At the same time of the turn of the nineteenth century that Franz Ferdinand and Sophie Chotek of Austria-Hungary were attempting to convince Emperor Franz Josef that their marriage would not lead to the end of the Empire, another culturally inappropriate marriage was taking place between Alexander I of Serbia and Draga Lunjevica Mašin. Draga, …
Anka Obrenović, who was also called Ana, was self-confident and fearless. She loved her last name and luxury. Because of her love of Viennese fashion, she was nicknamed “Anka Pomodarka”. She was killed in 1868 in the Topčider forest during the assassination of Mihailo Obrenović, and it is little known that she tried to protect …
Kara Mustafa Pasha was in the public eye from his marriage sometime in the mid-1600s until approximately 1976 when his purported mummified head was removed from display at the Vienna Museum. The display of the (alleged) head of Kara Mustafa Pasha in Vienna had particular meaning; it was Kara Mustafa Pasha, as the Grand …
Stop sending people to kill me. We’ve already captured five of them, one with a bomb and another with a rifle… If you don’t stop sending killers, I’ll send one to Moscow; and I won’t have to send a second. — message from Tito to Stalin found on Stalin’s desk after his death. In the …
I was arrested in 1974 because the state security service found my university diaries and their contents were judged to contain agitation and propaganda against the regime. But those diaries had never been published and no one other than myself had even read them. Nevertheless, I purposefully hid them because I knew that I might …
Groups like uMkhonto we Sizwe and others struggling against colonialism and post-colonialism needed weapons for their struggles and, more importantly, training. While a lot of this came from the Soviet bloc, many liberation movements were less-than-eager to jettison one colonial overlord in the west for one in the east. It was into this gap …
Madagascar had a king. And then they didn’t. But maybe they still did. To this day no one is entirely sure. It begins with Madagascar’s Queen Ranavalona, who through bloody conquest managed to unite most of the island under her rule while also successfully keeping Europe at bay. The only problem was that to accomplish …
Historical fiction can be the a fantastic way to ingrain history events as long as it doesn’t deviate too far from the dry and dusty demands of factual “truthiness”, and in the vein The Second Seal by Dennis Wheatley is an excellent primer for the dabbler who wants to get started in the area World …
My Dear Heart: Do not be too sorrowful and upset on account of this letter. God’s will be done. Tomorrow at ten they will cut off my head and your brother’s, too. Today we pardoned each other with all our heart. Therefor I ponder this letter and ask you for everlasting forgiveness. If I have …
First Jelena Branković lost her father. Then before four months could pass, in 1459 at the age of 11, she was married to the son of the King of Bosnia. Stjepan Tomasević had not even met Jelena, but they were married on 1 April 1459. Given that Tomasević had been casting around the Balkans for …
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