Simon Bolivar is the most famous political and military hero in Latin American history. He led revolutions against the Spanish Empire in no less than 6 South American countries. His short life and personal story is without doubt the stuff of legend. Yet today, outside of Latin America, where he’s still revered as El Libertador,Continue reading “Simon Bolivar, Hero & ‘Libertador’ of South America”
Author Archives: andrewspaulw
Podcast: The Mysterious Madame Blavatsky, Psychic or Charlatan?
Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (or HPB to her followers) was a controversial 19th century medium, psychic, author and co-founder of the Theosophical Society. She claimed to be in contact with the ‘The Masters’, astral beings of great psychic powers who bestowed upon her the ancient secret science of Theosophy. The society grew from a modest start in 1875 to become aContinue reading “Podcast: The Mysterious Madame Blavatsky, Psychic or Charlatan?”
The Munich Massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics
During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, eight terrorists disguised in tracksuits, carrying gym bags filled with assault rifles and hand grenades, breached the Olympic Village security. Just before dawn on September 5th, Black September terrorists of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), managed to enter the building where Israeli athletes were sleeping. Once inside,Continue reading “The Munich Massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics”
播客：历史上最成功的10种疫苗
我们过去常常想当然地认为疫苗是理所当然的。毕竟，它们已经存在了几十年。有些，比如天花和脊髓灰质炎，是给我们的祖父母甚至曾祖父母接种的。我们小时候都接种了最后一轮儿童疫苗。以至于我们在2020年的一场现代大流行病面前感到震惊。这是由于继续阅读 “播客：历史上最成功的10种疫苗”
The Oversteegen Sisters – Teenage Resistance Assassins
The Oversteegen sisters were only teenagers when they joined the Dutch resistance in the Netherlands during World War II. Together with a young friend, Hannie Schaft, they gathered intelligence for the Resistance, provided Jewish safe houses, bombed railways and, most remarkably, lured Nazi officers into the woods, and shot them. When World War II eruptedContinue reading “The Oversteegen Sisters – Teenage Resistance Assassins”
Podcast: Who Burned the Great Library of Alexandria?
Egypt’s Great Library of Alexandria was once the largest of the ancient world, containing the works of Homer, Plato, Euclid, Socrates, Aristotle and hundreds more. Close to one million books and scrolls from across Greece, Assyria, Egypt, Persia and India filled its vast shelves. It’s believed to have been completely destroyed in a devastating fireContinue reading “Podcast: Who Burned the Great Library of Alexandria?”
Operation Gunnerside: The Most Important WWII Mission you Never Heard Of
Operation Gunnerside was arguably the most important covert mission of World War II. It’s goal was daunting – to prevent Adolf Hitler from creating the atomic bomb first. Gunnerside would do so by denying the Nazi’s enough heavy water (deuterium oxide) to build a nuclear weapon. The Vemork hydroelectric plant, located in a remote valleyContinue reading “Operation Gunnerside: The Most Important WWII Mission you Never Heard Of”
The Stalin Great Purge and the Brutal Gulags
fter the death of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, the infamous Josef Stalin came to power in the Soviet Union. In the late 1930s, Stalin began a ruthless campaign known as The Great Purge, referred to by Soviets as the Great Terror.
Project Castle Bravo was a Human-Made Armageddon
On Monday March 1st, 1954, at 6:45 in the morning, the US carried out its largest nuclear detonation ever – CASTLE BRAVO – at the Bikini Atoll in the south Pacific Marshall Islands.
Galileo Faced Science Deniers in the Catholic Church
In 1633, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was ordered by the Pope in Rome to stand trial before the Italian Inquisition.