Mithridates the Poisoner King: Hallucinogenic Honey, Venom Arrows, and More
Poison had a steady but often quiet or controversial place in the history of warfare. On one hand, it was incredibly useful. Poisoned wells could…
Rome’s Most Hated People (Spoiler: Their Stories Often Don’t End Well)
Throughout the history of Rome, from the Kingdom of the 700’s BCE to the fall of the Empire in 476, there have been individuals who…
Hanns Scharff – Nazi Germany’s POW “Master Interrogator” Who Used Kindness Not Brutality
The Nazis had a “Master Interrogator” who was so good at getting information out of prisoners that he became a legend. His methods were so…
Alternative History: The Roman Civil War
Crassus is an interesting character in Roman history. He was incredibly wealthy, one of the richest men before the emperors, but craved some military glory.…
The Albigensian Crusades: Christians vs Christians
Some crusades were fought against fellow Christians. The Cathars, one of the inspirations behind Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, were the targets of one…
Hastings and Beyond: The Norman Conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England was more than just the Battle of Hastings. To secure his new country, William the Conqueror had to gain control…
Night Witches – Soviet Female Flying Aces Who Struck Terror Into the Hearts of the German Wehrmacht
In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Because of their superior technology and their rapid success in taking territory, the Germans had expected a quick…
A Fatal Failing Of Intelligent Leadership – The Battle Of Lima Site 85
There is a remote mountaintop in north-eastern Laos called Phou Phathi, and the locals said it was a place where phi, or spirits, lived. By…
Horrifying, Tragic, Inspirational – How the Nazis Destroyed Lidice and the World Preserved its Memory
In June 1942, the Nazi German occupiers of Czechoslovakia destroyed the mining village of Lidice. It was wiped off the map so completely that even…
“The Great Army” – The Vikings at Their Peak
The most powerful and devastating series of Vikings raids to hit Western Europe came between 865 and 896 AD. During these decades, a massive combined…
Fearless Escapes Over (And Under) The Berlin Wall
When the Second World War was finally over, Germany was divided up into four occupation zones among the Allied forces. Berlin was also divided up…
5 Most Iconic War Photographs Of All Time
War photography has allowed the world to see the truth about the atrocities of some of the world’s biggest conflicts since as early as the…