See inside the rooms where they planned history.
We're tempted to think that wars are won through spontaneous moments of heroism and bravery, but in reality, the great wars of history were all results of meticulous planning and strategy.
The planning of World War II, the bombings of Japan, and the conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq took years to formulate, all inside cramped situation rooms and conferences.
Get an up close look at the people who mapped out the movements that shaped the world we live in today.
1
Men of the British 22nd Independent Parachute Company, 6th Airborne Division being briefed for the invasion
June, 1944
2
Leslie Groves, Manhattan Project director, with a map of the Far East
1944
3
Fighter pilots in the briefing room of HMS PURSUER check over the details of their next operation with their Squadron Leader Lieutenant Commander Hordern.
1942
4
Women's Royal Naval Service officers working on a chart in the Naval operations room in Gibraltar
1942
5
Women's Royal Naval Service officers in the plotting room at Hamilton House, Headquarters of the Flag Officer.
1942
6
Planning the Battle of the Atlantic in the operations room of Derby House in Liverpool.
1940
7
Coastal Defence room of Malta.
1943
8
Spitfire pilots of No. 417 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, planning another operation from their airfield at Goubrine in Tunisia.
April, 1943
9
Staff officers plotting troop positions during the invasion of Sicily on a wall map in the underground operations room at Malta.
July, 1943
10
Plotting Table of the Operations Room at HMS EAGLET
1942
11
The officers of the War Plans Division worked diligently to support the initiatives of Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall throughout the ARCADIA Conference.
January, 1942
12
General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his commanders plan D-Day.
1944
13
Churchill in the war room during the final stages of World War II.
1945
14
The Map Room of the Cabinet War Rooms in use.
1945
15
Marines review the plan for the amphibious invasion of Inchon during the Korean War.
1950
16
President Kennedy's news conference mapping out Communist strongholds of Vietnam.
1961
17
Walt Rostow, Johnson's national security advisor, meeting with Johnson in the Situation Room where the two reviewed a map of the region where the Battle of Khe Sanh was being waged
1968
18
German field commanders plan the advance during the Battle of the Bulge
1944
19
President Ronald Reagan is briefed on events taking place in Libya in the White House Situation Room
1986
20
President George H. W. Bush meets in the Oval Office with his NSC about Operation Desert Shield
1991
21
Indonesian President Suharto with U.S. President Gerald Ford in Jakarta, one day before the Indonesian invasion of East Timor
December 6, 1975
22
The Yalta Conference
February, 1945
23
Leaders of the Big Three at the negotiating table at the Yalta conference.
February, 1945
24
President George W. Bush meeting with his war council in the Situation Room
March 21, 2003
