From Waterloo to Stalingrad: When battles are fought anew

Some 2,000 years ago, the Roman Empire was at the height of its power. Its legionnaires were usually far superior to their opponents, but Germania resisted bitterly. In the year 9 A.D. the Romans were defeated by the prince of the Cherusci tribe Arminius (known in German as Hermann) and his men. Today one can relive the battle on the Roman and Germanic Days at the Kalkriese open-air museum.

For one week of the year, Denmark's Moesgaard Museum allows you to become a real viking. You don't even need Scandinavian roots; the 300 or so amateur actors come from all over the world. You and your fellow vikings live in tents just like in the old days and gather by the campfire to drink mead. But the undisputed highlight for all participants are the battles between men.

The Teutonic Order saw itself as the successor of the Crusaders. In the Middle Ages it owned large estates in Eastern Europe and repeatedly fought the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for dominance in the Baltic region. In the Battle of Tannenberg in 1410, the Order suffered a severe defeat. Every year the victory is played out at this mythical place of remembrance for Poland.

Since 1980, one of the largest regular reenactments in the world has taken place every four years in Memmingen, Bavaria, with around 4,500 participants. Wallenstein, a commander who won many battles during the Thirty Years' War, brought peace to the region after reaching Memmingen in 1630 and setting up his court there. Instead of the battle turmoil, the era is reenacted with equestrian games.

In the autumn of 1813, one of the largest and bloodiest battles in European history raged at the gates of Leipzig. Austrians, Prussians, Russians and Swedes brought the French army to a critical defeat, thereby breaking Napoleon's domination of Europe. On the 200th anniversary, around 6,000 amateur actors from 26 nations recreated the historical battle.

In June 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte tried to make a comeback and fought bitterly against the allied troops of England and Prussia for power in Europe at the village of Waterloo, south of Brussels. He was defeated and banished to the island of St. Helena. Every 10 years, citizens dressed in uniform from all over Europe revive the Battle of Waterloo — with great attention to detail.

It was the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War: From July 1 to 3 in 1863, Union and Confederate forces fought each other at Gettysburg. Some 50,000 were killed and wounded on both sides — for the Confederate States, it was the beginning of the end. The massacre was reenacted for the first time in 1913 on the 50th anniversary and today it is one of the most popular reenactments in the USA.

It is one of the most famous battles of the Second World War. The defeat of the German 6th Army in the winter of 1942/1943 is regarded as the turning point of the Nazi campaign against the Soviet Union. For decades the victory in Stalingrad has been celebrated with a military parade and the costumed reenactment of the battle has been part of the entertainment program since 2005.

The multi-day event in Kent, England attracts around 100,000 visitors every year. It offers the world's largest array of military vehicles and reenactments from World War I to recent history. Here, a US helicopter crew shot down in the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993 fights for survival — fictitiously, of course.