Twenty-five years have passed, but I still remember Andropov’s false smile, his cold gray-blue eyes that obviously had hypnotic power. Those were the eyes of an inquisitor; you immediately realized that he could either smile upon you or destroy you. That was a man who perfectly understood what was going on in reality. But until …
The first mass market portable camera was invented by George Eastman in 1888. It used celluloid film to allow everyday people to capture everyday moments in their lives. Anyone could document anything. Eastman changed the world. He democratized it. He flattened command structures all around the world with his invention. Now normal people could participate …
Briefly, from the start of the revolution on 23 October 1956 and the ceasefire with the Soviet Union on 28 October, it looked as though Hungary would be allowed self-determination. On 4 November 1956 it became utterly clear that such a possibility was an absolute impossibility as Soviet tanks entered Budapest. Although it took another …
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 …
A great deal has been written about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956; about it’s initial successes and ultimate failure, leading to the killings, execution, imprisonment, and exile of hundreds of thousands of Hungarians who were fighting to free their country from Soviet domination. Less well documented are the revolutionaries weapons. Revolutionaries around the world use …
“The time may have come to say good-bye to Muhammad Ali. Because, very honestly, I don’t think he can beat George Foreman,” Howard Cosell. But we all know that Cosell was wrong. After eight rounds of utilizing the rope-a-dope tactic, accepting the punishment of Foreman’s legendary heavy fists in order to tire out the heavily …
Ox”The struggle now is for everything,” Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, 28 October 1940. At 3:00 in the morning on 28 October 1940, the Italian ambassador in Athens delivered a message to the Greek government. Allow the Italian army to enter Greece and occupy strategic positions, it said, or there will be war. “Alors, c’est …
During the Cold War years, the third world was a place of tremendous diversity in cultural and natural wonders. The Indian subcontinent, the Africa Savannah, the Asian rainforests – third world countries on these continents offered cultures as varied as the Sikhs, Maasai, and the Karen. These cultures survived, and even thrived, while being surrounded …
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, …
The Battle of Kumanovo, on 23 October 1912, marked the end of the Ottoman Empire in Europe – even if the Ottomans didn’t quite fully accept the loss until May 1913. It was a victory that shocked the Great Powers of Europe; that the small and seemingly backward nations of the Balkans- long viewed as …
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