On this night in August of 1943, over 600 Royal Air Force (RAF) bombers dropped their lethal payload over the northern edge of the island of Usedom. Peenemünde was the intended objective of the ...

The weapon first emerged in the 15th century and was used in Turkey, Hungary, and the borderlands between France and Germany. There were three distinct varieties of the sword: Turkish, Hungarian, and ...

Elsa married the Berlin textile merchant Max Loewenthal (1864–1914) in 1896. Ilse (1897–1934) and Margot (1899–1986) were born and raised in Hechingen. Max Loewenthal moved to Berlin for professional ...

Pontic Olbia: A “Happy” Greek City of the 7th Century BC The Pontic Olbia is one of the largest ancient Greek settlements on the Black Sea coast.

The Shaolin monks brought the Gùn (Chinese: 棍), a staff used in their style of stick combat, to Japan. In that region, the gùn underwent various changes before becoming known as the bō. During this ...

Adolf Hitler was a bookworm. Even as a World War I soldier, he chose to spend what little money he had on books rather than on hookers and cigarettes. While stationed in the trenches, Hitler read the ...

The ancient Incas celebrated the Sun and all it brings with a celebration called the Inti Raymi festival. The legendary Festival of the Inti Raymi was and is still celebrated on the day of the winter ...

Yubitsume (“finger shortening”) is the act of amputating a finger with a sharp knife or tantō. This gesture of remorse, protest, or apology is commonly seen among Japanese gang members such as the ...

The monocerus was a legendary beast that first gained popularity in Asia and then spread to Europe. It shared a significance with the unicorn, which contributed to the general public’s conflation of ...

The Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia are believed to have been the first to invent the wheel around 4,500 BC. But this first Mesopotamia wheel was actually a pottery wheel. And they invented the first ...

The Lucerne hammer is a type of polearm weapon, which combines the features of a stabbing, striking, and polearm weapon. It was used extensively by European infantrymen from the 15th century up to the ...

Louis XIII (1601-1643) was a King of France from the Bourbon dynasty, nicknamed “the Just.” He reigned from 1610 to 1643. The eldest son of Henry IV, Louis XIII succeeded his father at the age of nine ...