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Spanish accounts and Mesoamerican ruins have ensured that 500 years later, people remain fascinated by civilizations like the Maya and Aztec, as well as sites such as Chichen Itza and Tikal. What is often overlooked is that the Maya and Aztec established kingdoms on lands that had been inhabited for millennia before them, and ancient cultures had not only left ruins but also influenced the civilizations that came after them. Thus, while sites like...
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Most scientists believe the evolution of humans has a history nearly as long as life itself. Anatomically modern humans and all other life that has existed on the planet first came about from the single-celled microorganisms that emerged approximately 4 billion years ago. Through the processes of mutation and natural selection, all forms of life developed, and this continuous lineage of life makes it difficult to say precisely when one species completely...
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The Third Reich's Luftwaffe began World War II with significant advantages over other European air forces, playing a critical role in the German war machine's swift, powerful advance. By war's end, however, the Luftwaffe had been decimated by combat losses and crippled by poor decisions at the highest levels of military decision-making, and it proved unable to challenge Allied air superiority despite a last-minute upsurge in German aircraft production.
When...
4) Stonewall Brigade and Hood's Brigade: The History of the Most Famous Units in Robert E. Lee's Army
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The Stonewall Brigade went on to fight in every major battle in the Eastern theater of the American Civil War, to the extent that of the 6,000 men who fought with the brigade over the course of four years, less than 200 remained by the time General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. They were organized, trained, and mentored by one of the most revered military leaders in American history, and they made a decisive...
5) Amorite Kingdoms: The History of the First Babylonian Dynasty and the Other Mesopotamian Kingdoms
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Animal and plant domestication first began during the Neolithic Period around 12000 BCE in the swath of land known as the Fertile Crescent, which included all of Mesopotamia and then arched in northern Mesopotamia/Assyria, before covering most of the Levant, which is roughly equivalent with the modern nation-states of Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. The process from nomadic hunter-gatherer societies to sedentary, agriculture-based societies...
6) Philippines Campaigns of World War II: The History of the Japanese Invasion in 1941-1942 and the Ja
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I came through and I shall return." - General Douglas MacArthur
Those who had decoded and seen the Japanese communications in early December 1941 would not be surprised when they heard about an attack on December 7, 1941. They would, however, be astonished when they heard where that attack took place. Posted on the other side of the world, it was early on the morning of December 8 in the Philippines when American general Douglas MacArthur received...
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In ancient Greece, "no other practice was so universal than the consultation of oracles." These holy sites were found in 260 locations around the Greek-speaking world, and they were considered the "most satisfactory means of ascertaining the future." These sanctuaries were "set apart from the profane, ordinary world", and were restricted to natural locations where the divine was thought to be "especially present." They were set aside for special spiritual...
8) Start of World War II in the Pacific Theater: The History of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Doollit
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All Americans are familiar with the "day that will live in infamy." At 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, the advanced base of the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet, was ablaze. It had been smashed by aircraft launched by the carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. All eight battleships had been sunk or badly damaged, 350 aircraft had been knocked out, and over 2,000 Americans lay dead. Indelible images of the USS Arizona exploding...
9) British Intelligence in the World Wars: The History and Legacy of Britain's Covert Activities During
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Many members of British society viewed war as a sport, a lethal one admittedly, but one played by gentlemen in the spirit of amateurism and fair play as it had been throughout the British Empire in the preceding decades. The bloody stalemate on the Western Front caught them unprepared for the dark arts of covert warfare which would be needed to avert defeat, gain the initiative, win the war and, ultimately, shape the peace. Those operations would...
10) Gastronomy in Mesoamerica: The History of Indigenous People's Diets Before and After European Contac
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Indigenous groups settling in Mesoamerica had different languages, political and social organizations, traditions, and beliefs; however, there were a series of traits that included the use and consumption of many food sources present throughout the entire territory. The domestication of important plants like maize, beans, squash, and chili peppers eventually led to full-scale agricultural societies supporting large populations through intensified...
11) Wars that Forged Imperial Japan: The History of the Conflicts that Established the Japanese Empire
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Completing the Meiji Restoration that heralded the dawn of a new era for both Japan and Asia, the island nation found itself thrust into the modern world, a world of industry and conquest. Flexing its new muscles, the burgeoning power soon came to blows with the regional power that for centuries dominated the area politically and culturally: China. In its first modern war, the modernized Japanese empire went to war against the dominant power in the...
12) Lord Haw-Haw: The Life and Legacy of the Notorious Nazi Propaganda Broadcaster during World War II
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In Germany, the most threatening and caustic radio personality was Mildred Gillars, known to the troops as the foreboding "Axis Sally," but in Britain, one Nazi broadcaster became famous above all others. The man who became known as "Lord Haw-Haw" broadcast daily programs from Germany, introduced with a deliberate parody of the BBC by using the words "Germany calling…" These propaganda broadcasts were widely derided in Britain, but thousands listened...
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Long before it was known as Afghanistan, and even longer before it acquired its current reputation, Afghanistan's modern borders were fairly congruent with the ancient country known as Bactria. Bactria was the seat of several different kingdoms during the course of many centuries, but none were as successful as the Kushan Empire, the dominant political entity in Central Asia from the early 2nd century BCE until the early 3rd century CE, during which...
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The pages of world history textbooks contain a litany of "lost" empires and civilizations, but usually, upon further review, it is revealed that these so called lost empires are often just lesser known cultures that had a less apparent impact on history than other more well-known civilizations. When one scours the pages of history for a civilization that was inexplicably lost, but had a great impact during its time, very few candidates can be found,...
15) Operation Northwoods: The History of the Controversial Government Plan to Stage False Flag Attack
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Throughout the history of warfare, the practice of placing blame on innocent parties in order to justify attacking them has been a constant feature. In the 20th century, this practice began to be commonly referred to as a "false flag" operation. The essence of a false flag scenario is that it is conducted by one party or government and "made to appear as though another party sponsored it."[1] In informal legal terminology, the practice is commonly...
16) The Black Dahlia and Sharon Tate: The Lives and Deaths of Hollywood's Most Famous Murder Victims
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In the years following World War II, Los Angeles and other large American cities were hit with a series of brutal murders that, in many ways, fit into distinct patterns across the country. The Los Angeles Police Department was overwhelmed, caught up dealing with mob activities, inner corruption, a regional press that brazenly invaded legal confidentiality within the walls of the police department itself, and a lack of advanced technology. As a result,...
17) Rise of Fascism in Europe: The History of the Fascist Takeovers in Nazi Germany, Italy, and Spain
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It's easy to forget how young Italy was when Benito Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883. It is hard to conceive a territory with such a long and ancient history was once young and troubled with constant conflict and instability. Similar to Germany, Italy was unified in 1861, but contrary to its northern cousin, its previous history was one of separation. Italy had no great romantic idea of a "Great Germany," keeping it unified even during the wars...
18) Battle of Woody Point: The History of the Confrontation that Led to the Deaths of the First Ameri
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The fur trade had its tensions, but for many years, traders and natives worked out their own systems, times, and traditions, allowing many different groups to interact and even compete without issues that led to war. Though native groups sometimes found themselves in conflicts based on long-standing rivalries or relations with the Europeans, most of the fur traders, the trappers, the Indians, and Hudson's Bay Company officials lived peaceably. The...
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During World War I, German U-boats operated solo except on one occasion. Initially, the British and nations supplying England with food and materiel scattered vessels singly across the ocean, making them vulnerable to the lone submarines. However, widespread late war re-adoption of the convoy system tipped the odds in the surface ships' favor, as one U-boat skipper described: "The oceans at once became bare and empty; for long periods at a time the...
20) Ruthenia: The History of Ukraine and Belarus after the Dissolution of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwe
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The history of Ukraine is a fascinating story of how cultures, political systems, religions, and power have met, intersected, morphed, and expanded. The region was relatively sparsely populated for much of ancient history, a wilderness of rivers, forests, and steppes, but that does not detract from the rich historical development of the region. A huge area, Ukraine is wedged between the continents of Asia and Europe, and its position as a crossroads...
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