50 War Monuments and Memorials You Need to See

Both spectacular and solemn at the same time, war monuments and memorials stir a range of emotions in all people. From the architecture and planning to the sobering and numbing reality of what they stand for, these 50 can't miss monuments and memorials across the globe are sure to leave you mesmerized.

Located in Canberra, this is the national monument for Australia's war dead. It was built after World War I but serves to honor the country's participants in all wars since.

This is the only monument in Belgium dedicated to the American contribution to World War I. The cemetery includes 368 headstones around a chapel; the chapel features 43 names of those missing in action and those who were never identified.

Also located in Belgium, this memorial honors Belgian forces who have participated in conflicts since the first World War. In fact, it has a great collection of firearms, uniforms, artifacts and memorability from World War I, including a Fokker triplane.

One of the most somber memorials of World War I, the cemetery includes the indelible statues known as The Grieving Parents. It was designed by German sculptor Käthe Kollwitz after her son died in the war in October of 1914.

As beautiful and bucolic as the region of Picardy looks today, it was once the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War I in France. The Somme Battlefield is actually several battlefields strewn across seven small towns, each of which contains a museum, cemetery or place of interest, loaded with artifacts and memorabilia.

A stunning 20-acre park that includes a sunken rose garden, all of which honors the more than 49,000 Irish soldiers who died in World War I. The gardens also include the famous Ginchy Cross, constructed by Irish soldiers who fought in France.

Much has been written-and filmed-about this great World War I battlefield in what is now northern Turkey. Spanning more than 80,000 acres, experts suggest true military tourist set aside at least two days to explore the many battlefields, graves and museums dedicated to the 1915-16 battle, which produced 250,000 casualties and more than 60,000 deaths.

Located in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, this might be the most famous war cemetery in the world. The iconic photos of crosses and Star of Davids serve as a reminder of the thousands of soldiers killed during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. The Memorial also includes a 'Wall of the Missing' to pay tribute to those who were unidentified.

What was once so controversial because of its unique, simple design-58,000+ names etched into blank granite in Washington, D.C.-is now one of the most visited sites in the nation's capital.

Located in King of Prussia, Pa., the arch honors the American troops under the command of General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Washington literally slept here as his army encamped at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78.

More commonly known, of course, as Pearl Harbor. With the monument over the sunken USS Arizona as well as the land-based museum, the site honors American lives lost on Dec. 7, 1941, following the surprise attack on the U.S. Naval Fleet.

Of all the places on Boston's Freedom Trail, this is where it all began-the first major battle of the Revolutionary War. The memorial is actually located on Breed's Hill, where it was dedicated in 1843.

One of the more unknown museums, this 217-foot tower was dedicated in 1926 in Kansas City, Missouri to honor those who fought in World War I.

Arguably one of the most famous memorials in the world, the statue is based on a photograph of five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the American flag after the 1945 invasion of Iwo Jima.

This foreign memorial was actually designed by an architect from San Francisco to honor American soldiers killed while fighting in the Philippines and New Guinea during World War II.

One of the most solemn places, the tomb is located at the Arlington National Cemetery and honors those Americans who died in multiple wars but were unable to be identified. Ironically, the unknown soldier buried at the site after the Vietnam War was actually identified in 1998.

At West Point, N.Y., the U.S. Army is front and center at the post. Make sure you call it a post. Although it is one of the top colleges in the nation, it is not called a campus. It is an active military base filled with history, a memorial unto itself, a place where Gen. George Patton, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Gen. Douglas MacArthur, among others, graduated. And, it's where our future military leaders are groomed.

Located in Annapolis, Md., the Naval Academy was founded some 43 years after the 1802 debut of the U.S. Military Academy. Ironically, the academy that produced such graduates as Admiral Chester Nimitz, President Jimmy Carter, Sen. John McCain and astronaut Alan Shepard, was established at a former Army base. No wonder they don't like each other.

The Colorado-based Academy graduates the best pilots in the world with a simple mission: "We educate, train, and inspire men and women to become officers of character, motivated to lead the United States Air Force in service to our nation."

A stunning architectural achievement, the memorial in Washington D.C. covers everything from the soldiers who fought in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, those who died, and those who kept the home fires burning.

Built to honor George Washington, the general who led the American troops to victory in the Revolutionary War and later became the first U.S. President, the 555-foot tall monument is, by far, one of the most recognizable memorials in the world.

This one is one of the more haunting memorials. With 19 life-size statues of soldiers dressed in fatigues, helmets and ponchos, the memorial in Washington D.C. honors the 54,000 Americans who died during the so-called "police action," along with the 103,000 who were wounded.

Located in Arlington, Va., the Air Force Memorial honors the men and women of the United States Air Force, as well as those who worked tirelessly in other aeronautics and air corps services. At one of the entrances, statues of two soldiers symbolizing patriotism and power stand guard.

The Washington D.C.-based memorial pays homage to more than 200,000 soldiers who served in the Union's United States Colored Troops division during the Civil War.

Located in southern Pennsylvania near the Maryland border, this is where the great battle took place that proved to be the turning point of the Civil War. And, of course, where President Abraham Lincoln delivered his most famous and iconic speech, the Gettysburg Address.

Off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, Fort Sumter was where the Civil War began when Confederate troops launched an assault on the fort on April 12, 1861.

Located in Sharpsburg, Maryland, Antietam was one of the bloodiest battles in the Civil War. More than 23,000 soldiers from the Confederacy and the Union lost their lives. Military tourists and Civil War buffs will see such landmarks as the Cornfield, Burnside's Bridge and Dunker Church.

On a Sunday in April in 1865, Gens. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met here in Appomattox, Virginia and ended the Civil War with the surrender of the Confederacy. Though there have been numerous renovations to the home, known as McLean House, the dirt road leading to the site, which Union soldiers lined to pay respects and tribute to their Confederate counterparts, has been preserved.

In Arlington, Virginia, The Women in Military Service for America is a tribute to more than 3 million women who served the U.S. in the service over its 241-year history.

This is the first national memorial dedicated to disabled veterans. It opened in 2014 and is certainly a timely and worthy topic. Many veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the memorial in Washington D.C. helps spotlight their plight.

For a 110-year old monument, The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Brooklyn, N.Y., lives in relative obscurity. But, it is certainly worth a visit to see the memorial where more than 10,000 American prisoners of the Revolutionary War died aboard British warships while in captivity.

Located in Madingley, England, the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial honors the service of American soldiers during World War II. It's a small, yet important, piece of history-just over 3,800 headstones-for the many Americans who died fighting on English soil, or those who joined the war efforts earlier than official American entry into the conflict to help the RAF (Royal Air Force) fight the Germans.

Arguably the most recognizable memorial in Russia and one of the most recognizable in the world. Located in Volgograd, the stunning statue commemorates the World War II Battle of Stalingrad. Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd after the reign of the brutal dictator Josef Stalin ended.

The memorial, which is actually located in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, pays homage to the Polish Air Force, Army, Navy, and the Polish Underground Home Army. Originally conceived to honor Poles who fought in World War I, it includes all wars in which natives of Poland fought.

Professional football was still a fledgling sport when this stadium was built in Chicago in 1924 as a memorial to all U.S. soldiers who died during the war. The facility is home to the Chicago Bears and has been for almost 100 years, although it recently underwent a renovation and upgrade.

One of the most beautiful memorials you will see, it is situated near Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris with above- and below-ground features. Above ground is a wall with more than 76,000 names while below is an underground chamber that leads to a windowless room containing the tomb of the unknown deportee. The memorial honors those deported from France to Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

Obviously one of the starkest and haunting monuments in all the world that pays respect to the atrocities of the Holocaust. Located in Berlin, it is made up of 2,711 concrete slabs of differing heights and sizes, which get taller as you make your way, single file, through the memorial.

A stunning, unique memorial located in Budapest, the iron shoes on the bridge located on the banks of the Danube River represent where hundreds of Hungarian Jews were forced to commit suicide by jumping into the river.

Located in Leipzig, Germany and one of the more unique monuments you will find, this is considered the largest of its kind in Europe. Massive in size, it honors a relatively unknown conflict-the 1813 Battle of Leipzig, Germany. The battle was fought between the Germans and Napoleon's forces.

A solemn remembrance of what is arguably the most devastating moment in the history of global warfare, when the first of two atomic bombs was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, effectively ending World War II in the Pacific theater. The centerpiece of the memorial is the Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, one of the few buildings left standing after the blast.

Located in London, this is a wonderful memorial dedicated to the role that women played during World War II, from doctors to nurses to ammunitions workers and more.

This is a different kind of war memorial-the war on terrorism, specifically domestic terrorism. The centerpiece of the memorial consists of 168 sculpted chairs, one each for the lives lost when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed.

Completed in 2008, the memorial features a two-acre park near where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, as part of the coordinated terrorist attacks on the U.S.

A group of determined passengers took it upon themselves to overpower terrorists who had taken control of United Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, with designs on crashing it into the U.S. Capitol. Instead, the heroic passengers forced the plane into a crash landing in Shanksville, Pa., where this memorial pays tribute to their bravery.

The two reflecting pools that sit in the footprints of the World Trade Center Twin Towers in lower Manhattan are a reminder of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people who worked in or nearby the towers.

The somber memorial was completed in Jerusalem in 1953-with a Holocaust History Museum added in 2005-as a remembrance of the most horrific part of World War II and the Nazis' quest for a 'final solution.'

Located in Washington D.C., the museum pays its respects to the 6 million Jews purged by Hitler's Nazi party during World War II. There are numerous fascinating exhibits and artifacts with a separate area for children to learn and discover. However, in the main portion of the museum, some of the more graphic and disturbing exhibits are set behind privacy barriers for parents to first determine if their children can handle it.

Following the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States government interred more than 100,000 Japanese residents-including nearly 70,000 who were U.S. citizens. They were forced to live at guarded, remote installations such as this one at Manzanar in California.

The Battle of Little Bighorn took place in 1876 on a Montana battlefield between U.S. troops led by Gen. George Custer and Native American forces. It was, quite literally, Custer's Last Stand as the famed general died in the battle.

In Baltimore Harbor, a group of soldiers made a historic stand during a bombardment by British forces during the War of 1812. While the bombs pounded the fort, a young man named Francis Scott Key was so moved by the heroism and defense of Fort McHenry that he sat down and wrote what would become the United States' National Anthem.