The Iron Curtain was an impenetrable ideological barrier. It divided Europe into capitalist and communist groups. It emerged at the end of World War II in 1945 and continued to exist until the Cold War, around 1989-1990. The term symbolizes the intention and efforts of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to block itself […]
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Can a gentleman be a pirate? There was one man who went against these seemingly opposite stereotypes and became both: Stede Bonnet. Born a gentleman, he turned to piracy in his later years. Bonnet was born to moderately wealthy English landowners in Barbados in 1688. He was educated like most English scions and was even
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A Trade War Turns Hot China is running a massive trade balance with a Western power based on consumer goods. What was the logical economic and political solution? Require China to accept more imports from that power to level the imbalance. Sounds a lot like 2023, but we’re talking about 1839. The Western power was
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As a child, were you ever afraid of going to the dentist? For most, that fear is largely irrational. But in Sweden beginning in the mid-1940s, the children of the Vipeholm mental institution were subjected to a dental experiment that was truly a nightmare. At the end of the years-long study, many of the patients
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By the early 20th century, England had ruled Ireland for the better part of 400 years. Henry VIII began the conquest of Ireland and his daughter Elizabeth I finished it. England’s attempts to subjugate Ireland were never fully successful despite periods of relative calm. Ireland remained stubbornly Catholic despite efforts to colonize it with Presbyterians.
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The North African campaign during World War II was a battle of supply. Between 1940 and 1942, both the Axis powers and the Allied powers achieved significant victories, which allowed them to continue their campaign for hundreds of miles and across many countries. Inevitably, the supply tether was reaching its limits, and the advances ground
Battles of World War II: The Battle of El Alamein Read More »
The Florence Supermax prison, known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” is what one former prison warden called a “clean version of hell.” It’s a massive complex that houses the world’s most dangerous criminals. Anyone from Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman to Ted Kaczynski can be found in this concrete cage nestled in a remote part
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The ancient Chinese method of execution known as lingchi (or ling chi), is perhaps better known by the more descriptive, “death by a thousand cuts.” As the name implies, this was a form of torture that involved slicing into the victim over and over again until they died. It was normally saved for the very
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Mary Ann Bevan was a mother of four who led a normal life until she developed a rare condition that changed her forever. At the age of 32, she began to experience physical changes that gradually transformed her from an attractive young lady into the person that people would come to call “The Ugliest Woman
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Pope Boniface VIII went down in history as one of the most controversial popes of all time. His conflicts with the state, particularly the French King Philip IV, led to a posthumous trial against him for heresy. Here, we delve into the events that laid the groundwork for his trial, the accusations levied against him
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