Picturing what a century of wars can bring to this world and capturing the human cost of urban conflict, all these photos are describing perfectly the experiences of cities at war and its terror.

From the ruins of Verdun, France, during the first world war to a young boy who walks past a makeshift barricade in the rebel-held side of the city, these photos will provide you the perspective you need to understand the endured terror of these cities.

Check them out for more information and start to see our world through photos!

Verdun, 1915

The ruins of Verdun, France, during the first world war
Photograph: Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images

Madrid, 1936

Children play in front of the shrapnel-hit facade of No 10 Peironcely Street
Photograph: Robert Capa © International Center of Photography/Magnum Photos

London, 1940

A bus is leaning against the side of a building in the aftermath of a German bombing raid on London in the first days of the Blitz
Photograph: HF Davis/Getty Images

London, 1940

St Paul’s Cathedral rises above the smoke and flames of one of the worst nights of bombing experienced in Britain. Luftwaffe aircraft dropped more than 10, 000 incendiary bombs on the city on 29 December. The picture was taken by Daily Mail photographer Herbert Mason, who climbed on to the roof of the newspaper’s headquarters Northcliffe House. He caught a glimpse of the cathedral in a momentary gap in the smoke and recorded his historic picture
Photograph: Herbert Mason/Daily Mail/Rex/Shutterstock

Hiroshima, 1945

The atomic bomb killed more than 140,000 people. This building, originally the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, was just 160 metres from the hypocentre. The skeletal structure of the dome standing above the city ruins was a conspicuous landmark and has now became known officially as the A-bomb Dome
Photograph: A Peace Memorial Museumhandout/EPA

Santa Clara, 1959

Fidel Castro’s revolutionary troops ride captured tanks into the Cuban city which was liberated by fellow revolutionary Che Guevara
Photograph: Burt Glinn/Magnum Photos

Nicosia, 1964

Greek Cypriot police take up positions facing the Turkish quarter on Ledra Street after firing broke out on the ‘murder mile’
Photograph: AP

Saigon, 1968

A refugee from US Bombing in the battle for the Vietnamese city
Photograph: Philip Jones Griffiths/Magnu

Prague, 1968

Warsaw Pact troops invade
Photograph: Josef Koudelka/Magnum Photos

Beirut, 1982

The Siege of Beirut took place in the summer of 1982, as part of the Lebanon War
Photograph: Judah Passow/Alamy

Sarajevo, 1992

Women run for their lives across ‘Sniper Alley’ during the siege of Sarajevo
Photograph: Tom Stoddart/Getty Images

Monrovia, 2003

A Liberian militia commander loyal to the government celebrates after firing a rocket-propelled grenade at rebel forces
Photograph: Chris Hondros/Getty Images

Baghdad, 2004

An Iraqi man walks by the scene of an attack on US Army Humvees that caused several American casualties in the Al-Waziriyah neighbourhood of Baghdad
Photograph: Moises Saman/Magnum Photos

Beirut, 2006

Lebanese citizens watch Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah speak on television as black smoke rises from new Israeli attacks on the group’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of the city
Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/AP

Kabul, 2007

Children play in a destroyed car in front of former king Darul Aman’s palace which was destroyed during the civil war
Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP

Jerusalem, 2010

An Israeli border police officer fires tear gas towards Palestinian stone-throwers in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Issawiya. Dozens of stone-throwers clashed with police on a ‘day of rage’ over Israel’s consecration of an ancient synagogue in the city
Photograph: Darren Whiteside/Reuters

Mogadishu, 2011

People wait at a feeding centre at a camp for Somalis displaced by drought and famine. The UN estimated that more than 100,000 people fled the countryside to Mogadishu due to drought, famine and war
Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

Sirte, 2011

Libyan National Transitional Council fighters fire at loyalist troops during a battle in neighbourhood Number 2, one of the last two bastions of ousted leader Moamer Kadhafi’s gunmen
Photograph: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images

Shejaiya, 2014

A Palestinian family walks past the collapsed remains of a building that was destroyed in fighting between Hamas militants and Israel during 50 days of fighting in the Gaza war
Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Aleppo, 2015

A young boy walks past a makeshift barricade in the rebel-held side of the city. The barrier is made from upturned wrecked buses to obstruct the view of regime snipers
Photograph: Karam Al-Masri/AFP/Getty Images