Spain gasped when the rumor spread that Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco had been killed in an explosion the morning of Dec. 20, 1973. It wasn’t until midnight that government-controlled media confirmed what many feared: The hand-picked heir to replace Gen. Francisco Franco had been assassinated. The bombing “changed Spain’s history” and contributed to a…
Category: Historical Study
World War Two History: The Secret Speeches Ike Never Had To Give
Despite the seeming inevitability of an Allied triumph, the success of the cross-channel invasion in 1944 seemed like anything but a foregone conclusion.” “SOLDIERS, SAILORS AND AIRMEN of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon…
Holocaust History: The Ghost of Babi-Yar
KYIV, Ukraine—Seventy-four years later, I reached up and broke off a small piece of a branch that was long and gray. It was bent in the strange, contorted ways it had blindly grown to look for light here at the cold bottom of the ravine, where the forest canopy above had turned the sunny spring…
The History of Guerilla Warfare: Ancient Bullet Supports Accounts of T.E. Lawrence
Experts say discovery in the desert, near scene of famous train raid, seems to prove British diplomat’s memoir was not just a tall tale A bullet from a Colt gun found in the Arabian desert lends credence to TE Lawrence’s own account of his part in the Arab revolt in the early 20th century. Until…
Ancient History: Were The Vikings First To Discover North America? The Evidence Sais Yes
The Vikings’ claim to be the first Europeans to reach North America will receive a huge boost, with the announcement of the discovery of a new site that marks the farthest known westerly point of the Norse exploration across the Atlantic. Scientists working with the BBC will today reveal that they believe they have discovered…
Cold War Files: After-Action-Report (AAR) of a Rhodesian Ambush
Imagine initiating an ambush with a 40 mike-mike training round. That would be a Bad Thing. This ambush, as remembered by our friend and former Rhodie troopie Nick Bliksem, is just about as bad (but not quite). This was during the “Second Chimurenga” period of the Rhodesian Bush War, back when Jimmy Carter was POTUS,…
Military History: From Private to Four-Star, Famous Generals That Rose From the Ranks
“Awarding of battlefield commissions to NCOs for leadership under fire is common in wartime, rare is the commanding general, admiral or field marshal who began his military career among the rank-and-file.” THE U.S. MILITARY CALLS THEM “mustangs” – ordinary soldiers who’ve risen from the ranks of the enlisted to join the officer corps. Seen as something…
Ancient History: View From Space Hints At New Viking Site In North America
A thousand years after the Vikings braved the icy seas from Greenland to the New World in search of timber and plunder, satellite technology has found intriguing evidence of a long-elusive prize in archaeology — a second Norse settlement in North America, further south than ever known. The new Canadian site, with telltale signs of…
On This Day in History: Operation “Iceberg” in Okinawa and the Founding of the RAF
On this day in 1945, on Okinawa, American forces launch Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa. After suffering the loss of 116 planes and damage to three aircraft carriers, 50,000 U.S. combat troops of the 10th Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner Jr., land on the southwest coast of the Japanese island of…
Holocaust History: Newly Released Documents Reveal Rampant Cannibalism at Nazi Concentration Camps
Cannibalism, drowning, and crucifixion: just some of the horrors described in first-hand accounts of British people’s experiences at the hands of the Nazis during World War Two which were released on Thursday in the UK. The long-sealed testimonies — contained in applications that UK nationals made to a Anglo-German Nazi Persecution Compensation scheme between 1964…