Discover the remarkable history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade… The empires of the ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese were underpinned by slavery, where one person could be owned by another, and their obedience and labor were forced by the threat of violence or even death. Some of these people were prisoners captured during […]
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Discover the remarkable history of the Year Without Summer… In terms of world history, the year 1815 is mainly remembered for the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. But something else happened that year which is now largely forgotten but which had a fundamental impact on the whole world in the years that followed. In
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Discover the remarkable life of Raoul Wallenberg… Raoul Wallenberg lived at a time when one of the worst outrages of inhumanity was occurring—the Holocaust. As a Swedish businessman in Hungary, he bore witness to this tragedy firsthand as Hungarian Jews were being shipped off to Auschwitz. Raoul Wallenberg wasn’t a soldier, and he didn’t have
Discover the remarkable history of the Harlem Renaissance… When the American Civil War finally drew to an end in 1865, victory for the North seemed to herald a new beginning for African Americans. Emancipation for thousands of former slaves appeared, for the first time, to offer people the chance of full and equal participation in
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Discover the remarkable life of Oskar Schindler… Oskar Schindler was an unexpected hero. He drank heavily, and some even said he was a womanizer who flaunted his affairs. Yet, in one of history’s darkest hours, he demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for courage and humanity. Amid the horrors of the Holocaust, Schindler found himself in a
Discover the remarkable history of the Watergate Scandal… In the summer of 1972, as the US presidential campaign was gathering pace, incumbent President Richard Nixon faced a challenge from Democratic Senator George McGovern. In general, President Nixon was well-regarded, particularly for a number of notable foreign policy successes, and polls seemed to suggest that he
Discover the devastating history of the Great Fire of London… In the summer of 1666, London was one of the largest cities in Europe, with close to half a million people living in its narrow, congested streets. Many of these people lived in houses packed closely together, lacking even basic facilities such as clean water
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Discover the striking history of Apartheid… Apartheid, a state-sponsored policy of discrimination and segregation, was introduced and brutally enforced in South Africa for more than forty years. It led to thousands of deaths, mass arrests, torture of prisoners, and to the suspension of the most basic human rights for the majority of black South Africans.
Discover the remarkable history of the Soviet Union… The creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922 was one of the defining events of the twentieth century. This new federation, created to embody the ideals of communism and the notion of rule by the people, was intended to be different from any
Discover the remarkable history of East Germany… Imagine a society with no unemployment, zero inflation, free healthcare and education, free childcare, virtually no serious crime, and where women and men are treated with absolute equality. Such a society has existed: in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), popularly known as East Germany. For forty years after
