When the world's at stake,
go beyond the headlines.

Editor’s Note: We turned five this week! Celebrate with us by revisiting the most read articles in War on the Rocks history.

1. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, “How Many Fighters Does the Islamic State Really Have?” Feb. 9, 2015.
2. Tom Hone, “The Importance of the Battle of Midway,” Sept. 12, 2013.
3. Tim Kane, “Military Retirement: Too Sweet a Deal?” March 2, 2015.
4. Bryan McGrath, “How Could This Happen? The Fitzgerald, the U.S. Navy, and Collisions at Sea,” June 19, 2017.
5. Anna Simons, “Here’s Why Women in Combat is a Bad Idea,” Nov. 18, 2014.
6. Andrew Weisburd, Clint Watts, and J.M. Berger, “Trolling for Trump: How Russia is Trying to Destroy Our Democracy,” Nov. 6, 2016.
7. David Barno and Nora Bensahel, “Jim Mattis Fires a Clear Warning Shot,” March 20, 2018.
8. Brian Fishman, “Don’t BS the American People About Iraq, Syria, and ISIL,” Aug. 20, 2014.
9. ‘Ned Stark,’ “A Call for Senior Office Reform in the Air Force: An Insider’s Perspective,” May 14, 2018.
10. David A. Shlapak and Michael W. Johnson, “Outnumbered, Outranged, and Outgunned: How Russia Defeats NATO,” April 21, 2016.
11. Sean McFate, “How to Take Over a Small Country in 10 Easy Steps,” May 13, 2015.
12. David Barno and Nora Bensahel, “Three Things the Army Chief of Staff Wants You to Know,” May 23, 2017.
13. ‘Cyrus Malik,’ “Washington’s Sunni Myth and the Civil Wars in Syria and Iraq,” Aug. 16, 2016.
14. Tobias Schneider, “The Decay of the Syrian Regime is Worse Than You Think,” Aug. 31, 2016.
15. David Barno and Nora Bensahel, “Six Ways to Fix the Army’s Culture,” Sept. 6, 2016.
16. Mark Galeotti, “The Three Faces of Russian Spetsnaz in Syria,” March 21, 2016.
17. David Barno and Nora Bensahel, “The Catastrophic Success of the U.S. Air Force,” May 3, 2016.
18. David Barno and Nora Bensahel, “The Growing Danger of a U.S. Nuclear First Strike on North Korea,” Oct. 10, 2017.
19. Mike Benitez, “Air Force in Crisis, Part III: Dear Boss, It’s All About the Culture,” March 15, 2018.
20. Gregory Newbold, “What Tempers the Steel of an Infantry Unit,” Sept. 9, 2015.
21. Clint Watts, “Did Anonymous Just Save the World from ISIL?” Nov. 25, 2015.
22. David Barno and Nora Bensahel, “How to Talk to a Veteran,” Nov. 7, 2017.
23. Erin Simpson, “I Love Mattis, But I Don’t Love Him as SecDef,” Nov. 25, 2016.
24. Thomas Shugart, “Has China Been Practicing Preemptive Missile Strikes on U.S. Bases?” Feb. 6, 2017.
25. Micah Zenko, “Millennium Challenge: The Real Story of a Corrupted Military Exercise and Its Legacy,” Nov. 5, 2015.