The Bundeswehr Military History Museum (German: 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,^[1] while also showcasing the evolution of German military technology.

Lieutenant Colonel Dr Rudolf J. Schlaffer heads the museum as director since October 2021. From 2004 onwards and in addition to the directors, historians are appointed as academic leadership and to design the permanent exhibition. Since September 2020, historian Dr Kristiane Janeke has held this position and is the head of the museum's exhibitions, collection and research department.

The original building, the armory, was built between 1873 and 1876 and became a museum in 1897.^[2] Originally the Saxon armory and museum, the building has served as a Nazi museum, a Soviet museum and an East German museum which reflected the region's shifting social and political positions over the last 135 years.^[3] In 1989, the museum was closed because the newly unified German state was unsure how the museum would fit into the history being created. By 2001, feelings regarding the museum had shifted and an architectural competition was held for an extension which would cause visitors to reconsider the way they think about war.^[2]

Before opening in October 2011 as the Bundeswehr Military History Museum, the building underwent six years of extensive construction. Jewish architect Daniel Libeskind added a transparent arrowhead to the façade of the building, creating, according to the Dresden Tourism board, "an outwardly visible expression of innovation".^[4] This new element is also reflected in the logo of the museum. Libeskind's studio states that "the openness and transparency of the new façade, representing the openness of democratic society, contrasts with the rigidity of the existing building, which represents the severity of the authoritarian past".^[2] The silver arrowhead protrudes from the center of the traditional Neo-Classical building and provides a five-story, 29 meter high viewing platform which overlooks the city.^[3] The platform provides views of modern Dresden while pointing towards the area where the fire bombings of Dresden began. The redesigned Dresden Museum of Military history has become the main museum of the German Armed Forces. The building itself is 14,000 square meters and has an inside and outside exhibition area of about 20,000 square meters, making it Germany's largest museum.^[2] In every aspect, the museum is designed to alter the public's perception of war.

The original armory building was completed in 1876 as an armory for Kaiser Wilhelm I.^[5] The Arsenal main building in the center of Dresden's Albert City served as an armory for roughly twenty years, until it was transformed into a museum in 1897. Since then, the main building of the arsenal has housed the Royal Arsenal Collection, the Royal Saxon Army Museum, and in 1923 became the Saxon Army Museum. After 1938, the museum became the Army Museum of the Wehrmacht, and in 1972 the Army Museum of the GDR.^[6] Seven months before the reunification of Germany, the museum was renamed the Military History Museum in Dresden.^[7]

On February 13 and 14, 1945, British bomber planes commenced an air attack against Dresden, creating a vast firestorm below.^[8] During the first phase, 244 Lancaster bombers dropped high explosive and incendiary bombs aimed at the center of the city.^[9] American B-17 bombers followed the next morning, to destroy the city's railroad marshaling yards.^[8] While much of the city was in ruins, the museum and most of the other military buildings in the Albertstadt survived the bombing of Dresden because of its location on the city's outskirts.^[5] The building withstood World War II attacks on Germany and continued to be used as a military museum until it was closed in 1989. It re-opened again in 2011 and provided a new way of presenting military history. The exhibition concept and design was developed by HG Merz.

The museum has made an effort to distance itself from the usual presentations of military history. Instead of glorifying war and armies, the museum tries to present the causes and consequences of war and violence. The focus is placed on the human component of war, on the hopes, fears, passion, courage, memories and aspirations of those involved.^[10] The museum seeks to inform visitors about the military history while encouraging them to ask questions and seek new answers.^[11] Visitors can go through the museum through two approaches: thematic sections, and a chronological tour. Additionally, the museum showcases the history of Military Technology, Handguns, Uniforms and Insignia, Order, Art, an Image Archive, Records, and a Library.

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 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.^[11]

Among historically significant items displayed is the ship's bell from SMS Schleswig-Holstein, a pre-dreadnought battleship that fired what are generally regarded as the first shots of World War II (in Europe) when on Sept. 1, 1939, it shelled Polish positions at Westerplatte in the then- Free City of Danzig.^[12]

• Deutsches Panzermuseum, German tank museum in Munster

• Pieken, Gorch; Rogg, Matthias (2012). The Bundeswehr Museum of Military History (Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr) - Exhibition Guide - . Dresden, Sandstein-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-95498-000-0.
• Stapfer, Hans-Heiri (1991). "In a 'New' Country". Air Enthusiast. No. 44. pp. 57–61. ISSN 0143-5450.
• Van Uffelen, Chris. Contemporary Museums - Architecture, History, Collections, Braun Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-3-03768-067-4, pages 232–233.