JERUSALEM'S MILITARY HISTORY is explored at the National Geographic News website:

Jerusalem Strife Echoes Ancient History

Stefan Lovgren
for National Geographic News
October 28, 2004

It may be called the City of Peace, but no other city has been more bitterly fought over than Jerusalem. In the past 4,000 years, it has seen at least 118 conflicts. Jerusalem has been razed at least twice, besieged 23 times, and has had at least five separate periods of violent terrorist attacks in the past century. Eric Cline is a historian and archaeologist at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and the author of the new book Jerusalem Besieged: From Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel. National Geographic News spoke with Cline about the holy city's turbulent history.