely youth-driven, it naturally follows that some of its most important movies were about a watershed event in American history that younger audiences had on their mind whether at the movies or elsewhere — especially those who had to register for the draft.

The list of filmmakers who responded to that growing sense of disenchantment includes Michael Cimino, Francis Ford Coppola, and Stanley Kubrick, all of whom contributed to the canon of great movies about the Vietnam War. Here are five of the very best.

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The Deer Hunter (1978)

The first thing to know about The Deer Hunter is its cast, led by Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, and John Cazale — who only appeared in five films throughout his too-short career, all five of which were nominated for Best Picture. The second is how heartbreaking it is. As personal as it is political, The Deer Hunter begins in a small Pennsylvania town before shifting the action to Vietnam, where three close friends from that tight-knit community meet tragically different fates. Not all the tragedy takes place onscreen: Cazale’s scenes were shot first, as he was dying of cancer when production began; the studio wanted to replace the actor, but both Cimino and Steep (who was in a relationship with Cazale) threatened to leave if they did. He didn’t live to see the completed film.

He likely would have been proud if he had, as The Deer Hunter is a powerful reminder that war doesn’t always end on the battlefield. It won five of the nine Academy Awards it was nominated for — including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Walken — and was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1996.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

“My film is not about Vietnam,” Francis Ford Coppola famously said of his long-in-the-making Apocalypse Now. “It is Vietnam.” As quite possibly the most acclaimed filmmaker of the 1970s, having previously directed the first two Godfather movies as well as The Conversation, Coppola had a commitment to the project that led to astronomically high expectations. Production nearly spiraled out of control, and Coppola later remarked that “we were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane.”

A loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now follows a disenchanted Army captain (Martin Sheen) who’s been given the unenviable task of assassinating a rogue colonel (Marlon Brando) whose fanatically loyal troops concur with his assessment that he’s become a kind of god. What follows is strange, harrowing, and unforgettable. Though initial reviews were divided, Apocalypse Now won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Its reputation has only grown with time, and the film is now regarded as one of the greatest war movies ever made.

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Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

War comedies are few and far between for self-evident reasons — the subject matter doesn’t exactly lend itself to laughter — but there are some exceptions. Good Morning, Vietnam is among the most notable, not least because of Robin Williams’ performance as a DJ for the Armed Forces Radio Service. He raises the morale of troops just as he raises the ire of higher-ups, making him both a folk hero and a problem to be solved. Williams, playing the real-life Adrian Cronauer, improvised many of the radio broadcasts that serve as the film’s centerpiece, earning him a Golden Globe and his first Oscar nomination.

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

The poster says it all: a helmet with “born to kill” written next to a peace sign. Only Stanley Kubrick could make a movie like Full Metal Jacket, a Vietnam epic that begins with the most disturbing portrayal of boot camp you’ll ever see and ends with traumatized soldiers singing the “Mickey Mouse March.” Kubrick, whose nonpareil filmography includes everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining to Dr. Strangelove and A Clockwork Orange, read Gustav Hasford’s 1979 novel The Short-Timers twice in 1982 before deciding to adapt it — a process that included just the sort of extensive research for which the meticulous filmmaker was known.

Divided into two sections — the first at basic training, the second in Vietnam — Full Metal Jacket introduced the world to R. Lee Ermey, a former drill sergeant whose haunting performance became the measuring stick for all such characters past and present.

Da 5 Bloods (2020)

Movies about the Vietnam War aren’t as common today as they were in the 1970s and ’80s, when the conflict was either still ongoing or fresh in the memory. But Spike Lee has never cared what was en vogue, and Da 5 Bloods — about a group of Black soldiers who return to Vietnam to exhume the treasure they buried there during the war — is a highlight of his uniquely impressive filmography. That’s thanks in large part to standout performances from Delroy Lindo and Chadwick Boseman (in one of the Black Panther star’s final roles before his untimely passing), who bring the director’s vision to vibrant life.

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What Was the Seven Years’ War?

Seven Years’ War warships-years-war

The Seven Years’ War, fought from 1756 to 1763, pitted the major European military powers of the time against each other through a labyrinthian series of alliances and geopolitics, like an 18th-century equivalent of World War I. The factors leading to the war were complex enough that the English author William Makepeace Thackeray wrote in his novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon, “It would require a greater philosopher and historian than I am to explain the causes of the famous Seven Years’ War… its origin has always appeared to me to be so complicated, and the books written about it so amazingly hard to understand, that I have seldom been much wiser at the end of a chapter than at the beginning.” Let’s piece it together more simply here.

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Who Fought in the Seven Years’ War?

The two alliances during the war were Austria, France, Russia, Saxony (now a state in Germany), and Sweden on one side; Great Britain, Hanover (also now a state in Germany), and Prussia on the other. These alliances were formed in the wake of the War of the Austrian Succession (which started in 1740) and the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (which ended it in 1748), and they represented a major alignment shift, known as the Diplomatic Revolution. Former allies Great Britain and Austria became at odds due to the inefficacy of Great Britain’s military assistance to Austria in preventing Silesia (modern-day Poland) from falling to Prussia: Austria viewed Great Britain’s aid as inadequate, and Great Britain believed that its support to Austria was an investment that was not gaining enough return. Prussia, which had been aligned with France, became aligned with Great Britain due to the latter’s desire to preemptively defend Hanover from risk of invasion by France.

Why Was the War Fought?

The Seven Years’ War was very much about land — specifically, reclaiming territory or expanding empires, depending on the country. Longtime enemies France and Great Britain were fighting for commercial and colonial supremacy in North America and India. Austria wanted to reclaim its former province Silesia from Prussia, and exact revenge in the process: In the words of Austrian ruler Maria Theresa, “Prussia must be given a trouncing.” Russia saw Prussia as a threat to its territory and aligned with Austria accordingly. Sweden joined the anti-Prussia coalition to protect its military presence in the Baltics, and in hopes of currying favor with Austria and France. (As Swedish historian Patrik Winton put it, “Swedish politicians hoped that the coalition would lead to a quick victory without having to get too involved in the fighting, but that Sweden still would be rewarded for its support. Swedish military action was thus primarily designed to show the allies that Sweden participated in the war.”) Prussia sought to continue the territorial expansion it accomplished in the War of the Austrian Succession, specifically eyeing Saxony and Polish West Prussia.

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When and Where Did the Fighting Take Place?

Part of what makes the Seven Years’ War convoluted is its wide geographic range, somewhat fuzzy timeline, and a sense of separation between the participants: The war was at its core a fusion of one war between France and Great Britain, and another war between Austria and Prussia. While the official time frame of the Seven Years’ War is 1756 to 1763, related battles took place before 1756, particularly in North America. The North American theater of the war has been commonly referred to as the French and Indian War, as Indigenous peoples in North America largely allied with the French against the British (though the Iroquois Confederacy aligned with Great Britain). The conflict began in 1754 as a series of military skirmishes between the French and British over undefined territory in the Ohio Valley. The moniker “French and Indian War” not only sounds outdated today, but is also confusing, as the French and British also fought separate battles during the Seven Years’ War in India.

The military action in continental Europe began with the French seizing the British territory of Menorca in June 1756. Two months later, Prussia invaded Saxony, which triggered the aforementioned alliances. The alliance-activating nature of Prussia’s invasion of Saxony is the reason why it’s considered the start of the Seven Years’ War, even though the French invasion of Menorca and two years of colonial North American battles between France and Great Britain predate it. War between France and Great Britain was not officially declared until 1756. The other major theaters of the war include the Caribbean, Central America, the Philippines, and West Africa, as well as warship battles at sea.

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What Was the Impact of the Seven Years’ War?

Two peace treaties ended the Seven Years’ War. The Treaty of Paris was signed on February 10, 1763, between Great Britain, France, Hanover, Portugal, and Spain; five days later, the Treaty of Hubertusburg was signed between Austria, Prussia, and Saxony. The Treaty of Paris represented a major loss of territory for France, as it resulted in France relinquishing all of its North American territories east of the Mississippi River (except New Orleans), all land gains in India and the East Indies since 1749, and some of its West Indies territories, ceding them to Great Britain in most cases. The Treaty of Hubertusburg was a status quo antebellum agreement, restoring the conditions that existed prior to the Seven Years’ War: Silesia remained a Prussian territory, and Saxony regained its sovereignty.

These treaties resulted in the enhancement of Great Britain as a global power. The war also led to the rise of George Washington, who was a 22-year-old major during the first North American military battles between Great Britain and France, and eventually became commander of the Virginia colony’s military regiment. Ultimately, the exorbitant expense of the Seven Years’ War resulted in Great Britain levying increased taxes upon the American colonies, fostering conditions that led to the American Revolutionary War.

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What Was the War of 1812?

Military ships at sea

The Korean War is nicknamed “the Forgotten War,” but the War of 1812 — fought between the United States and Great Britain just a few decades after America won its independence — certainly rivals it in terms of its lack of place in the collective national memory. Maybe it’s because the war took place two centuries ago; maybe it’s the placement between two major American wars that largely overshadow it (the Revolutionary War and Civil War). Maybe it’s the relatively nondescript name. Whatever the reason, asking the average American for details about the War of 1812 is likely to be met with a shrug. Let’s make some sense of this obscure yet formative conflict.

What Caused the War?

The roots of the War of 1812 were in the Napoleonic Wars between Great Britain and France. The neutral U.S. ended up as a shipping supplier to both warring nations, an economically advantageous position that saw the total U.S. exports increase from $66.5 million in 1803 to $102.2 million by 1807. But later that year, both France and Great Britain enacted trade embargoes in an effort to strain each other’s economies. Since the U.S. was such a shipping hub for both nations, it was included in these embargoes, despite being neutral in the Napoleonic Wars.

The United States responded by placing its own embargo on foreign trade, in an attempt to apply pressure on France and Great Britain to honor its neutrality. The embargo was ineffective, as it weakened the American economy much more than it impacted the European countries. In just one year, U.S. exports fell to $22 million. Attempting to stem the tide in the final months of his presidency, Thomas Jefferson repealed the embargo and replaced it with the Non-Intercourse Act, which allowed trade with all foreign nations except France and Great Britain. The United States was essentially in a trade war.

Meanwhile, Great Britain was suffering from numbers shortages in its navy, and took to stopping American merchant ships in order to check for deserters. Britain also engaged in a practice known as impressment, a bizarre combination of military draft and kidnapping. Impressment was particularly infuriating to the United States, as British ships would capture American merchant ships and force its sailors to join the Royal Navy. U.S. President James Madison made it a core issue stateside and pushed for war, regardless of the fact that by this point in time, the British had already agreed to end the practice.

There was yet another factor in the start of the war, one that largely defined the 19th century for the United States: expansion. Despite its relative manpower shortages, Great Britain’s military strength was largely at sea, so the logical strategy to expand the United States was to invade British-occupied land to the northeast and southeast of the U.S. border at the time. To add further motivation, President Madison accused the British of promoting hostility toward the United States from Indigenous peoples in those territories. With all of these factors converging, Congress declared war against Great Britain on June 17, 1812.

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The War of 1812 Lasted More Than One Year

Battles comprising the War of 1812 stretched into 1815, so if the war had a more literal moniker, it would be the War of 1812-15. Though the conflict is not as famous as other American wars, many battles from the war became U.S. military lore. The sight of cannonballs fired at the USS Constitution ricocheting off the ship’s hull during its battle with the HMS Guerriereon August 19, 1812, earned the ship its famous nickname “Old Ironsides.” The June 1, 1813, loss of the USS Chesapeake to the HMS Shannonincluded Captain James Lawrence’s memorable battle cry, “Don’t give up the ship!” And Naval Commander Oliver Hazard Perry’s report of the September 10, 1813, victory at the Battle of Lake Erie contained the classic line, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”

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The United States Tried to Invade Canada

In 1812, the United States Navy had only 16 ships, while the Royal Navy had somewhere around 500, an insurmountable advantage. To remedy this, the U.S. moved forward with its strategy to capture British land in Canada, and use that land to negotiate maritime conflicts. Thomas Jefferson called a successful invasion of Canada “a mere matter of marching” in an August 1812 letter. That confidence was misplaced, as a three-pronged invasion in 1812 failed at all three points, ending in surrender at Detroit and Queenston Heights, and retreat from the Canadian border with New York. Another attempt on Lake Erie the next year was more successful (the battle with Oliver Hazard Perry’s famous quote) and led to victory in Upper Canada. But the following year, Great Britain’s victory over France enabled it to shift military resources to North America. Canada was not taken.

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The British Burned Down the White House and Capitol Building

On August 20, 1814, the British sent a convoy of soldiers to the town of Benedict, Maryland, 50 miles outside Washington, D.C. Out on reconnaissance, Secretary of State James Monroe observed the troops' advancement northward and concluded that they were intending to invade the nation’s capital. Monroe sent a message to President Madison, warning, “The enemy are in full march for Washington. Have the materials prepared to destroy the bridges. You had better remove the records.”

Two bridges across the Anacostia River were destroyed in order to force a single rallying point at Bladensburg, 5 miles from Washington, but the British had already advanced too quickly. Though there was strength in numbers to defend the capital, the American troops were poorly organized, deployed too late, or in improper positions. The Battle of Bladensburg ended up a rout, and the British advanced on Washington. Once there, British Major-General Robert Ross ordered his troops to “complete the destruction of the public buildings.” That destruction included “the capitol, including the Senate-house and House of Representation, the Arsenal, the Dock-yard, Treasury, War-office, President's Palace, Ropewalk, and the great bridge across the Potomac.” The estimated damage totaled around $1 million, and it took nearly four years to rebuild the city. In one of the few points of common knowledge about the War of 1812, it was the only time the United States capital was ever captured.

The War Gave Us “The Star-Spangled Banner”

After the British left Washington, they boarded their ships and sailed up Chesapeake Bay in an advance to Baltimore. They expected a similarly quick battle as at Bladensburg, but Baltimore had been fortifying its coast for more than a year, with Fort McHenry guarding the city at the south of the harbor entrance. On September 13, 1814, 16 Royal Navy ships approached the fort and began a bombardment that lasted 25 hours. Watching in detainment on a British ship during the attack was Francis Scott Key, an American attorney. On the morning of September 14, 1814, he saw that the American flag remained flying at Fort McHenry, indicating that the fort stood, and he was inspired to write the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry.”The poem was later set to music as “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the national anthem of the United States.

The End of the War of 1812

After three years of back-and-forth battles and overall inconclusive results that threatened to render the conflict a war of attrition, the U.S. and Great Britain looked for peace. The two countries signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, marking the end of the war. The terms of the treaty were status quo ante bellum, literally “the state before war.” Any conquered territory was to be returned, and prewar borders restored. In a strange quirk that could only happen in an era of slower communication, one more major battle was fought two weeks after the signing of the treaty: the Battle of New Orleans. Though it was considered a rousing victory for the United States, it didn’t matter due to the treaty and its terms. The War of 1812 was essentially a tie.

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5 Essential Films About World War II

“The Best Years of Our Lives”

Few events have been depicted on screen as many times and in as many ways as World War II, which is remarkable given how many stories are left to tell. Eighty years’ worth of movies have deepened our understanding of the 20th century’s defining conflict, and there’s little reason to suspect that filmmakers will stop anytime soon. If you’ve seen all the usual suspects — your Saving Private Ryans, your Casablancas — and want to explore beyond the frontlines, here are five essential movies about World War II.

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To Be or Not to Be (1942)

With good reason, we rarely associate war with comedy — World War II least of all. The ability to make a charming, lighthearted picture about such a world-altering event as it was happening is part of the “Lubitsch Touch” that made German-born director Ernst Lubitsch one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of his or any other era. (Billy Wilder, who directed such acclaimed movies as Double Indemnity, Some Like It Hot, and Sunset Boulevard, had a sign taped to his office wall asking, “How would Lubitsch do it?”)

To Be or Not to Be takes place in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, where a troupe of actors find themselves entangled in a scheme to track down a German spy. Whatever you think of their production of Hamlet, there’s no doubting their ability to trick the Nazis with their performances — or make you laugh at some truly dark jokes. The film was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1996 and remains one of Lubitsch’s most acclaimed works, no small feat considering he also directed Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, and Heaven Can Wait.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

You might not expect a movie named The Best Years of Our Lives to be about this or any other war, but then little about William Wyler’s classic was expected. The legendary filmmaker received 12 Academy Award nominations for Best Director throughout his one-of-a-kind career, winning the second of three for his epic story of three veterans readjusting to civilian life after returning home from World War II. Leading the ensemble are screen legends Fredric March and Myrna Loy, whose performances helped make the film as successful with audiences as it was with critics.

Indeed, few films have ever been as popular with the Academy. The Best Years of Our Lives won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Actor (March), and Supporting Actor for Harold Russell, a veteran who lost both of his hands in a demolition accident. As Russell wasn’t a professional actor and the Academy Board of Governors didn’t expect him to win, they gave him an honorary award “for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance.” And yet he did win, of course, making this the only time someone has won two Oscars for a single performance.

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Au revoir les enfants (1987)

One of the most personal movies ever made about the war, Au revoir les enfants (Goodbye, Children) is based on writer/director Louis Malle’s childhood experiences at a Catholic boarding school for boys near Fontainebleau, France. That lived-in quality is present throughout the movie, which has the feeling of an intimate memory come to life. Among the other students at the boarding school seen in the film are three Jewish boys who’ve been secretly taken in by the headmaster, a priest based on the heroic Père Jacques. He’s done so at great personal risk, as Nazi-occupied France isn’t exactly known for rewarding such good deeds, and even the other students are unaware of their new classmates’ true identities — including our protagonist Julien, who slowly forms a close friendship with one of them. Alternately charming and heartbreaking, Au revoir les enfants won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film and Best Original Screenplay at the 60th Academy Awards.

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Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

History is written by the victors, which is to say that most World War II movies are by and about Americans. Not so Grave of the Fireflies, an animated adaptation of Akiyuki Nosaka’s short story of the same name released by Studio Ghibli in 1988. Following two Japanese war orphans (one 14, the other just 4) as the conflict nears its end, with a particular focus on the aftermath of the brutal bombing of Kobe, writer/director Isao Takahata’s devastating story of the struggle for survival is one of the most wrenching depictions of wartime you’ll ever see, animated or otherwise. It is, however, also considered one of the greatest animated films of all time, as well as one of the saddest.

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The Thin Red Line (1998)

Only Terrence Malick could make a war movie like The Thin Red Line, one in which battle sequences seem less important than long shots of multicolored birds in trees and lyrical narration reveals more about its characters than the orders they give and receive in the heat of battle. It was Malick’s first movie in 20 years — the media-shy director had seemingly disappeared after wowing audiences and critics alike with Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978) — and just about every actor in Hollywood was desperate for a role. The result is a sprawling ensemble cast that includes Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, John Travolta, John C. Reilly, Elias Koteas, and Jared Leto, many of whom are only on screen for a minute or so.

When they aren’t advancing on their Japanese counterparts’ position, these soldiers ask questions such as, “What’s this war in the heart of nature?” and “Is this darkness in you, too?” Despite not offering any easy answers, the film reveals as much about the human spirit as it does about the nature of war. The Thin Red Line went on to be nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Director, but didn’t win any — it had the misfortune of being released the same year as Saving Private Ryan, 1998’s most popular World War II movie by far, though arguably not its best.

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5 Little-Known Facts About the Berlin Wall

Peering over the Berlin Wall

As tensions rose between the Soviet Union and the West after World War II, Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev sought to end the wave of emigration out of the USSR-controlled East Germany. The number of fleeing East Germans was staggering: Between 1949 and 1961, roughly 2.5 million people fled the state, a loss that threatened to upend the East German economy. Finally, after upwards of 65,000 citizens migrated to West Berlin between June and August 1961, East German leaders pushed for Moscow to close the border, and construction of the Berlin Wall began the night of August 12, 1961.

The boundary started off as a barricaded barbed wire between East and West Berlin, and the effects were swift and merciless. Within two weeks, the border to the west was completely sealed — crossing was forbidden, and the wall was guarded by officers permitted to shoot attempted escapees on sight. For the next two decades, the now-infamous barrier served as a symbol of the political and ideological divide of the Cold War. Here are five interesting facts about this notorious structure.

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The Name “Checkpoint Charlie” Came From the NATO Phonetic Alphabet

Berlin was divided into four sectors following the Second World War. The Soviet Union controlled the eastern part of the city, while France, the United States, and Britain controlled three sectors in the west. There were three major checkpoints along the Berlin Wall, which monitored the border crossings of foreigners, diplomats, and military officials: Checkpoint Alpha, Checkpoint Bravo, and the most famous, Checkpoint Charlie. The names of all three checkpoints originated with the NATO phonetic alphabet, representing the letters “A,” “B,” and “C.” Checkpoint Charlie was located in the heart of Berlin, and marked the divide between the Soviet and American zones. It became a symbol of the Cold War divisions, and is now a historical site and memorial in Berlin.

The “Death Strip” Was the Most Dangerous Part of the Wall

Though it’s known as the Berlin Wall, the boundary was actually two structures. The original 96-mile wire barrier proved too easy to scale, so in 1962, construction began on another fence that ran parallel to the original about 100 yards behind it. Both were later reinforced with concrete topped with barbed wire. The corridor between them became known as the “death strip.” The area was covered in raked gravel so footprints could be easily seen, helping guards track down and shoot those fleeing to the west — that is, if escapees managed to evade the mines and booby traps set up along the way. Still, many risked their lives to cross, and succeeded: An estimated total of around 5,000 East Berliners managed to make it to the other side of the wall.

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The Final Version of the Wall Was Built in 1975

To deter defections, the Berlin Wall was reinforced multiple times over the years. The final phase began in 1975, when the previous wall was replaced with a sophisticated cement barrier with increased surveillance. Known as “Grenzmauer 75” (“Border Wall 75”), the structure was made up of 45,000 separate sections of reinforced concrete, measuring around 12 feet high and 5 feet wide. Completed in 1976, the final version of the Berlin Wall (and the one commonly seen in images from its fall) was outfitted with armored vehicles, canine units, 300 watchtowers, and a rounded concrete pipe at the top to deter climbing. Yet the escapes continued.

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Escapes Became Increasingly Creative

The sudden border closing of 1961 trapped thousands of people in East Germany, many of whom were desperate to flee. Buildings located on the border with windows facing west provided opportunities to clear the border for those willing to jump, but the Soviets soon bricked up all openings that could aid in escape. East Germans adapted: Some made it to West Berlin by tunneling under the wall, while others swam across the Teltow Canal to the south of the city, walked a tightrope, and used zip lines. Occasionally, East German border guards assisted by choosing not to accurately fire, or by defecting themselves and assisting future escapees.

An Administrative Error Led to the Fall of the Berlin Wall

On November 4, 1989, some 500,000 East Berliners gathered to protest the Soviet state’s strict border laws. The demonstration came roughly two months after Hungary lifted restrictions on travel to Austria, marking one of the first times the Iron Curtain was lifted. In an attempt to calm the crowds, East German leaders announced on November 9 that they too would loosen borders to make travel easier. However, East German spokesperson Günter Schabowski erred when asked when the borders would open. With no time to read through the rules before speaking, he answered, “As far as I know, effective immediately, without delay.” East and West Berliners were finally united as stunned border guards stood aside. That night, the Berlin Wall finally came down.

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5 Little-Known Facts About D-Day

Armored tank at Normandy

Not long after the United States entered World War II in December 1941, Allied leaders Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt — along with commanding Allied general Dwight D. Eisenhower — began to plan an invasion of Nazi-occupied France. Opening a new front was vital to defeating the Nazis, so plans were set in place for Operation Overlord — the codename for the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944. The massive operation began the liberation of France and other parts of Western Europe, ultimately turning the tide of World War II and bringing about the end of Nazi Germany. Here are five facts about that fateful day, now commonly known as D-Day.

D-Day Was Supposed to Happen a Day Earlier

Allied leaders originally set a date of June 5, 1944, for D-Day. But something very British managed to delay the invasion: the weather. Foul weather over the English Channel meant that it was too rough for ships to sail, so the invasion was postponed until the day after. It was a nervous, pensive wait for everyone involved, not least for the soldiers waiting to cross the Channel. Then came news from the meteorologists, who forecast a brief window of calmer weather for June 6. There were a limited number of dates with the right tidal conditions for an invasion, so if the operation didn’t go forward during the break in the weather on June 6, it would have had to wait until June 19-21 (when, as it turned out, there was a storm that would have made invasion impossible). The green light was finally given, and D-Day took place on June 6.

The Germans Weren’t Expecting the Invasion to Be at Normandy

The Germans knew that an Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France could turn the tide of war, and had planned to counter such an invasion. But they didn’t consider Normandy as a particularly likely landing point. Instead, they believed the Allies would invade further north, at the French port city of Calais, which sat just a little more than 20 miles across the English Channel from Dover. The German army installed three massive gun batteries along the Calais coast in order to counter this threat. That’s not to say that Normandy was an easy target. It was defended by the Atlantic Wall, a 2,000-mile-long chain of fortresses, mines, gun emplacements, tank traps, and obstacles. It was an impressive piece of defensive engineering, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Allied invasion.

Spies and Misinformation Played a Major Part in the Success of D-Day

The Allies did all they could to convince the Nazis that an invasion would not take place at Normandy. Leading up to D-Day, nearly every German spy in England had been captured or turned into a double agent, and the double agents were told to inform their Nazi handlers that the invasion was indeed planned for Calais. At the same time, the Allies sent out fake radio traffic to further convince the Germans that Calais was the plan. This deception was all part of Operation Fortitude, which aimed to dupe the Nazis with misinformation, including creating an entirely fake army. This fictitious force, known as the First U.S. Army Group (FUSAG), was made up of thousands of fake tanks and airplanes, as well as decoy buildings, all placed on England’s southeast coast and supposedly commanded by General George S. Patton. The Allies let German reconnaissance planes photograph the site of the dummy army, further convincing the enemy that a military buildup was being made for an invasion of Calais. What’s more, the Allies by this time had cracked the Nazis’ Enigma code, so they could monitor the success of their misinformation campaign by tapping into German communications.

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D-Day Was the Largest Amphibious Invasion in History

The Allied invasion of Normandy was the largest single-day amphibious invasion in history. The scale of the assault is hard to even imagine, as the numbers are mind-boggling. In the months and days leading up to the invasion, 7 million tons of supplies, including 450,000 tons of ammunition, were brought into Britain from the United States, and war planners created around 17 million maps to support the operation. In the hours prior to the beach landings, 11,590 Allied aircraft flew 14,674 sorties to support the invasion, and 15,500 American and 7,900 British airborne troops parachuted into France behind enemy lines. Then came the beach assault by 132,715 Allied troops, consisting of 75,215 British and Canadian forces and 57,500 Americans. Between them, they stormed the beaches of Normandy, the Americans fighting their way ashore at Utah Beach and Omaha Beach, the British at Gold and Sword beaches, and the Canadians at Juno Beach.

Eisenhower Wrote a Secret “In Case of Failure” Message

The success of D-Day was in no way assured. In the days before the invasion, General Eisenhower secretly wrote a statement now known as the “In Case of Failure” message, to be released if the invasion failed. In the letter, Eisenhower took full blame for any such failure. “My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available,” he wrote. “The troops, the air, and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do.”

But D-Day was a military success that paved the way for a German surrender less than a year later. The invasion, however, came at a terrible cost. Historians are still investigating the actual number of deaths that resulted from the chaos of D-Day, but we know that at least 4,414 Allied soldiers, sailors, airmen, and coast guardsmen lost their lives, with at least 10,000 total casualties. On the German side, meanwhile, estimates suggest between 4,000 and 9,000 killed, wounded, or missing, with around 200,000 Germans captured as prisoners of war. Today, just a few thousand D-Day veterans may still be alive, the youngest now in their late 90s. On June 6, 2023, around 40 World War II veterans gathered at Normandy to mark the 79th anniversary of D-Day and pay tribute to the lives lost that day.

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A Fascinating Look at World War-Era Military Uniforms

German infantry troops

Vehicles and weaponry attract much wartime attention, but failing to give proper consideration to uniform design can spell disaster. Take, for instance, World War I, when the French army ignored war minister Adolphe Messimy’s warning about the country’s insistence on retaining the conspicuous red coloring of its historic pantalon rouge uniforms, despite his pointed admonishment: “This stupid blind attachment to the most visible of colors will have cruel consequences.” The French went on to suffer heavy casualties at the outset of the war, and switched to issuing horizon blue uniforms in 1915. The importance of uniforms became apparent to the Soviet Union as well, when soldiers suffered frostbite and other cold injuries during the Winter War against Finland at the start of World War II.

Both world wars created shifts in uniform design that were sometimes innovative, sometimes bizarre, and in some cases, enduringly impactful to civilian fashion. These are some of the more notable facts about military uniforms from the two world wars.

Photo credit: Martin Brayley/ Alamy Stock Photo

WWI Marked the U.S. Army’s First Monochromatic Uniform

The uniform worn by the United States Army in the First World War was called the M1910 uniform. In addition to being the Army’s first single-color uniform — allowing for better camouflage and easier manufacturing — it was also the first time the standard olive drab uniform was worn during a war (though the Army switched to khaki-colored cotton uniforms during the summer). The M1910 was also notable for not including any blue outerwear or pants, which had been a part of every United States (or Continental) Army uniform since the Revolutionary War.

The French Army Reintroduced the Metal Helmet During WWI

Metal helmets had been in use throughout antiquity, but they fell out of favor in the 18th and 19th centuries with the decline of sword-and-spear close combat and the rise of firearms. In 1915, the French army outfitted its soldiers with steel helmets in order to protect them from falling shrapnel, which was an increasing problem in trench warfare. The helmets were designed by Intendant-General Louis Auguste Adrian, and were known as M15 Adrian helmets. The Adrian helmets proved effective enough that other Western armies began adopting them. Eventually, most countries began manufacturing some sort of metal helmet design.

Photo credit: Science & Society Picture Library via Getty Images

The WWI-Era German Helmet Spikes Originally Had a Function

The famous spike-adorned German helmet from World War I is called a pickelhaube, and it was designed in 1842 by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. (Similar spiked helmets were already in use in other countries, such as Russia.) So what was the spike for? Its original purpose was as a point to attach the decorative strands of a cavalry helmet plume. Later, the spike itself (without the attached plume) gained aesthetic value for its aggressive appearance and was favored by the German infantry. The pickelhaube didn’t last for the entirety of the war, though, as it was discontinued in 1916 due to its ill-suitedness for trench warfare and a shortage of materials necessary to manufacture them. That didn’t stop it from being an enduring symbol of the German army, though, as its sinister appearance was ideal for war propaganda depicting the Germans as vicious aggressors. To celebrate the end of the war, New York City built a pyramid out of around 85,000 pickelhaubes.

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Soviet Soldiers Wore Fur Coats and Felt and Wool Boots

The frigid climate of the Soviet Union posed a harrowing challenge to soldiers, especially during winter months. To combat the cold, the Soviet Union outfitted the Red Army with thick fur coats and traditional boots made of felt and wool, known as valenki. Valenki weren’t exclusively military-issued boots, though; in fact, they were a traditional form of Russian footwear worn for hundreds of years. Though the fur coats and valenki were age-old items, they were only added to the army’s provisions in August of 1941 after poor cold-weather preparedness in the Soviet Union’s 1939 invasion of Finland caused higher-than-expected casualties.

Soviet Soldiers Didn’t Wear Socks

During the world wars, and at least as far back as the Napoleonic Wars, the Russian army used a predecessor to socks: the foot wrap. The clothing, known in Russian as a portyanki, is a simple rectangular piece of cloth wrapped around the foot that provides the same function a sock would. The advantage is that the foot wrap is cheap and easy to manufacture en masse, though the drawback is that it requires considerably more technique to put on correctly. Incorrectly wrapping the cloth could result in creases or folds that would cause blistering or other discomfort. Nonetheless, the portyanki remained in use by the Russian army as late as 2013.

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WWII Flight Jackets Became an Enduring Fashion in the U.S.

World War II aerial warfare created a unique problem for military uniform designers to solve. Temperatures at the altitudes pilots flew at could reach as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit, but the tight quarters of an aircraft’s cockpit meant that any outerwear that was too bulky would impede movement. In response to this challenge, the U.S. Army Aviation Clothing Board developed two leather flight jackets that were used in World War II: the A-2 and the G-1. The A-2 was issued for the Air Force, had a medium snap collar and an enclosed snap-secured pocket on each side, and zipped closed. The G-1 was issued for the Navy, and had a similar pocket and zipper design, but added some flashiness in the form of a larger fur-lined collar, and ornamental patches on the front, arms, and back.

The military ceased production of the A-2 in 1943, but the design was popularized in the 1963 Steve McQueen film The Great Escape, and retailers manufacture replicas to this day. As for the G-1, it’s still issued to enlisted members of the Navy, and had its own film role as the jacket Tom Cruise wore in 1986’s Top Gun.

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The Strangest Wars in History

The Kettle war of 1784

“There never was a good war or a bad peace,” Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1783. Wise words indeed, and very true. Unfortunately, humans too often find themselves at war, as millennia of conflict can attest — the earliest known war was in Sudan a staggering 13,400 years ago.

Among the many wars fought in human history, some stand out for their peculiar nature, whether due to the strange events that provoked the conflict or for the lack of any actual fighting. Here are 10 of the strangest wars in history, from the 14th century to modern times.

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The War of the Oaken Bucket

The War of the Oaken Bucket certainly has one of the strangest names in the history of conflict, and it does involve a bucket — just not as prominently as the myth would suggest. According to legend, the war began one night in 1325 after soldiers from Modena crept into Bologna and stole the oaken pail from the municipal well. In reality, the war was the culmination of ongoing tensions that had existed between the Italian city-states for 300 years. There was a bucket involved, but not until the end of the conflict, when Modenese soldiers took the municipal bucket as a trophy of war.

The Three Hundred and Thirty-Five Years' War

In 1651, the Netherlands decided to get involved in the English Civil War between the Royalists and Parliamentarians. During the whole messy affair, the Dutch sent a fleet of 12 warships to the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, to demand reparations from the Royalists, who had been raiding Dutch shipping lanes. Their demands were ignored, at which point the Dutch declared war on the Isles of Scilly. The Dutch hung around for three months and then abandoned the fruitless conflict and sailed home. But they forgot one thing: to declare peace with the Isles of Scilly. The bloodless war technically lasted for 335 years until anyone saw fit to formally sign a peace treaty, which finally happened in 1986. It remains, arguably at least, one of the longest wars in history (the shortest, in contrast, lasted just 38 minutes).

Photo credit: Hulton Archive/ Hulton Archive via Getty Images

War of Jenkins' Ear

In 1738, British merchants were increasingly protesting over Spanish control how the Spanish Guarda Costa (coast guard) was treating their trading ships in the Americas. The mood in Britain was that the Spanish needed to be taught a lesson. Enter Captain Robert Jenkins, a Welsh mariner who, in 1731, had his ear cut off by overzealous Spanish coast guards when they searched his ship for contraband. Seven years after that incident, Jenkins was called to appear in the House of Commons in London, where, according to some accounts, he presented his preserved ear, much to the outrage of the gathered assembly. The British public soon became aware of this episode, further stoking anti-Spanish fervor and helping to pave the way for a full-scale war that began in 1739 and ended in 1748.

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The Kettle War

The Kettle War was a bizarre conflict that, in truth, was more of an international incident than a war. In 1784, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic were squabbling over access to the ports of Antwerp and Ghent in Belgium. In a show of force, the Holy Roman emperor dispatched three vessels, led by his magnificent warship Le Louis, to seize control of the Dutch port at Amsterdam. The Dutch were waiting with their own smaller ships. When the enemy approached, their lead ship, the Dolfijn, fired a single shot that ricocheted off a kettle on the deck of the Le Louis. This terrified the ship’s incompetent captain, who immediately surrendered, handing victory — and the emperor’s flagship — to the Dutch.

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The Pastry War

In the early 1830s, a French pastry cook living in Tacubaya, near Mexico City, claimed that some Mexican army officers had damaged and looted his restaurant. He appealed to the king of France, demanding compensation, and in doing so, unwittingly helped launch a war. The pastry cook’s complaint prompted France to press Mexico for the grand sum of 600,000 pesos in compensation. In November 1838, with the Mexican president yet to make any payments, France sent a fleet to Veracruz, the principal port on the Gulf of Mexico. The French bombarded the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa, and Mexico declared war on France. But before the crisis could escalate any further, Britain stepped in and negotiated a peace treaty. The French forces withdrew in March 1839. The pastry cook, meanwhile, never saw a single peso from Mexico, which never paid the compensation — a fact that was later used by France to justify the second French intervention in Mexico, in 1861.

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The Pig War

The Oregon Treaty of 1846 settled long-standing border disputes between the U.S. and British North America (present-day Canada). Even on the strategically important island of San Juan in Washington state, which remained contested, the British and American settlers seemed to be getting along. But then, on June 15, 1859, an American farmer named Lyman Cutlar shot a British pig that had wandered onto his land and was eating his potatoes. Things escalated quickly, and the local Americans requested U.S. military protection. A 66-person company of the U.S. 9th Infantry was sent to San Juan. In response, the British sent three warships. Then came a voice of reason in the guise of Admiral Robert L. Baynes, commander in chief of the British navy in the Pacific. He refused to engage any further, stating that he would not “involve two great nations in a war over a squabble about a pig.” So ended the Pig War, with only one casualty: the unfortunate pig.

Photo credit: Antonio F Alvarez/ Shutterstock

The Town of Líjar Versus France

In 1883, the tiny town of Líjar in Andalusia, Spain, declared war against the entire military might of France. Líjar’s mayor was apparently infuriated by some news he had heard, and immediately called a town meeting to discuss the matter. He explained the situation as follows: “Our King Alfonso [of Spain], when passing through Paris on the 29th day of September was stoned and offended in the most cowardly fashion by miserable hordes of the French nation.” The town council approved the mayor’s war motion, and Líjar duly announced its decision to the Spanish government and the president of the French Republic. Then, nothing happened — until, 100 years later, the town decided to formally end its war with France, with very little fanfare outside of Líjar, because everyone else had forgotten the war ever started.

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War of the Stray Dog

Following decades of territorial disputes, tensions were already running high between Greece and Bulgaria in 1925 — and then a dog sparked a war. It all began when the dog ran across the border between Greece and Bulgaria. His owner, a Greek soldier, ran after the dog, and was promptly shot by the Bulgarians. The ensuing diplomatic chaos resulted in a brief invasion of Bulgaria by Greece, known as the War of the Stray Dog or the Incident at Petrich, which lasted 10 days and resulted in at least 50 casualties. The fate of the dog remains unknown.

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The Great Emu War

In 1932, a marauding horde of emus arrived in Western Australia, where they began destroying crops and causing general havoc. Farmers petitioned the government for help to combat the mob, which totaled at least 20,000 flightless birds. In response, Major G.P.W. Meredith of the Australian army was sent to the region in command of a small group of soldiers armed with Lewis light machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. Things didn’t go well. The emus were tougher, faster, and more intelligent than expected, and it took 2,500 rounds of ammunition to fell just 200 of the birds. The “war” was eventually abandoned, with the emus victorious.

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The Whisky War

For half a century, Denmark and Canada were engaged in what must be one of the friendliest wars of all time. It all started in the 1970s, when the two nations were deliberating over their Arctic boundaries, including a small, desolate chunk of rock called Hans Island. No one could really agree on how to divide Hans, so it remained in rather unimportant limbo. Then, in 1984, some Canadian soldiers landed on the rock and promptly planted a maple leaf flag and left a bottle of whisky before returning home. In response, Denmark flew a representative out to the island, who replaced the flag with the Danish flag, leaving a bottle of schnapps and a note that read “Welcome to Danish Island.” The Whisky War had begun in earnest. This amicable conflict continued for 50 years, with the regular exchange of flags, notes, and bottles of booze. Finally, in 2022, Denmark and Canada struck a deal over the tiny, uninhabited Arctic island, ending the Whisky War for good.

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Meet 6 Fearless World War II Heroes

Benjamin O. Davis Jr.

World War II was one of the most transformative events of the 20th century. It was the largest war ever fought, with more than 50 nations and 100 million troops involved, and it reshaped geopolitics, resulting in the United States and Soviet Union emerging as major world powers leading into the Cold War. This far-reaching war also inspired new global peacekeeping efforts, including the creation of the United Nations, and it brought to light incredibly courageous acts of humanity from soldiers and civilians alike. Here are the stories of six daring heroes of the Second World War.

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The Youngest American Soldier in WWII

Calvin L. Graham was the youngest U.S. military member during WWII, and is still the youngest recipient of the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. It wasn’t unusual for boys to lie about their age to enlist, but Graham was just 12 years old when he forged his mother’s signature and headed to Houston to enlist. The 125-pound, 5-foot-2 boy was miraculously cleared for naval service and assigned to the USS South Dakota as an anti-aircraft gunner.

On November 14, 1942, the South Dakota was ambushed by Japanese forces at the Battle of Guadalcanal. Graham was severely burned and thrown down three stories of the ship, but still mustered the strength to tend to his severely wounded shipmates. He was honored for his heroism, but when his mother found out about the honor, she informed the Navy of his real age and he was stripped of his medals and thrown into the brig for three months. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter learned of Graham’s story and restored his medals, except for his Purple Heart, which wasn’t restored until two years after Graham’s death.

Wojtek the Bear

Polish soldiers stationed in Iran during the war were met with great surprise when a shepherd traded them a Syrian brown bear cub for a Swiss army knife and some canned goods. The cub’s mother was likely killed by hunters, so the soldiers adopted him, giving him the name “Wojtek,” meaning “joyful warrior” in Polish — a title he soon lived up to. His caretaker, a soldier named Peter Prendys, taught the bear how to salute, wave, and march, and Wojtek became a great morale booster.

In 1944, Wojtek was given the rank of private and a serial number (pets were banned in the Polish army), and he shipped off to Italy with his unit. That May, the bear even joined combat during the Battle of Monte Cassino, carrying supplies to his fellow troops, according to witnesses. He was promoted to the rank of corporal for his bravery. After the war, Wojtek found his forever home at the Edinburgh Zoo in 1947. A bronze statue of the bear and Prendys still stands in downtown Edinburgh today.

An “Angel in Fatigues”

Army Colonel Ruby Bradley of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps was working at Camp John Hay in the Philippines when she was taken prisoner by the Japanese army in 1941. She became a POW at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila — but she didn’t let it break her spirit. Bradley immediately went to work helping her fellow POWs by offering medical aid and smuggling food and medicine to those in need. She assisted on 230 major surgeries and delivered 13 babies during her 37 months at the camp. Bradley and her fellow nurses became known as the “Angels in Fatigues.”

In February 1945, the camp was finally liberated, and Bradley — who was malnourished from giving her food rations to children — went home. She continued her career in the Army, amassing 34 decorations, medals, and awards (including the Bronze Star Medal), making her one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history.

America’s First Black General

General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. faced racial discrimination from the very beginning of his military career. He was only the fourth Black cadet in the history of the United States Military Academy at West Point before joining the Army in 1936. After being stationed in Alabama, he received the opportunity of a lifetime: squadron commander of the first all-Black unit in the Army Air Forces. This unit of 1,000 Black pilots became known as the Tuskegee Airmen, renowned for their exceptional achievements in combat despite the discrimination they faced.

Davis led the 99th Fighter Squadron during their 1943 deployment against Axis forces in North Africa, and later that year, he commanded the 332nd Fighter Group to fight on the front lines in Italy. During his two-year command of the Tuskegee Airmen, Davis and his crew sank more than 40 enemy ships and downed more than twice the number of aircraft they lost, earning them a reputation as a formidable fighting squadron. Their impressive record wasn’t just a message to the enemy; it broke racial barriers at home, furthering the fight for desegregation and equal rights. Davis had a life of public service and was promoted to four-star general by President Bill Clinton in 1998.

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The First Female Asian American Officer

For Navy Lieutenant Susan Ahn Cuddy, entry into military service was personal. Her father, Dosan Ahn Chang Ho, died while imprisoned by the Japanese in 1938. He was incarcerated for anti-Japanese activism as a known leader for the Korean independence movement. Despite growing anti-Asian sentiments during WWII, Cuddy wanted to honor her father and fight against the Japanese, so she enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942. She was the first female Asian American naval officer and eventually became the first female gunnery officer, training pilots to fire a .50-caliber machine gun. She later worked with codebreakers at the Naval Intelligence Office while using her knowledge of the Korean language. Even there, Cuddy faced discrimination — one of her superiors wouldn’t let her access classified documents. After the war, Cuddy worked at the National Security Agency during the Cold War. She died peacefully in her sleep in 2015 at the age of 100.

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A Civilian Dockyard Worker at Pearl Harbor

On the morning of December 7, 1941, George Walters, a crane operator at the Pearl Harbor dockyard in Hawaii, awoke to a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces. Walters ran to a massive crane next to the USS Pennsylvania and began moving it back and forth on its track to shield the ship from an onslaught of rounds from Japanese fighters and dive bombers. He even attempted to knock planes out of the sky with the boom. The protected gunners onboard the Pennsylvania were able to return fire. Later, a bomb exploded on the dock next to Walter’s crane, knocking him out of the fight. He survived with a concussion, and it’s believed that his actions helped save the ship from certain destruction. The story of Walters’ heroism was featured in Walter Lord’s 1957 book “Day of Infamy.” Walters continued to work at the shipyard for 25 years following the attack. Lewis Walters, George’s son, was a young shipyard apprentice at the time who witnessed his father’s bravery firsthand.

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The Heroic Stories of 6 Wartime Animals

Rip war dog, 1941

Humans and animals have fought side by side since prehistoric times. Dogs have long been our faithful companions in times of peace and conflict, while horses, camels, elephants, and other mounts helped win many of the most important battles in history.

In modern times, particularly during World War I and World War II, animals played a vital role in active combat, transportation, and communication — not to mention the numerous animal mascots who helped keep morale high in the most testing of times. It’s estimated that in World War I alone, more than 16 million animals served in these various ways. Here are a few such incredible wartime animals, including daring dogs, courageous carrier pigeons, and a mischievous brown bear.

Rags the Scotch-Irish Terrier

In 1918, while walking through the streets of Paris, Private James Donovan saw what he thought was a pile of rags — but when the rags moved, he realized it was a little Scotch-Irish terrier, abandoned in the gutter. Donovan adopted the dog, which followed him everywhere, and Rags, in turn, became the mascot of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division. But Rags was more than just a mascot. Donovan taught him to run messages that were affixed to his collar across the front lines, dodging shellfire as he went. Rags also led medics to wounded men, and — using his superior canine hearing — was able to alert his unit to incoming shellfire. He was also taught to salute with his right front paw.

On October 9, 1918, Rags and Donovan were hit by German shellfire and gas shells. Rags sustained injuries to his right front paw, right ear, and right eye, and was mildly gassed, while Donovan was more seriously wounded. Both were treated, but only Rags survived. His unit and other soldiers who knew of Rags’ heroics made sure the pup got safely back to U.S. soil, where he lived a celebrated life until his death at age 20.

Photo credit: Heritage Images/ Hulton Archive via Getty Images

Warrior the Stallion

When General Jack Seely left his home in 1914 to take command of the Canadian Cavalry Corps, his beloved thoroughbred stallion, Warrior, went with him to the Western Front. So began one of the most amazing animal stories of World War I. During the next four years, Warrior took part in some of the most ferocious and pivotal battles of the Great War. He saw action at the Battle of the Somme, Ypres, Cambrai, and Passchendaele, and in 1918 he led a cavalry charge against the Germans at Amiens, in a battle that proved crucial in bringing the terrible war to an end. Warrior never gave in, despite being buried in mud and rubble, trapped in burning stables, and charging through intensive barrages of machine-gun fire and mortar shells — it was no wonder he became known as “the horse the Germans couldn’t kill.” Having survived it all, Warrior and Seely returned home to the Isle of Wight, where the famous stallion lived a peaceful life until his death in 1941 at the age of 32.

In 2014, a century after the start of the Great War, Warrior posthumously received the PDSA Dickin Medal (also known as “the animals’ Victoria Cross”), the highest honor an animal can receive in Britain for acts of bravery while serving in a military conflict. Warrior is the only recipient to predate the medal’s institution in 1943, and was chosen to receive the honor on behalf of all the brave animals that served in World War I.

Cher Ami the Pigeon

Being a military homing pigeon during World War I was incredibly dangerous. One such bird, Cher Ami, completed 12 successful missions — far more than normal. His final mission, on October 4, 1918, proved to be his most courageous. Cher Ami was stationed with the 77th Division, known as the “Lost Battalion,” in the Argonne Forest. Behind enemy lines and cut off from Allied troops, the 77th found themselves under heavy bombardment. Their only hope for salvation lay in getting a message out using one of the homing pigeons they carried, but every pigeon they released was shot down by enemy fire — except for their last pigeon, Cher Ami.

The pigeon took off and was quickly shot through the breast and leg and fell to the ground — but, despite his injuries, the brave Cher Ami got back up and took to the skies once again, eventually reaching his loft and delivering the message that dangled from his wounded leg. (The brave bird lost the leg, but survived his injuries.) Thanks to Cher Ami, help arrived for the battalion’s 194 men, who made it back safely to American lines. For his heroic service, Cher Ami was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. And General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, paid tribute to Cher Ami, saying, “There isn’t anything the United States can do too much for this bird.”

Photo credit: Fred Morley/ Hulton Archive via Getty Images

Judy the Pointer

Judy, a purebred pointer, began her service as a ship’s mascot on board the gunboat HMS Gnat in 1936. It wasn’t the most auspicious start, as her tendency to fall overboard often forced the ship to stop to retrieve her. But she soon proved useful thanks to her acute hearing, alerting the British sailors to the presence of river pirates and hostile Japanese aircraft. In 1942, she transferred to the HMS Grasshopper. When the gunboat was attacked by Japanese aircraft, the crew became stranded on an island in the South China Sea. The sailors were growing dangerously thirsty when they came across Judy standing next to a big hole she’d dug, full of fresh water.

The crew was then captured — along with Judy — and taken to a prisoner-of-war camp in North Sumatra. Frank Williams, a young British sailor, shared his scant prison rations with Judy, keeping them both alive, while Judy helped out by distracting camp guards who were otherwise intent on beating the helpless captives. Judy survived many more adventures — including gunshot wounds and alligator bites — before the war ended. On her return to Britain, she was awarded the Dickin Medal for her service.

Photo credit: David Kilpatrick/ Alamy Stock Photo

Wojtek the Bear

In 1942, Polish soldiers adopted a Syrian bear cub whose mother had likely been killed by hunters. They fed him honey, fruit, and marmalade, and gave him condensed milk from an empty vodka bottle. Soon the cub — whom they named Wojtek — began to grow. It wasn’t long before the 22nd Artillery Supply Company of the 2nd Polish Corps found themselves with an unlikely mascot: a 600-pound brown bear.

Wojtek enjoyed chasing the oranges that the soldiers used for grenade practice, and he learned how to break into the communal shower huts for a refreshing shower — resulting in some unwanted water shortages. Despite being something of a troublemaker, the bear was great for morale, especially during the Battle of Monte Cassino, where Wojtek was seen on the front lines carrying empty ammo crates and used shells. After the war, Wojtek spent his retirement at Edinburgh Zoo, where he received many visitors, including his former comrades from the Polish army.

Photo credit: Imperial War Museums via Getty Images

Rip the Terrier

In 1940, an air raid warden called Mr. E. King was searching through the devastation left in the aftermath of a heavy air raid on London. In the rubble, King spotted a crossbreed terrier, shivering, hungry, and alone. He took pity on the pup and fed it some scraps, and the two became inseparable. The dog, whom King called Rip, soon revealed an innate talent for sniffing out survivors trapped in the ruins of bombed buildings. Despite having no formal training, he became an indispensable search and rescue dog for the Air Raid Patrol. Rip and his human colleagues worked tirelessly throughout the London blitz, and it’s estimated that Rip helped save the lives of more than 100 people. In 1945, he was awarded the Dickin Medal, which he wore on his collar for the rest of his life.

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