Man of the day: Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini “Il Duce” and his mistress Clara Petacci were shot by Italian partisans when trying to flee to Switzerland on this day, 28th of April, 1945. Later they were hung upside down and displayed publicly in Milan. To me Mussolini seems tragic person, thinking too high about himself and his ability to rule on the [...]

Reason for Napoleon`s death

Until now historians thought that Napoleon Bonapart was poisoned. Now Canadian, American and Swedish scientists have came to conclusion, that Napoleon died from stomach cancer. Cancer wasn`t ancestral, most likely that it developed from his specific “war field” diet: he mostly eat canned food and almost no fruits and vegetables.
By the way, Napoleon`s favourite wine [...]

Aim of History

Aim on mentioning history is to learn from past, to make future better.
                                                                                    /Wen Jiabao, China`s prime minister/
Tags: quote, history

First Russian president died

First Russian president Boris Yeltsin died from sudden heart failure on 23rd April at age of 76. He was Russia`s president from year 1991 till 1999. He was brave enough to admit Baltic states and some other ex-Soviet Union members as free states.
People talked much about his illnesses, strange talks and love to alcohol, as well as other [...]

There might be different Europe, if not…

We all know that Hitler almost got killed by one of his officers, but we don`t know that an English soldier could kill Hitler at World War I and Europe would be different. That man was Private Tandey, but Hitler was wounded and Tandey didn`t shoot.
Hitler always remembered him and had a copy of Fortunio Matania`s [...]

Advice from Napoleon

I`m reading Sun Tzu`s “Art of War“. Napoleon might have read it too. He gives an advice that can be useful both in war and peace:
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake”
[from Quote of the Day]
I see it as enemy`s mistake is your chance to win, but by telling the enemy, that [...]

Notable renaissance women rulers

I found a nice article “Renaissance Women who ruled” (via Suite101). These women, either mistresses or queens, had more influence than renaissance women where supposed to have and sometimes even shaped the history.

Diane de Poitiers (1499 – 1559) – Mistress to King Henri I of France. She supported artists and played important role in spreading [...]

Documentaries as alternative to books

Often it`s quicker and easier to get information via documentaries than reading biographies and history books. There are at least one or two history channels on TV in Europe, but there are quite many documentaries one can buy/download. For example, I found EZtakes site with many movies to download (also in history and biography categories). Two caught [...]

Three kings in one movie

That`s right, three kings in one movie seen yesterday: king of France Louis XIV, king of Sweden Karl XII and Russian Tsar Peter the First in Russian movie “The Sovereign`s Servant” (“Sluga gosudarev”, 2007.). Louis XIV sends two duelists to witness great battle of Poltava.

I can`t tell how much truth is in this story, but [...]