War and Military Collection

The naval base at Guantanamo Bay secured a place in the annals of history when the first wave of detainees from America's War on Terror - men dubbed "the worst of the worst" - arrived in 2002. A symbol of freedom protected or freedom tragically betrayed, the controversies of Guantanamo embody the thorny issues of America's fight against an enemy that wears no uniform, has no address and will declare no armistice, and an administration's battle to keep prisoners beyond the reach of due process in American courts. The goings-on inside the wire encircling this highly classified camp have been a closely held government secret-until now. For the first time, National Geographic exclusively captures day-to-day life in the most famous prison in the world-exploring the ongoing daily struggle between the guard force of dedicated young military personnel and the equally dedicated detainees, many of whom are still in legal limbo after being held for seven years.

In January 2009 it was a patch of lawless Afghan desert, riddled with Taliban fighters. Today, Camp Leatherneck is home to more than 7,000 troops. National Geographic goes inside the epicenter of the war in Afghanistan to meet the men and women who live and work in the camp. Learn how violence, boredom, excessive heat, separation from family and cultural differences affect the mind-set of the warriors. With unprecedented access, National Geographic chronicles daily life at Camp Leatherneck and the challenges and danger that come with living in an active war zone.

What could we do if we had evidence terrorists were close to acquiring nuclear weapons, or even making their own? How would we defend ourselves from a blast with fireballs hotter than the sun? Today, defiant nations desperately pursue them, while at home, agencies prepare for the worst. National Geographic races from motorcade to helicopter to confidential meeting, as scientists and intelligence experts reveal the hard facts about the world's most lethal weapons-and the unbreakable physical laws that govern them. Find out the actual capacities of a spy satellite, how we can be sure if an underground test is really atomic, and why terrorists might prefer to leave a "dirty bomb" unexploded.

Just prior to the end of World War II, the German military secretly undertook a massive push to design miracle weapons - colossal tanks, the world's first guided missiles, and high-speed jets that could attack New York. Now, nearly 60 years later, a team of experts examines the original blueprints to determine if these so-called "Wunderwaffen," or "wonder weapons," could have changed the outcome of the war.

Eight years after 9/11, the Taliban remains a formidable enemy, maintaining a shadow government that straddles Afghanistan and Pakistan in an area dubbed "Talibanistan." National Geographic takes you inside the forbidden zone to provide first-person coverage of the fight on the ground and in the skies above this vast, rugged region and the challenges NATO and Pakistani forces face.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945, was a moment that changed the world. Power that fueled the stars had been unleashed and turned into a lethal technology. Now learn the second-by-second story of that defining moment through those hit hardest by that weapon - the survivors. Interwoven throughout the survivors' stories, we hear from atomic bomb experts like Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Theodore Postol and "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" author Richard Rhodes, who draw from declassified military reports to break down the bomb's devastating effects and the lasting implications of humanity's newfound power to destroy the world.