Bullet marks are still visible on the facade of the house in Mexico where Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was assassinated 80 years ago. Although this first attempt on his life failed, the second, on August 20, 1940, accomplished Stalins goal. I am already familiar with death, Leon Trotsky told t
After his defeat in Russia in 1813, Napoleon returned to France and attempted to rebuild a new army. Numerically he succeeded by mustering over 150,000 men. However, in terms of quality, this army lagged behind dramatically. His great weakness was the lack of cavalry. Nevertheless, Napoleon managed
The state of Liechtenstein appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, in order to be granted by the Czech Republic territories, which were seized in 1945 from Czechoslovakia. Liechtenstein has filed a formal complaint, seeking the return of approximately half a million acres of land and some of
In June 1694 a huge army of Crimean Tatars, allies of the Ottoman Turks, invaded Polish lands with the aim of plundering and pillaging, but also creating a distraction as the main Polish forces fought the Turks. Consequently, the forces that could be deployed against the Tatar invaders were small.
The Tsar Bomb was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated and a few days ago Rosatom released a video with new footage from the historic moment. The new footage from the distant 1961 was released by the Russian Rosatom a few days before the 71st anniversary of the first atomic bomb test in t
The MiG-21 was perhaps the hallmark of Soviet aviation during the Cold War. So it could not be made available to the air forces of the Balkan satellite states and Yugoslavia with which the Soviets were seeking a rapprochement. Of the communist Balkan states, only Albania did not acquire MiG-21s thro
On March 15, 1815, Marshal Joachim Myra, king, still in the Kingdom of Naples, decided to change camp again and turn against his new allies and in favor of Napoleon who had escaped from the island of Elba. Myra had been installed as king in the southern Italian kingdom of Naples by Napoleon, whom he
After their defeat in Vienna, in 1683, the Turks accepted the counterattack of the Austrians, retreating to present-day Serbia. After the conquest of Belgrade by the Imperialists (the army of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, led by the Habsburg ruler of Austria), the Turks made Nice their
The men of the Afrika Korps also belonged to an, if not elite, at least distinct force and they knew it. This knowledge gave birth, precisely, to the wonderful unit spirit that possessed the units of the Afrika Korps, from their first to their last combat engagement on the North African front. I
The noise that disturbed the stillness of that spring night four years ago above the Pentagon was something like a loud buzzing. The camp guards could not identify him, but immediately alerted the duty officer to the strange noise. The latter ordered the searchlights to be turned on, and then everyo
The summer of 1566 saw the last attempt of the Turkish sultan Suleiman the so-called magnificent, to neutralize the Habsburgs, also occupying Vienna. On May 1, 1566 Suleiman, at the head of a huge army that according to some sources numbered 300,000 men. Other sources state 100-200,000 men. On July
Krupa is a small town in todays Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 1565 things were different as the city was a border fortress between the Habsburg Empire and the Ottoman Empire which was still ruled by Suleiman the Magnificent, who was rather petty and dishonorable... The death of Ferdinand of Habsburg, ki
On October 2, 1940, the German occupying governor of Warsaw, Ludwig Fischer, signed the decree to cut off the Jewish quarter from the rest. Within a few days the capital of Poland, where the largest Jewish community lived before the war, would turn into the largest ghetto on European soil. When the
Handheld firearms had been invented years before. They had been used in various battles of the early Renaissance. However, they were not the decisive instrument of the fight, unlike the heavily armored lance-wielding horsemen and the masses of sarissaphores. But everything changed from April 28, 150
The Lankreuzer (Land Cruiser) P. 1000 Ratte (Rat) would be the most powerful land-based warship ever built by man. It was a battle tank, a real cruiser, with ship engines and battleship armament! It was a proposal by Krupp director Eduard Grote that was submitted in June 1942. Along with the proposa
On the coast of the Caspian Sea, near the city of Derbend, Dagestan, lies abandoned an imposing Ekranoplane, a huge hybrid aircraft of the Soviet Union, also known as the Caspian Monster, as the American secret services. The Ekraplane is a vehicle that looks like an airplane but its operation is bas
The castle of Trebovla was built in the 14th century. in the valley of the small river Hniezna in todays western Ukraine which in 1675 was part of Poland. The castle was small (100 x 40m) but strongly built with walls up to 4m thick. In 1672 the Polish-Turkish War had broken out. After various excha
Gabriel dAnnunzio is a peculiar historical figure. A fanatical Italian nationalist and harbinger of fascism, he fought in the First World War and, not without reason, can be considered the moral perpetrator of terrible crimes against the Italian soldiers by their incompetent administration. A romant
On October 6, 1941, German invaders occupied Bryansk in the USSR. A little later a technician at a local factory and a teacher at a local technical school, Bronisław Kaminski and Konstantin Voskoboynik presented themselves to the Germans and offered their services. The Germans accepted and soon a
In 1743 the War of the Austrian Succession was in its third year. The conflicts raged from one end to the other in Europe, but also in America and Asia, in a war that was not unjustly characterized by many as the First World War. Italy was another front of this war where Spaniards, Neapolitans an
Atlas or Atlante was one of the titans of Greek mythology, son of Iapetus and the oceanic Climene, and brother of Prometheus. After the war against the Olympian gods, Zeus condemned him to hold the vault of heaven (or celestial sphere) on his shoulders for all eternity. Herodotus claimed that Atlan
The Camel Riders If we exclude the regiment of dromedaries created during the Egyptian campaign by Bonaparte, on 20 Nivôse Year VII (January 9, 1799), the first use of this animal in the French Army seems to be due to Faidherbe who ensures by this means its convoys and even the transport of infan
The pyramids of Egypt they are tombs built in stone to house the bodies of the pharaohs. There are 123 cataloged pyramids, however, the three best known are Cheops, Chephren and Menkaure on the Giza peninsula. This architectural ensemble is guarded by the Sphinx, a mythological being with the body
Under the reign of Nero (from 54 to 68) the Roman Empire, strong and powerful, was at its peak. The emperor wishes to rebuild Rome in order to give it the splendor it deserves. Also, when the great fire of Rome broke out in 64, not far from the Circus Maximus, many people suspected Nero himself. To