Before the Revolution and before the tide of humanity began streaming across the border between Hungary and Austria, the Austrian Minister Plenipotentiary to Hungary, Dr. Walther Peinsipp, sent a report back to Austria that said, “…the situation in Hungary has become explosive and the opposition is planning to take a considerable risk.” It was probably …
On 16 February 1971 his cremated remains were returned to Budapest and buried in a grave marked only with his initials. Not included on his epitaph, although he frequently proudly proclaimed it in public, was “Stalin’s Best Hungarian Disciple.” In the end, it was his dogged clinging to Stalinism which sealed his fate. The future …
It is well known that Mark Twain said “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes,” while writing “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County.” This was an 1865 English rewriting of an ancient Greek-language frog tale set in classical Greece, two or three thousand years old. All these facts are well known. And yet, …
It turned out, to the chagrin of the Soviet Union, that the July 1956 exiling of the ten-year authoritarian leader of communist Hungary, Matyas Rakosi, to the Soviet Union under the thin pretense of “necessary medical treatment” was not enough. By October 1956 Hungary was in full rebellion. World War II had not been kind to …
On 9 October 1934 the first political assassination to be caught on film took place in Marseilles, France. When the smoke and crowd (who beat the assassin so severely he not only died, but he was unidentifiable other than his tattoo) cleared, Alexander I Karađorđević had been killed. The French Foreign Minister had also been …
On 10 September 1960, Abebe Bikila found that the new running shoes he had purchased in Rome were uncomfortable. Undeterred, he decided to run the marathon barefoot. He took the 1960 Rome Olympics gold medal. On 23 November 1915 the retreat from the World War I Serbian front began. Every male over the age of …
On 19 July 1956, Gamel Abdel Nasser was returning from the meeting that would lead to the creation of the Non-Aligned Nations Movement and a new Third World, when he received word that the United States and Great Britain had decided to withdraw their offers to fund the construction of the Aswan Dam. The de-funding …
“If you want to have serious riots in Yugoslavia or cause a regime change, you need to kill me. Shoot at me and be sure you have finished me off, because that’s the only way to make changes in Yugoslavia,” King Alexander I of Serbia to the Italian government after the Velabit Uprising in 1932. …
“Don’t compromise the future with hasty reforms, and don’t replace the structures that Belgium hands over to you until you are sure that you can do better. Don’t be afraid to come to us. We will remain by your side and give you advice.” With those most patronizing of words, King Baudouin I of Belgium …
In about 165 AD, the Roman Empire encountered a foe they could not crush – the start of the Antonine Plague. The plague swept through all levels of society; the healthy were just as likely to contract the disease and die as the infirm. And although 70% of those who contracted the disease survived, they …
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