Here’s one for those people who think slavery is all about white people enslaving black people: For over 300 years, the coastlines of the south west of England were at the mercy of Barbary pirates (corsairs) from the coast of … Continue reading →
One of the big mistakes humans make is they they often think that the only sort of people who want to rule them with an iron hand are the sort of big, loud, shouty, axe-wielding thugs who have traditionally lusted … Continue reading →
If you know your Commie history then you may know that Stalin had a son called Yakov with his first wife, in addition to the rather better-known boy and girl, Svetlana and Vasily, who he had with his second wife. … Continue reading →
I’m currently reading Robert Service’s bio of Stalin. It’s good so far, but it has one annoying aspect to it that almost every other history book or biography shares, and that is that it just doesn’t remind you enough of … Continue reading →
It is popularly held as a period when Britain and the rest of the world fell into a deep decline. But according to the British Library, the Dark Ages were anything but. The curator of a new exhibition has suggested … Continue reading →
Recently I blogged about the bungled attempted assassination of Trotsky that took place in Mexico in 1940, a few months before the successful one happened. It was both incompetent and nasty, so much so that it would make a good … Continue reading →
The killer of Trotsky, Ramon Mercader, refused to admit that he had been hired by Stalin to commit the murder: Even after his identity had been established fingerprints, he refused to admit who he was or why he had come … Continue reading →
Caveman left toaster on too long: Charred crumbs found in a pair of ancient fireplaces have been identified as the earliest examples of bread, suggesting it was being prepared long before the dawn of agriculture. The remains – tiny lumps … Continue reading →
I don’t think it’s well-known that the Germans could have crushed the Russian Bolshevik government in its early days, but chose not to. The Bolsheviks had a tentative grip on power, and Russia was in chaos. The Germans debated whether … Continue reading →
Perry de Havilland reminds me in the comments of the Katyn Forest massacre. Never mind the Russians’ role in World War II being under-appreciated and not well-known enough. How often does this tale get told? Stalin and Beria ordered the … Continue reading →
I’ve been seeing on Twitter and the blogosphere some recent claims that the USSR was the real unsung hero of World War II, because they did the most damage to the Nazis, and suffered the most losses, and we would … Continue reading →
