In 1817 an incident occurred in Travnik which would change the schedule of religious holidays for Sarajevo’s Jews forever. It did seem like a big deal at the time, although it wasn’t too different from the sorts societal stresses which happen from time-to-time when multiple religions have to coexist in one space. It certainly did …
“We have no intention of hauling down our flag and we do not believe you would open fire on us.” – Khalid bin Barghash, one hour and thirty-eight minutes before losing the shortest war in history. The power and wealth of Zanzibar was much to be desired. This Eastern-African island was the focal point for …
After Eugene of Savoy sacked Sarajevo in 1697, the city had a very rough century-and-a-half. Nearly all the wooden buildings had been burned to the ground and many of the stone buildings had suffered significant damage. The city’s Catholic population had fled in fear of retribution, following the Austrian army which had specifically targeted Muslim …
War produces monuments and detritus; which is which often depends on which side of the line you are standing on after the end of the war. The Greek and Italians famously repurposed old monuments, treating them as detritus which went into building their homes. Many old villas are built from the remains of older monuments …
Again and again during the Anglo Boer Wars in South Africa, the British troops were able to quickly and effectively turn hard fought tactical victory into strategic defeat. A perfect example was the Battle of Elandslaagte, fought on 21 October 1899, during the Second Boer War. For context, an eland is a massive antelope, standing …
The oil portraits don’t really do him justice. Prince Eugene of Savoy was short, even for the seventeenth century. He had buck-teeth. His nose overpowered his face, he looked sickly, and people remarked on how ugly he was. Also, his mother was booted from France for poisoning people. Despite his appearance and rumors of participation …
In 1917 a man died, and a few years later the marching army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia destroyed his grave. The West knew this man, but they knew him as a woman and only by applying a Western structure to the well known and codified Albanian practice of being a Burnesha, related in a …
No one would have suspected that a humble German Mauser Rifle, carrying a breakthrough technology, would serve on many sides of the precursor conflicts to the Great War. The big small arms breakthroughs, the rifle cartridge, were quickly embraced by Germans arms manufacturers, and changed the range of infantry engagements from 50 meters, to a …
In August 1963, one month after an earthquake decimated the capital of Skopje, an open topped car zipped around the Socialist Republic of Macedonia carrying two powerful men who were dancing around a renewed relationship. Josip Broz Tito, whose fantastic response to Stalin’s constant dispatching of assassins ended Soviet/Yugoslav relations for many years, was showing …
Modern history books don’t necessarily print bald-faced lies, but they create mistaken impressions with tricks, and by leaving out certain facts. For instance, the greatest trick the Austrians ever played is convincing the world that Mozart was Austrian and Hitler was German. Most were taught that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was an ancient country, established through …
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