Mata Hari – Exotic Dancer, Mistress, and French Spy

The name Mata Hari is almost synonymous with femme fatale, or any wicked temptress who uses her sexual charms to seduce the hero of the day. In reality, Mata Hari was a professional exotic dancer and mistress, who ultimately became a spy for France during World War I.   Suspected of being a double agent, sheContinue reading “Mata Hari – Exotic Dancer, Mistress, and French Spy”

Podcast: White Friday 1916 – History’s Deadliest Avalanche occurred during WWI

The deadliest avalanche in history occurred at the worst possible time in the worst possible place.  A powerful avalanche killed hundreds of Austrian and Italian soldiers near Italy’s Mount Marmolada on 13 December 1916 in the middle of World War I. Over the next several weeks, more avalanches in the Alps killed an estimated 10,000Continue reading “Podcast: White Friday 1916 – History’s Deadliest Avalanche occurred during WWI”

Podcast: Why Does the Middle East have Straight Line Borders?

Drawing the Middle East modern borders on map with a ruler certainly seemed simple. Perhaps that’s why the lines, set in 1916 by Englishman Sir Mark Sykes and Frenchman Francois Georges-Picot were straight ones. The infamous Sykes-Picot Agreement was a pact between Great Britain and France, made in the middle of World War I (withContinue reading “Podcast: Why Does the Middle East have Straight Line Borders?”

Podcast: The 1918 Spanish Flu Beats all Pandemics Since the Black Plague

Before COVID, before Ebola, before SARS, the 1918 Flu Pandemic killed more humans than all of World War I combined, over 50 million people worldwide!  In just over a year, the so-called ‘Spanish Flu’ would infect a fifth of the world’s population. It remains to this day THE most devastating pandemic in recorded history. PreferContinue reading “Podcast: The 1918 Spanish Flu Beats all Pandemics Since the Black Plague”

White Friday 1916 – History’s Deadliest Avalanche occurred during WWI

The deadliest avalanche in history occurred at the worst possible time in the worst possible place.   A powerful avalanche killed hundreds of Austrian and Italian soldiers near Italy’s Mount Marmolada on 13 December 1916, in the middle of World War I. It would come to be known as White Friday. Over the next several weeks,Continue reading “White Friday 1916 – History’s Deadliest Avalanche occurred during WWI”

Why Does The Middle East Have Straight Line Borders?!

Drawing the Middle East’s modern borders on a map with a ruler certainly seemed simple. Perhaps that’s why the lines, set in 1916 by Englishman Sir Mark Sykes and Frenchman Francois Georges-Picot were straight ones.