Characteristics of the accident. Drawing by Willy Stöwer • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS In 2012, the granddaughter of a surviving officer, Charles Lightoller, made public a secret information, held by his grandfather:when Murdoch gave his order, Robert Hichens, the helmsman, would have turned to the wrong
Victor Schoelcher photographed by Étienne Carjat. Plate from the Contemporary Gallery (Paris, L. Baschet, 1876-1884) • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS He rests in the Pantheon, has several statues bearing his effigy in mainland France and in the overseas departments, and a town in Martinique even bears his na
The KGB was governed by a rigid bureaucratic machine, which could sometimes hinder certain missions. View of the archives of the Stasi, the political police of the GDR, with which the KGB actively collaborated • BONESS / SPIA Interview with Rémi Kauffer, historian of the secret services History
Photograph of a barricade during the uprising of March 18, 1871 • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS In September 1870 one of the most terrible episodes in its history began for Paris. The capital, which had just given France a republican regime, was besieged by the Prussian armies. During this siege of five mon
The Fire at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, by Theodor Hoffbauer • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS At dawn on March 18, 1871, a regular column of the army, commanded by Generals Lecomte and Clément-Thomas, reached the top of the Montmartre hill, in Paris, to seize the 200 guns installed on this strategic point.
Margaret Brown, known as the “unsinkable Molly”, in 1909. • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Despite its 1,500 deaths, the tragedy of the Titanic was not the most terrible in the history of shipwrecks. For example, those of two German ships sunk by Soviet submarines in 1945, the Wilhelm Gustloff (which was tra
Exit from Missolonghi, by Theodoros Vryzakis, 1853. National Gallery, Athens • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS The Greek War of Independence lasted almost a decade, from 1821 to 1832, if we stick to a chronology that does not take into account its premises and its immediate aftermath. From this long and compl
A leader and a founder... Napoleon nurtured an ideal of grandeur which led him to forge and disseminate, in France and abroad, what he considered to be the promises of a new society. The dissemination of the ideas of the Revolution. Both heir and liquidator of the Revolution, Napoleon believed
Alberts marriage to Victoria in 1840 mixes love and politics, and joins the ranks of the great love stories of monarchs. It seems that Victoria liked him very much, which is quite possible:Albert was certainly not a passionate man (he was very puritanical, shy and melancholy), but he was fair, sensi
In 1814, when he had just learned of the arrival of the enemy armies in Paris, Napoleon became aware of the fate that awaited him. By Paul Delaroche. 1840. Army Museum, Paris “Alive he missed the world, dead he possesses it. This famous phrase by Chateaubriand, taken from Mémoires doutre-tombe ,
Horace Vernet represents in this painting, The Deathbed, the emaciated face of the Emperor who has just breathed his last • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS After the defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, Napoleon abdicated a second time. He wanted to go to America, but he was prevented from doing so by the Eng
In Africa, the English reinforced their domination from north to south of the continent, and in Asia, where they channeled Russia (defeated during the Crimean War between 1853 and 1856), they seized the Indian subcontinent and began to to take hold in a declining Chinese Empire. Egypt and Sudan In
Queen Victoria had many descendants. A sometimes heavy legacy, since it will transmit to some the gene of hemophilia. But this lineage would also know greatness:the policy of matrimonial alliances led by the queen allows her children and grandchildren to sit on the throne of several European countri
A forge. By Fernand Cormon. 1893. Musee dOrsay, Paris • WIKIPEDIA COMMONS Interview with Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, Historian of Science,researcher at CNRS and professor at EHESS. History &Civilizations: We now agree that we are experiencing climate change. But how does this differ from previous cli
The design of the Eiffel Tower is the result of detailed analyzes carried out by 50 engineers and industrial designers, who produced 700 general plans and 3,600 shop drawings. The first concern of the engineers is to prevent the tower from overturning, a difficulty overcome thanks to the bell-shaped
Queen Victoria photographed by Alexander Bassano in 1887 • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Queen Victoria reigned over the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901, 63 years and seven months, which remained a record for a long time. Although the latter has recently been defeated by the current Queen Elizabeth II, who
Horace Wells botched surgery is re-enacted in a vintage engraving • ALAMY STOCK PHOTO Pain and illness have accompanied man throughout his history, but it was not until the middle of the 19th century that the fight against pain is beginning to bear fruit. It all begins at the end of December 18
German soldiers in Place du Tertre, Paris • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS To know what the German soldiers who occupied France during the Second World War thought, we would need first-hand testimonies, without filters, dating from the time of the events… By an extraordinary chance, we have such testimonies.
Lock of the Panama Canal photographed in 1913 • WIKIPEMEDIA COMMONS Bringing together the two shores of Central America was a very old project. From the XVIth century, the Spanish conquerors built a road – the “Camino Real”, then the “Camino de Cruces” – to ship gold cargoes from Peru to Spain.
Year after year, tracing their path with rigor, Glénat editions have left their mark on the landscape of historical comics. Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Louis XIV, Charles de Gaulle, Mao Zedong… now inhabit the portrait gallery of the “They made history” collection. On the occasion of the 100th anniversa
The advance on Arnhem could therefore not begin before 2.45 p.m. It was led by the 2nd Battalion of General Lathburys 1st Parachute Brigade.Lieutenant-Colonel Frost, who commanded the battalion, was struck by the large number of Dutch men, women and children who gathered around his troops, who were
Arise the Dead They merge with those of the Marine Infantry which itself finds its source in the Compagnies de la mer created by RICHELIEU in 1622. By order of May 14, 1831, Louis Philippe created two regiments of marine infantry, the Regiment in Martinique 2nd Regiment in Guadeloupe By order of
WALEWSKA (Mary, Countess) (Born in 1789 - Paris, 1817.) Polish noblewoman, mistress of Napoleon 1st.Married at the age of 17 to Count Walewski, almost in his seventies, Marie Walewska dreams of seeing Poland reborn from its ashes and believes she is serving this noble cause by eventually agreeing t
Design Berthier carabiners and rifles constitute a coherent set of armament based on the same Mannlicher loading mechanism developed for the French army from 1890 and which took part in the First and Second World Wars. When the Germans designed their Mle 1888 rifle, they added a carbine or carabin