The Bundeswehr Military History Museum (Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr, MHMBw) is the military museum of the German Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr, and one of the major military history museums in Germany. It is located in a former military arsenal in the Albertstadt which is part of Dresden. After a long history of switching titles and approaches to military history, the museum was re-opened in 2011 with a new internal and external concept. The museum focuses on the human aspects of war, while also showcasing the evolution of German military technology.
The museum houses a vast collection of military history, from technology and handguns to artistic renderings of war. Traditionally, military museums focus primarily on weapons technology and the glamorous representation of national armed forces; they impress visitors by shows of military power and display wars in isolation from other historic events. The Bundeswehr Military History Museum has made an effort to be a different kind of military museum. It displays war and the military as being interwoven in the general history of a nation, and showcases the ramifications of war in the political, cultural and social history. The focus, instead of being on the greater good or the military whole, is always on the individual who exercises violence or suffers from it. Eleven themed tours are offered and three chronologies: 1300-1914, 1914-1945 and 1945-today.
References:The Château de Foix dominates the town of Foix. An important tourist site, it is known as a centre of the Cathars. Built on an older 7th-century fortification, the castle is known from 987. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access to the upper Ariège valley and to keep surveillance from this strategic point over the lower land, protected behind impregnable walls.
In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians.