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How World War I Fueled the Russian Revolution
World War I saw the crumbling of empires, and among those to collapse was the Russian empire of Czar Nicholas II. When Nicholas declared war against Germany and Austria-Hungary in July 1914, he was absolute ruler of a realm of nearly 150 million people that stretched from Central ...read more
The Bin Laden Raid: Inside the Situation Room Photo
In the universe of historic photographs, few are more iconic this this image of key White House policymakers watching and waiting for confirmation that SEAL Team Six had succeeded in capturing or killing Osama bin Laden. Although this photo is known as the “Situation Room” ...read more
The Mysterious History of Cattle Mutilation
The bovine corpses stunned the ranchers who found them. The animals’ ears, eyes, udders, anuses, sex organs and tongues had routinely been removed, seemingly with a sharp, clean instrument. Their carcasses had been drained of blood. No tracks or footprints were found in the ...read more
6 World War II Innovations That Changed Everyday Life
One of the most infamous World War II inventions is the atomic bomb. In August 1945, the United States launched its first (and so far, only) nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing an estimated 110,000 to 210,000 people. While the bomb stands out for its devastating ...read more
8 Facts About Osama bin Laden's Final Hideout
It took nearly a decade following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. for American intelligence authorities to realize that al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden—mastermind of the 9/11 plot—hadn’t been skulking in a cave or a remote tribal ...read more
Why Stalin Tried to Stamp Out Religion in the Soviet Union
When the era of Communist rule began in Russia in 1917, religion was seen as a hindrance to a thriving socialist society. As Karl Marx, coauthor of the The Communist Manifesto, declared, “Communism begins where atheism begins.” Joseph Stalin, as the second leader of the Soviet ...read more
How Gerrymandering Began in the US
In March 1812, the Boston Gazette ran a political cartoon depicting “a new species of monster”: “The Gerry-mander.” The forked-tongue creature was shaped like a contorted Massachusetts voting district that the state’s Jeffersonian Republicans had drawn to benefit their own party. ...read more
Presidential Succession: How the 'Designated Survivor' Fits In
Who succeeds the president in the event of death or incapacity? There’s a list of nearly 20 officials—starting with the vice president and the speaker of the House—whose top leadership roles place them squarely in line for the job. Then there’s the wild card: a “designated ...read more
Voting Rights in the United States: Timeline
Since America’s founding days, when voting was limited to white male property owners, to the transformative Voting Rights Act of 1965, to sweeping voting process reform introduced in the early 2000s, the right to vote in U.S. elections has seen massive change. The original ...read more
The Storied History of SEAL Team Six, the Secret Unit That Killed Bin Laden
Originally known as SEAL Team Six, the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DevGru) is one of several publicly disclosed units under the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), an elite and highly classified group that coordinates counterterrorism and other ...read more
Why Did US Forces Bury Osama Bin Laden’s Body at Sea?
On May 2, 2011, the United States military killed and buried Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader behind the 9/11 attacks. U.S. Special Forces took him out during a raid on the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where he and some of his family were hiding out. After identifying his ...read more
How America's Aviation Industry Got Its Start Transporting Mail
The U.S. aviation industry got its start in the early 20th century not by transporting people, but by moving America’s mail. At first, airmail pilots flew in flimsy open-cockpit planes through every kind of weather—an experience that ranged from frequently harrowing to sometimes ...read more
The First ‘Vaccine Passports’ Were Scars from Smallpox Vaccinations
At the turn of the 20th century, the United States was in the grip of a full-blown smallpox epidemic. During the five-year outbreak from 1899 to 1904, government health officials confirmed 164,283 cases of smallpox, but the real numbers may have been five times as high. To slow ...read more
Prince Philip: From Controversial Consort to Royal Stalwart
Philip Mountbatten married then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and the pair's marriage became the longest royal union in history. Just as his wife is the longest-serving British monarch, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was the longest-serving royal consort in British history. ...read more
Prince Philip, Outsider Who Became England’s Longest-Serving Royal Consort, Dies at 99
Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, died April 9, 2021 at the age of 99. He married the future queen in 1947 and served steadfastly by her side for more than 70 years, as she became the longest-serving monarch in British history. As Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of ...read more