Destruction of cultural artifacts and heritage sites in times of war has been a norm throughout history, intentionally or otherwise. Sadly, cultural heritage is still one of the many casualties of war, often leaving a deep, lasting impact on the legacy and identity of communities caught in the crossfire. 10. Royal Opera House, Malta Throughout…
Author: Himanshu Sharma
We tend to believe that powerful, world-changing innovations require complex engineering and a lot of scientific effort to come up with, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes, simple improvements like ball bearings and barbed wires have had a huge impact on the course of human history, often directly leading to the more complex works…
History is filled with emperors and rulers that enjoyed long, sometimes prosperous reigns. This list is not about them. Instead, we’re counting down the kings and queens whose rule was cut short long before they could do anything noteworthy for their kingdoms. In fact, other than the dubious distinction of being the shortest-lived rulers ever,…
It’s been more than a century since the First World War ended in 1918, though even today, some of its most fascinating parts have been shrouded in mystery. Despite the wealth of information and research available on the topic, most of these mysteries would likely never be solved, as much of the evidence now lies…
The African continent has always fascinated explorers, treasure hunters, educational TV show producers, and other like-minded individuals. As the cradle of humankind, much of it has been extensively explored and studied in the past few centuries, though we still haven’t been able to solve some of its most enduring mysteries. 10. Lydenburg Heads The Lydenburg…
While the Second World War is still widely discussed and analyzed, the horrors of the first one have almost faded out of memory. For more than four years, millions around the world were slaughtered by newfound weapons of destruction like artillery, tanks, poison gas, airplanes, flamethrowers, and many others. It was the first modern conflict,…
Fashion is constantly changing and reflects the unique socio-political realities of an era. However, some fashion trends in history could definitely be called ‘weird’, and we’re here to talk about them. Curiously, some of these would likely fit into a more modern idea of fashion, even if they were flatly out of place in their…
Climate change, human activity, and other environmental factors are causing some of the world’s most beautiful natural tourist destinations to disappear at an alarming rate. From coral reefs to glaciers to pristine islands, many of these places are also unique natural habitats, often sustaining endemic forms of life not found anywhere else on Earth. 10.…
At the peak of its power, the British empire encompassed about one-fourth of the world’s area and population, making it by far the largest empire in history. Like every other successful empire before it, a large part of that was acquired on the battlefield, thanks to a formidable navy, technological improvements like cannons, and a…
Wars aren’t always won by traditional units fighting in strict formations, even if they still do the bulk of the work. Military commanders throughout history have experimented with unusual, specialized units that don’t fit into any conventional military role, often to great success. 10. Ghost Army The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops – or the ‘Ghost…
Espionage played a crucial role during the Second World War. Spies and covert operatives were extensively deployed by every major power across the front, including the USSR, USA, Britain, and Germany. Apart from the usual listening jobs and assassination missions, these agents were also responsible for training local resistance movements in the occupied regions, as…
There are countless stories of people being punished for something they didn’t do throughout history, due to factors like faulty eyewitness testimony, coerced confessions, and flawed forensic evidence. As you can guess, they often have devastating consequences for the accused. In some cases, innocents have even paid the ultimate price for their suspected crimes. 10.…
Coming up with an idea for a new business is never easy. While most people take the traditional route and stick to tried-and-tested concepts, a rare few dare to think out of the box. That may not always be a good idea, as some of the most unusual business ideas in history have also been…
The Victorian era was a transformative period in British history. Under Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 to 1901, the empire grew to be the largest industrial powerhouse in the world. It was a time of unprecedented advances in the arts and sciences, along with social improvements like the rise of the suffragette movement. Weirdly enough,…
Like every other major world power, the United States has been involved in many small and large-scale conflicts in its nearly 250-year-old history. Other than the more significant ones like the world wars, though, most people in and outside America have hardly heard of them, either because they happened a long time ago or due…
French efforts to expand its overseas empire go as far back as the 16th century, though it wasn’t until 1605 that a settled outpost was established in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, it would grow to be one of the largest and wealthiest empires in history, with colonies…
The history of timekeeping goes as far back as ancient civilizations like Sumer and Egypt. Egyptians were the first to divide the day into fixed units of time, allowing them to develop more advanced methods of measuring time than ever before – like the sundial. From there, civilizations like China, India, Greece, Babylon, and others…
While Covid has received global attention due to its high death count and infection rates, it’s still only one of the many epidemics of infectious diseases currently ongoing around the world. Many of them fly under the radar due to being limited to small populations or certain regions of the world, even if some -…
The Golden Age of Islam refers to a nearly six-centuries-long period of renaissance in the Islamic world, beginning with the foundation of the Abbasid Caliphate in the eighth century and ending with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258. It was a time of unprecedented developments in the fields of geometry, medicine, astronomy,…
At the moment, some of our best minds are trying to find a habitable, Earth-like planet as a Plan B, in case things go really bad here. We don’t have many contenders so far, as it’s difficult – almost impossible – for all the right conditions to come together like they do here on Earth. …
The Second World War was easily the most devastating war in history. Some official records place the total number of dead close to 60 million, though the real toll may be far higher. Not everyone died in combat, either – more than 45 million of them were civilians, as everyday folk around the world bore…
We usually tend to focus on only the dark and gruesome parts of history, though it’s not been all bad. Among all the wars, diseases, and other tragedies of history, there have also been quite a few times of unprecedented peace and prosperity. These are sometimes referred to as a ‘golden age’ by historians, when…
Throughout the history of slavery, revolts have usually been brutality crushed in order to set an example for the others. Despite that, uprisings have been a regular part of slave societies for as long as one can remember, going as far back as ancient Rome and Persia. 10. Stono Rebellion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pND-9KhM1Xw The Stono rebellion of…
Space travel is fast coming up as a potential solution to every problem facing Earth, though how achievable is it, really? While recent advances in fields like robotics, artificial intelligence, navigation, communications, rocket design, and others have allowed humanity to explore further into space than ever before, we’d still need to solve many problems before…