History 2024, November

Our hero is known to everyone since childhood. A case in history is by no means an ordinary one, because, according to numerous polls and rather serious sociological studies, our contemporaries know very little even the heroes of the very recently completed and extremely rich in events of the twentieth century. If

The legends of the all-pervading and all-powerful Masonic organizations are among the oldest and most enduring in the history of modern civilization. Articles about invisible world governments that have taken on the task of governing countries with multimillion populations appear with enviable regularity in

In the first part of our article, we already talked about the fact that Lacedaemon became "Sparta" as a result of the two Messenian wars, which led to the transformation of the Spartiat state into a "military camp." children of virgins "

Between Via del Corso and Piazza di Spagna in Rome there is a small (only 300 m), but very famous (in narrow circles of fashion connoisseurs) Via Condotti. Here are the boutiques of the most famous brand houses in Europe: Dior, Gucci, Hermes, Armani, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Burberry, Dolce e Gabbana. Via

The First Crusade (1096-1099), which ended with the victory of the Christian army, paradoxically worsened the position of Christian pilgrims who were making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Previously, by paying the required taxes and fees, they could hope for the protection of local rulers. And here are the new rulers

In one of the cities of the French valley of Chevreuse, you can see a monument to a man who was neither a famous commander, nor a great scientist, nor a genius writer, but, nevertheless, is known, perhaps, to everyone. Monument to Cyrano de Bergerac, city of Bergerac, Chevreuse Valley

The 18th century occupies a special place in the history of Europe. If A. Blok called the 19th century "iron", then many authors both here and abroad called the 18th century gallant. This was the time of kings, claiming to be the great and trying to seem enlightened, brilliant balls, similar to

The Epirus king and general Pyrrhus was widely known and extremely popular far beyond the borders of his homeland. Famed in dozens of battles, an ally of Philip the Great and Alexander the Great, Antigonus One-Eyed, answering the question of whom he considers the best commander, said: “Pyrrha, if he

The emergence and existence for many centuries of special papal tribunals (inquisition) is the most shameful and gloomy page in the history of the Catholic Church. For most modern people, the activity of inquisitors is usually associated with the "dark ages" of the early Middle Ages, but

The "witch hunt" - the church-inspired witch trials that shook Europe and its colonies in the 15th-18th centuries, are undoubtedly one of the most shameful pages in the history of Western European civilization. More than one hundred and fifty thousand innocent people were executed for completely absurd, not

The laws of history are unforgiving, collapse and decay await all the great empires of the world. But even against this background, the unusually rapid collapse of the empire created by Alexander the Great is striking. Alexander the Great. Bust. Archaeological Museum, Istanbul Great states arise when

A fearless warrior on the battlefield and a gallant cavalier at court, a knight clad in armor, without a doubt, is the central figure and symbol of medieval Europe. The upbringing of future knights was somewhat reminiscent of Spartan. According to the customs of those years, up to 7 years old, the offspring of noble families

I would like to start this article with a quote from a very famous novel. - About Vendee? Repeated Cimourdain. And then he said: - This is a serious threat. If the revolution dies, it will die through the fault of Vendée. Vendée is scarier than ten Germaniums. In order for France to stay alive, you need to kill

And now let's talk about Harald, who will soon become known throughout Europe under the nickname Hardrada (Severe), Adam of Bremen will call Harald "the storm of the North", and modern historians - "the last Viking". Arriving in Novgorod, he entered military service in the squad of Yaroslav

In this article we will try to tell you about the girls-warriors and women-soldiers, information about which with an enviable frequency emerge in the historical sources of different countries, causing more often a feeling of bewilderment, but sometimes - and genuine admiration. We will not talk about the forced execution of a military

“There are no barriers for a person with talent and love for work,” Beethoven once said. If someone needs material to illustrate this thesis, he is unlikely to find an example better than the life of the Russian scientist Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov. Lev Gumilyov took part in the Great

Knight King Richard the Lionheart died on April 6, 1199 from sepsis, which developed after being wounded in the arm. He bequeathed the kingdom of England and the loyalty of the vassals to his brother John. King John, portrait John was Henry's fifth son, a late son (Alienora gave birth to him at the age of 46) and beloved

The legend about the first Russian saints, princes Boris and Gleb, is widely known and very popular in our country. And few people know that the real circumstances of the death of these princes have nothing to do with their description in the canonical "The Tale of the Saints and Blessed Princes Boris and Gleb"

In 1971, a significant event, which was hardly noticed by anyone and was practically not covered in the Soviet press, took place in Moscow. By the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, the old Russian (schismatic) ceremonies were officially recognized as "equal" to the new one. Thus, the last one was finally closed

Behind the country of the Jura (Hungarians) there are coastal people; they swim in the sea without need and without a goal, but only to glorify themselves, that, they say, they have reached such and such a place … Marvazi, an Arab scientist who lived at the turn of the XI -XII centuries The mysterious country of the Scandinavian sagas Biarmia has not been

If you try to make a rating of the kings of England, it turns out that the brothers, the sons of Henry II Plantagenet, are claiming the first and last places. The first of them went down in history as a knight king: during his lifetime he became the hero of numerous songs of the trouvers of northern and troubadours of southern France and

"Rule Britain over the seas" - proclaims the refrain of the famous English patriotic song written in 1740, which is already perceived as the second, unofficial anthem of this country, and the title "Lady of the Seas" seems to have forever become synonymous and second name of the United Kingdom

X-XI centuries are a very interesting period in the history of our country. Familiar names are constantly found in Western European and Byzantine sources of that time, and some Russian princes are the heroes of the Scandinavian sagas. At that time, the contacts of Kievan Rus' and

By historical standards, the First World War and the subsequent fall of the three largest world empires occurred relatively recently. Researchers have at their disposal many official documents, memoirs of direct participants in the events and eyewitness accounts. Multi-tone

The grandiose campaigns of conquest of Genghis Khan and his descendants led to the appearance on the political map of the world of a huge empire stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the shores of the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf. The lands of Central Asia were given to the second son of Genghis Khan - Jagatay. However, sons and grandchildren

The year 1812 will forever remain a very special date in the eventful centuries-old history of Russia. The grandiose fiasco of the campaign to Russia organized by the seemingly invincible Napoleon, the death of the "Great Army" during the retreat and the victorious march of Russian troops across the astonished

The great eastern conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) is often compared and put on a par with Attila and Genghis Khan. However, it must be admitted that along with some common features, there are quite deep differences between these commanders and sovereigns. First of all, it should be pointed out that, in

David Stirling and his subordinates, 1942 In previous articles in the series, we mentioned the famous Soldier of Fortune, a recruiting firm founded by Bob Denard. But around the same time, another organization appeared that offered the services of professional mercenaries. This was the first

Michael Hoare on the set of Wild Geese, 1978. Roger Moore and Richard Burton are next to him Today we will complete the story of the famous “Condottieri "XX

Still from the movie "The Wild Geese", 1978 In the last article ("Great Condottiere of the 20th Century"), we began to meet people who were destined to go down in history as the most famous and successful commanders of mercenary units of the 20th century. Causes genuine surprise at how they succeeded

Still from the film "Goal: 500 Million" Let's continue our story about the tragic events that followed de Gaulle's decision to leave Algeria. Organization de l'Armee Secrete On December 3, 1960, in the Spanish capital, General Raoul Salan, Colonel Charles Lasherua and the leaders of the Blackfeet students Pierre Lagayard and

Still from the movie "Mr. Bob" (2011), Clovis Cornillac as Denard From the article "Soldiers of Fortune" and "Wild Geese" we remember that, after returning to Paris from Congo, Robert Denard began to work on the creation of a firm for the recruitment of mercenaries, dubbed "Soldier of Fortune". But in his office

January 1960, Algeria, students protest against de Gaulle's policy. Student leader Pierre Lagayard in front of the barricade After defeating the National Liberation Front in the field and defeating terrorists in the battle for the capital (Algeria), the French seemed to be able to build on their success. By 1959

R. Ya. Malinovsky during the Battle of StalingradIn the article “The most famous Russian“graduates”of the French Foreign Legion. Zinovy Peshkov "we talked about the fate of the godson of AM Gorky, whose bright and eventful life Louis Aragon called" one of the strangest biographies of this

Tyrallers of the times of Napoleon III. A hand-colored photograph from the Album photographique des uniformes de l'armee francaise Paris, 1866 As we recall from the article “Zouaves. New and unusual military units of France ", after the conquest of Algeria (1830), and then Tunisia and Morocco, the French decided

In this article we will begin a story about the famous condottieri of the 20th century and the amazing African adventures of "wild geese" and "soldiers of fortune". Among them were the servicemen of the French Foreign Legion, who in the second half of the twentieth century found a new area of application for their talents

Collage of frames from the film "Battle for Algeria", made especially for this article Mass terrorist attacks by the FLN militants in November 1956 - September 1957. received the unofficial name "Battle for the capital" ("Battle for Algeria"). At the beginning of 1957, an average of 4 terrorist attacks took place in this city

Legionnaires in AlgeriaIn the articles "The Algerian War of the French Foreign Legion" and "The Battle of Algeria" it was told about the beginning of the war in this overseas department of France, its features and some of the heroes and antiheroes of those years. In this one we will continue the story of the Algerian war and talk about some

French soldiers leaving Algeria await loading on the ship. City of Bona In this article we will conclude the story of the many years and bloody Algerian war, tell about the flight from Algeria of the "blackfeet", evolves and harki and about some sad events that followed the acquisition of this country

A. Rachinsky. French Zouaves during the Crimean War. (detail of the painting, 1858) The conquest of Algeria in 1830, as well as the later annexation of Tunisia and Morocco, led to the emergence of new and unusual military formations in France. The most famous of these are undoubtedly the zouave