Several years ago, when my son was in first grade, his teacher asked each child to write down who their three favorite heroes were.  My son wrote the following:

Dad

Jesis

Seesr Kokr of Gol

Deciphering his first grade script, the first two names were pretty easy, and I was riding pretty high to have been included on the list.  But it took a while for us to figure out who that final name was.  Then it hit me.  My son's third hero was none other than "Caesar, Conqueror of Gaul"!

Maybe I should be concerned, but ever since he was in preschool,my son has loved anything with a martial theme.  That's true whether you're talking about movies, books, or toys.  Especially toys.  Ever since he was 4 years old and won his first set of little green army men at a beach arcade, he has been enamored with toy soldiers.  And that includes every kind of toy soldier made. 

Here is a little sampling of his soldier collection:

It may be a little difficult to make out what he has in this picture.  In the foreground are the World War II soldiers.  The Americans are on the right, and the Brits are next to them.  They are aiming at the Germans, who are in the middle of the foreground.   The Japanese are off to the side, about to engage in a surprise attack on the Americans' right flank. 

In the back, against the wall, are the ancient Greeks.  Next to them are the Republican era Romans, followed by the early imperial army of Caesar and Augustus.  Next to them are the East Roman soldiers of Justinian.  All of the Romans are confronting various Barbarian tribes, especially the Gauls and the Visigoths.

The army of the Roman Republic, with a few of Caesar's troops on their rear flank.

Caesar's army is ready for battle!

Engage these Spartans at your own peril!

Justinian's army (in front) engages the Visigoths!

Of course, history did not end with the fall of Rome.  The Middle Ages provide a host of little army men to play with.  My son has Crusaders, Saracens, the English army of Henry V, the Scots of Robert the Bruce, and the French of Joan d'Arc.  Here are a few of them:

With the end of the Middle Ages, we enter the Age of Discovery.  Of course, there are little army men for that period, too.   My son says every child should have some toy Conquistadors!

I guess they did not think about facing the camera when they engaged their enemies!

Eventually, things settled down in the New World.  But then came the Revolution!

 Watch out for the Redcoats' Hessian allies on that vulnerable right flank!

 America achieved independence, but hostilities broke out again in 1812:

As the War of 1812 raged, Europe was also engulfed in bloodshed.  Here, Napoleon's army is attacking the Russians:

 Unfortunately for Napoleon, his cavalry could not defeat the Russian winter!

As you can see from the picture below, the defenders of the Alamo were greatly outnumbered by Santa Ana's Mexican army!

I'm not sure why my son did not put his Civil War soldiers out today.  I can assure you, there are a lot of them.  Perhaps he didn't have enough room to display them once he set up the army of the British Raj (or is it Lord Kitchener's African army preparing to fight the Boers?):

The year is 1916.  On the left, the Germans are wearing their new gray uniforms with 'Stahlhelm' helmuts.  On their left, other Germans are still wearing Prussian blue with spiked helmuts.  They are badly outnumbered by the French (in the foreground), Canadians, English, and Scots.  In the distance, attacking the blue Prussians, you can just make out the Russian army.  They are of little consequence, however, since there are already whispers of revolution!

There was a time when I was not sure I wanted my son to play war games.  There is far too much warfare in the real world, and those wars aren't games, and those soldiers aren't toys.  However, I changed my mind once I saw how toy armies ignited in my son an intense curiosity about history.  He knows far more about the Greeks and Romans than I did at his age.  I doubt if a single one of his classmates could tell you what a conquistador is, but my son can, and he can tell you when they lived, too.  How many 9 year olds can tell you what the Crusades were, and who fought whom?  How many 9 year olds can tell you which came first, Alexander the Great or Hannibal?  Julius  Caesar or Augustus?  How many 9 year olds know that the War of 1812 was just a side show of a much larger world war, where a man named Napoleon was seeking to dominate the world?

I'm glad my son likes to play with his toy soldiers.  I much prefer he do that than sit in front of the TV playing video games.  And you know what?  I kind of like playing with those toy soldiers, too!