In the 1950s and 60s many strongly interacting particles (mesons and baryons) were discovered. String theory was originally invented to describe them, but in the early 70s Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) emerged as the precise theory of the strong nuclear force. A quarter century later it was understood that string theory and certain gauge theories akin to QCD are different descriptions of the same physics. I will review the relations between gauge theories and strings. The formation of QCD strings is a manifestationof the confinement of colored quarks and gluons. The Confinement is observed numerically using Lattice Gauge Theory, and the gauge/gravity duality has shed new light on it, but its analytic proof remains a deep unsolved problem in theoretical physics. I will conclude by discussing some surprises in lower-dimensional models.

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