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 …
Bulgaria was not happy with the status quo at the end of the Second Balkan War. Nearly all the land she had gained in the First Balkan War had been shifted away, and Tsar Ferdinand had felt forced to sign the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest agreeing to those terms. So it was no real surprise …
On 30 September 1915, Serbian gunner Radoje Ljutovac became the first man to shoot an aircraft from the sky. He was given an award and promoted to Corporal. The Balkans were a hotbed of firsts during WWI. In addition to the first plane that was shot down, the first real dogfight also occurred over Serbia. …
Sometimes it feels like there was never a world without Top Gun. There was, of course. Aircraft in combat and thrilling dogfights had to originate somewhere. That place was the sky over Serbia. And the when was August 25, 1914 at the first battle of World War I – the Battle of Cer. As it …
On 28 July 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The rest of Europe would soon choose a side, and within a month the guns of August were sounding. Although the world knew about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June, everyone expected the reaction to be localized and within appropriate bounds. Everyone, that is, …
“When I am dead, I will not hurt anymore, will it Mama? When I am dead, build me a little monument of stones in the woods.” From the diary of Tsarevich Aleksei Romanov In the earliest morning hours of 17 July 1918, the Imperial Family of Russia was murdered in a Siberian basement. This part …