One of the longest and most terrible sieges in world history claimed the lives of more than a million residents of the second most important city in the Soviet Union
The symbol of resistance to the hordes of Batu became a man, in the reality of whose existence there are very serious doubts
In 1902, the head of the Bureau of Chemistry of the US Department of Agriculture, Harvey Wiley, created the "Poison Squad" - a group of volunteers on which he tested the effects of various dyes, sweeteners and other food additives
According to experts, the Battle of Kulikovo became one of the largest battles in the history of medieval Russia. Although the battle did not lead to the final liberation of the Russian lands from the yoke, it demonstrated that it was possible to successfully fight the Horde, and contributed to the consolidation of the inhabitants of Russia
Until now, most Russians and even residents of the post-Soviet space know the name of Chapaev. He lives as a character in linguistic idioms and anecdotes. Some people remember from the famous film that he was the legendary commander of the Red Army, while they hardly know the literary details of his biography, did not read the famous novel
Concussion was not considered a particular trauma until the outbreak of World War II. For the first time, she was singled out as a separate category of wounds by Soviet military doctors. First of all, they took such a step due to the fact that the number of soldiers with this injury in the conditions of total war was constantly growing. So what really is a concussion and why is it really so scary for any person?
For six years sailors provided themselves with food and clothing only with the help of these homemade weapons. Over the years, they have killed ten polar bears. And they attacked the first one themselves, because they really wanted to eat. But they had to kill the rest of the bears because they posed a threat
In the summer of 1959, US Vice President Richard Nixon brought the Pepsi to the USSR for the first time. And he even persuaded Nikita Khrushchev to try the drink. Then the Americans managed to establish the production of soda in the Union. In response, the USSR sent Stolichnaya vodka to America. But 30 years later, for the Pepsi recipe, the Americans managed to get something much more valuable from the Union. It was about dozens of real warships and submarines
People's Commissar's 100 grams are one of the most mythologized pages of Russian military history. After the war, this practice was skillfully used by propagandists to create a cliché of an eternally drunk Russian soldier who thoughtlessly goes into the attack
Seventy-six years have passed since the end of World War II. It would seem that for more than one decade all archives should have been declassified, all criminals should be arrested and punished. But the Nazis left behind many questions, to which historians are still looking for answers
In Russia, the bodies of political investigation appeared during the reign of Peter I and quickly turned into a powerful means of controlling the mentality of citizens
During the time of the Roman Empire, its military units - legions, were reputed to be invincible throughout the then civilized world. The training of soldiers, weaponry, and tactics with strategy did not leave any chance for the opponents of Rome. However, the Roman armies, and other power structures, could not have been so successful without the clear functioning of intelligence and espionage
Just a couple of centuries ago, money, power and tea had a truly blood relationship with each other. There are many examples in history of what efforts it sometimes cost people to simply have a quiet drink as a result. Quite often, tea ended up where a new state was born, or they tried to pull the country out of the crisis, or there was a war
The swimsuit did not exist as a wardrobe item until the 17th century. And in 18th century suits, you can hardly see the features of modern beachwear
If the two world wars became the foundation on which our modern world is built, then the era of Napoleon is one of the foundations that existed before them. The young general conquered Europe and controlled the politics of all its countries. What is Napoleon's secret?
Future kings, by all accounts, should not be raised in the same way as ordinary boys. Indeed, the lives of princes often differed from the lives of their peers. After all, they were not prepared to make a career, but to rule destinies … Although sometimes, on the contrary, no one imagined that the prince would become famous, and even more so - a monarch. The more interesting it is to look at the result
Four years before the First World War, the first orphanage in Russia appeared in the village of Altaysk, Biysk district. Its organizer, the peasant son Vasily Ershov, gave him the name "Anthill". For twenty-seven years, the children's commune lived like one family, was supported by the funds earned by Ershov and his ant
Is it true that Hitler did not even graduate from high school? Was he crazy and yelling "Heil Hitler!" All the time? In fact, he did not commit suicide, but faked death and disappeared? Which of this is true and which is not, we will tell in the new issue
It was easier for an ordinary person to escape from marriage than to dissolve it. And the Russian tsars used a whole set of tricks for divorce
The life of Russian peasants from childhood was saturated with violence, perceived as the norm. Lynching, often in extremely violent forms, were commonplace. "You are a fool, you are a fool, you are not enough!" - shouted the children of a mother who was publicly beaten by their father in the village of Aleksandrovka in 1920. Why was it so easy to draw the people into the chaos of violence during the revolutions?
Russians paid for washing in a home bath, for growing a beard, and even for refusing to have children. And this is far from all the taxes that ordinary citizens had to face
Galileo Galilei renounced his ideas in the field of astronomy on June 22, 1633. It happened at the same place where Giordano Bruno heard the death sentence
Everyone knows that canned food has become a real breakthrough in the history of food, especially in the issue of providing food to soldiers. They remain indispensable today in terms of storing food in the field. But few people know that one domestic inventor was able to modernize an ordinary can of stew
It was supposed to be the first high-speed train in the country, but faced a fierce revolutionary struggle
Every day we hear a lot of facts and interesting stories, but we do not always check the information received. As a result, some people believe that an apple fell on Newton's head, Magellan traveled around the world, and Jesus was born on December 25th. It's time to dispel historical myths and figure out where the truth really is
In 1970, archaeologists found a hyena femur bone in France that had been jagged. At first, the researchers postponed the find, but recently the object has again attracted attention. Usually, stripes on ancient objects are perceived as evidence of primitive art - scientists decided that this was a pattern left by some Neanderthal man, but everything turned out to be not so simple
Archaeologists have studied drawings that are at least 80 thousand years old. And, judging by these images, even then people distinguished between isosceles and right-angled triangles, knew how to draw bisectors, and perhaps had even deeper knowledge of geometry. All this makes us think about the level of abstract thinking of our distant ancestors
The Trovante Museum has been operating in Romania for more than ten years. It is located in old sand quarries near Costesti in Valcea County. The museum is small and occupies a hectare with a small area. On its territory there are collected large round stones, here called trovants and capable - unlike other mineral spheroids - of growth and reproduction
In the outbreak of the First World War, military doctors of many countries began to actively use Roentgen's invention. And if in the German army mobile X-ray devices remained on horse-drawn vehicles, then in the French army diagnostic equipment was placed on cars
In the 1970s, Soviet urbanism moved away from the concept of a "linear city". The more advanced system was seen as "Biotrongrad". It was a series of 55-storey buildings, each of which would house 5 thousand people. Ten biotrons would make up a self-sufficient mini-city that provided itself with everything necessary. Ten biotrons - regional center. Ten regional centers are the regional center. All parts of this system would be connected by a vacuum train, which developed a speed of 900 km / h
As a result of "Ivanovskaya Hiroshima" under the threat of radioactive contamination was one of the most important waterways of the Soviet Union - the Volga
At first, Lenin was a translator, and Stalin worked at the observatory. Having become heads of state, they were able to set their own salaries
Those who are interested in Soviet history know that different periods have happened throughout its course. Most evoke patriotic pride. However, there are those that I would like to erase forever not only from memory, but also to remove them altogether, turning the wheel of this very story in the other direction
Is it true that Stalin read up to 500 pages a day? Did he really fight across the globe?
During the Great Terror, hundreds of famous athletes and champions ended up in camps and were even shot. Some of them were real stars
The elderly "leader of the peoples" was replaced by a 24-year-old Dagestani, strikingly similar to Stalin. He's still alive
The ruler had two wives, three children of his own and one adopted. The attitude of the descendants to the "leader" was different: some were proud of kinship, others hid
The deportation of peoples is one of the saddest pages of Soviet history, which is still a sore spot for representatives of many resettled nationalities and social groups
The American dollar was the embodiment of capitalism, the Soviet government believed. Therefore, it was as difficult to get it as any Kalashnikov assault rifle
Joseph Dzhugashvili had more than 30 pseudonyms. Why did he stop at this?