This article deals with the discourse for children on war and military matters as expressed in one of the most famous of the publications of the second half of the century, the Magasin d’éducation et de récréation, directed by Pierre-Jules Hetzel, Jean Macé and Jules Verne between 1864 and 1886. After having attempted to indicate some of the reasons for which the military theme is such an important one in the youth press of the time in a general way, the study focuses on this particular periodical, and on the fluctuations of the discourse the staunch republicans Macé and Hetzel address children with before, during and after the 1870 war. Essentially political, the discourse in the youth press about military matters reflects the diversity of ideologies then dividing France in respect to this particularly sensitive topic : there is no one vision of the military that appears at this time, but a plurality of images which have a lot to teach us.