On March 21, 2003, in one of the first combat operations of the U.S.-led invasion or Iraq, a combined force of American, British, and Polish troops attacked and captured the Persian Gulf port of Umm Qasr. Throughout the invasion and the subsequent occupation, Umm Qasr would serve as a vital shipping terminal for humanitarian aid.… Read More »
From the detonation of the first Soviet atomic bomb in 1949 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the world lived under the horrifying shadow of nuclear armageddon. Following the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, the Soviet Union, United States, and their allies stockpiled enormous arsenals of nuclear weapons to deter the other… Read More »
In the opening of the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, everyone’s favourite super spy chases an assassin through the streets of Istanbul to recover a hard drive containing the identities of undercover British agents. For his trouble, he receives a shoulder full of shrapnel from the assassin’s pistol, is accidentally shot by a fellow agent,… Read More »
At its peak, the British Empire was the largest Empire in history, encompassing nearly one quarter of the Earth’s surface and more than one quarter of its population. Throughout its history, this massive geopolitical entity was perceived by its proponents as a beacon of civilization, an engine for trade and building local infrastructure and prosperity,… Read More »
Imagine you are a contestant on the classic game show Let’s make a Deal. The host, Monty Hall, presents you with three closed doors. Behind one is a brand-new sports car, while behind the other two is a goat. You make your choice and prepare to discover whether you will leave the studio the proud… Read More »
On September 8, 1943, the Second World War took a dramatic turn as Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio, who had just replaced a deposed Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister, announced an armistice between Fascist Italy and the Allied Powers. The following day, a large Italian naval fleet, on its way to counter the Allied amphibious landings… Read More »
Humphrey Bogart as world-weary bar owner Rick Blaine in Casablanca. Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films. Audrey Hepburn as socialite Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Keanu Reeves as kung-fu cyberpunk freedom fighter Neo in The Matrix. What do all these very different fictional characters have in common? You… Read More »
On the morning September 2, 1945, delegates from the victorious Allied powers and the defeated Empire of Japan gathered aboard the battleship USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay, to sign Japan’s official instrument of surrender. By 9:23, the ceremony was over; after 6 brutal years and over 75 million deaths, the Second World War was… Read More »
By the winter of 1944 and 1945, the German Third Reich was in dire straits. Adolf Hitler’s final offensive in the Ardennes had failed, the Soviet Red Army was driving ever closer to Germany’s borders, and day and night Allied bomber aircraft were pummelling German cities into smoking rubble. With the end in sight, the… Read More »
Pop quiz: who was the first woman in space? Many of you probably just answered Dr. Sally Ride, who launched aboard the space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983. But you would be wrong: Sally Ride was the first American woman in space, not the first overall. That honour belongs to a now scarcely remembered… Read More »
Oysters. Chocolate. Opium. Ginseng. Spanish Fly. Ambergris. Alcohol. MDMA. What do all of these have in common? Well, aside from the makings of a very wild party, they have all at one time or another been used as aphrodisiacs. Derived from the Greek aphrodisiakon or “pertaining to Aphrodite”, goddess of love, aphrodisiacs are substances believed… Read More »