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Arms Sales: USA vs. Russia (1950-2017)

A closer look at the geopolitics of weapons sales through the Cold War, and beyond.
by Jeff Desjardins, Will Geary via Visual Capitalist on April 2, 2019
Painting titled "Repulse of Leslie at the North Bridge".

Was This Little-Known Standoff the Real Start of the American Revolution?

On February 26, 1775, residents of Salem, Massachusetts, banded together to force the British to withdraw from their town in Leslie’s Retreat.
by Robert Pushkar via Smithsonian on February 26, 2025
A bulldozer juxtapositioned with destroyed buildings and barren land.

The Shrouded, Sinister History Of The Bulldozer

From India to the Amazon to Israel, bulldozers have left a path of destruction that offers a cautionary tale for how technology can be misused.
by Joe Zadeh via Noema on February 20, 2025
A gun shop in Dunedin, Florida.

America Fell for Guns Recently, and for Reasons You Will Not Guess

The US today has extraordinary levels of gun ownership. But to see this as a venerable tradition is to misread history.
by Megan Kang via Aeon on April 9, 2024
A drawing of a burning ship engaged in battle at sea.

Burnt Offerings

Aaron Bushnell and the age of immolation.
by Erik Baker via n+1 on February 29, 2024
British trade unionists blockade a weapons factory on November 10th, 2023.

The Problem of the Unionized War Machine

Union workers in the US weapons industry present a paradox for anti-war labor activists, but a history of “conversion” campaigns offers a route.
by Jeff Schuhrke via Jewish Currents on November 22, 2023
Samuel Cummings holding a gun in a lab.

The Last Honest Mercenary in the Business

International arms dealer Samuel Cummings blanketed the Western Hemisphere with guns.
by Jacqui Shine via Well, Actually on March 28, 2023
AR-15

Varmints, Soldiers and Looming Threats: See the Ads Used to Sell the AR-15

Through six decades, gunmakers and advertisers leveraged social and cultural changes to broaden the AR-15′s appeal.
by Alex Horton, Monique Woo, Tucker Harris via Washington Post on March 27, 2023
Montage of photographs from Operation Desert Storm.

How to Kill a Country

The 2003 invasion of Iraq was no turning point. It was a slow-burning tale of how Britain and the US armed a nation, and then betrayed it.
by Noah Kulwin via New Statesman on March 24, 2023
Police officers patrolling the streets at the start of the Birmingham Campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, May 1963. Frank Rockstroh/Getty

The Police Dog As Weapon of Racial Terror

Police K-9 units in the United States emerged during the Civil Rights era. This was not a coincidence.
by Matthew Wills, Tyler Wall via JSTOR Daily on February 9, 2023
The modified SWD M-11/9s used in the Monterey Park Shooting

Monterey Park: Who Made the Gun?

A relic of '80s scofflaw gun culture is still lethal.
by Mathew Dessem via Popula on January 27, 2023
Illustration of U.S. bomber droping brick to form a wall (representing sanctions).

The Folly of Sanctions

Sanctions were conceived as an alternative to war. But they may have made the world more violent.
by Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein via The New Republic on December 13, 2022
Picture of four men holding a model B-52 plane, in front of backdrop of two aircrafts.

The B-52 Was Designed In A Hotel Room Over One Weekend (And Will Probably Fly For 100 Years)

The B-52’s prolific service career spans not only decades and conflicts, but eras of aviation.
by Alex Hollings via Sandboxx on September 13, 2022
19th-century pistol.

How 19th-Century Gun-Makers Helped Preserve the Union

As the gunmakers’ markets matured through the Civil War era, some began mastering the art of product promotion, following the lead set by Samuel Colt.
by John Bainbridge Jr. via Literary Hub on June 3, 2022
An aerial view of a firebombed area in Tokyo in 1945.

When Tokyo Burned

“Paper City” explores the forgotten firebombing of Japan’s capital.
by Spencer Cohen via Foreign Policy on May 29, 2022
Painting of duel between Charles de Lameth and the Marquis de Castries.

A Slap, Followed by a Duel

Dueling was a dangerous, ritualized response to a real (or perceived) slight. It may also have been a means of proving one's social and economic capital.
by Matthew Wills, Douglas W. Allen, Clyde G. Reed, Christopher G. Kingston, Robert E. Wright via JSTOR Daily on March 30, 2022

Merchants of Death

From the Nye Committee to Joe Kent, the fight against war profiteering is a constant struggle.
by Hunter DeRensis via The American Conservative on November 8, 2021
Visitors sit next to displays of missiles and a sea defense weapon system at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, or Airshow China, in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China, on Sept. 29
partner

Fear About China’s New Space Weapon Echoes Older Worries About War From Space

And that’s exactly why there is no need to overreact.
by Stephen Buono via Made By History on October 26, 2021
A bullet whose path makes an audio file.

What I Learned While Eavesdropping on the Taliban

I spent 600 hours listening in on the people who now run Afghanistan. It wasn’t until the end of my tour that I understood what they were telling me.
by Ian Fritz via The Atlantic on August 19, 2021
Riot police clash with demonstrators in Medellín, Colombia, last week.
partner

The U.S. War on Drugs Helped Unleash the Violence in Colombia Today

Efforts to combat narcotics and communism militarized the country's security forces.
by Kyle Longley via Made By History on June 8, 2021
A man holding a gun in a gun shop.
partner

The Gun-Control Effort That Almost Stopped Our Addiction to ‘Weapons of War’

The 1968 Gun Control Act had the right idea — but it came too late.
by Andrew C. McKevitt via Made By History on April 27, 2021
the contra military group

Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair

Reagan's commitment to deregulation, aggressive military spending, and diminished oversight created a cocktail of corruption that was worse than Watergate.
by Jeremi Suri via American Heritage on February 1, 2021

We Remember World War II Wrong

In the middle of the biggest international crisis ever since, it’s time to admit what the war was—and wasn’t.
by Adam Tooze via Foreign Policy on May 7, 2020
Mugshots of female terrorists

The Dark History of America’s First Female Terrorist Group

The women of May 19th bombed the U.S. Capitol and plotted Henry Kissinger’s murder. But they’ve been long forgotten.
by William Roseneau via Politico Magazine on May 3, 2020
WW1 soldiers wearing gas masks.

How World War I Became the First Modern War of Science

One hundred years ago, a group of U.S. academics and soldiers revolutionized warfare. We’re still seeing the results today.
by Theo Emery via Politico Magazine on November 12, 2018
Image of a person being affected by chemical weapons.

Why We Don’t Use Chemical Weapons

World War I exposed the world to the horror of gas attacks. But why do we draw the line there when other methods of killing prove so much more effective?
by Emil Friis Ernst via The Nib on July 30, 2018
Diagram of a Spencer rifle.

From Spencer Rifles to M-16s: A History Of The Weapons US Troops Wield In War

Muzzleloaders have evolved into smart-style automatic firearms in just 150 years.
by Richard S. Faulkner, Jeff Schogol via Task & Purpose on July 10, 2018
Young men show a reporter how to make molotov cocktails in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in July 1966. (Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Getty Images)

One of America's Smartest Magazines Published a Molotov Cocktail How-To in 1967

A riot represents people making history.
by Nina Renata Aron via Timeline on September 23, 2017
Pilgrims going to church armed with guns.

God and Guns

Patrick Blanchfield tracks the long-standing entanglement of guns and religion in the United States. Part 1 of 2.
by Patrick Blanchfield via The Revealer on September 25, 2015
partner

How a Standoff with the Black Panthers Fueled the Rise of SWAT

SWAT teams were created in the 1960s to combat violent events. Since then, the specialized teams have morphed into something very different.
via Retro Report on August 5, 2015
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