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History / World History

Is All Still Quiet on the Western Front?

A hundred years after the “war to end all wars” ended, a journey to the front lines of World War I reveals the poignant battles and their tragic legacies

Massive, Awe-Inspiring Sculptures Dot the Former Yugoslavian Countryside

In his new book, photographer Jonathan “Jonk” Jimenez seeks out unique monuments commemorating Yugoslav’s National Liberation Struggle

A cross marks the death of the 340 murdered villagers of Lidice.

The Lost Children of the Lidice Massacre

The Nazis arbitrarily slaughtered the Czech villagers, angering the world, even as Europe’s Jews faced similar fates in concentration camps

Soldiers supporting the coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet take cover as bombs are dropped on the Presidential Palace of La Moneda in Sept. 11, 1973.

An Eyewitness Account of Pinochet’s Coup 45 Years Ago

Smithsonian ethnomusicologist Dan Sheehy poignantly recalls the brutal outcome of a nation divided

An artistic rendering of Edward Jenner vaccinating eight-year-old James Phipps in 1796.

The Mysterious Origins of the Smallpox Vaccine

Though the disease was declared eradicated in 1980, the era of smallpox is far from over

Ben Kingsley stars as Adolf Eichmann in Operation Finale

Based on a True Story

The True Story of “Operation Finale”

Director Chris Weitz explores the 1960 hunt for Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in the new feature film

Captain James Cook set out on a voyage across the Pacific 250 years ago, seemingly on a scientific voyage. But he carried secret instructions from the Navy with him as well.

Captain Cook’s 1768 Voyage to the South Pacific Included a Secret Mission

The explorer traveled to Tahiti under the auspices of science 250 years ago, but his secret orders were to continue Britain’s colonial project

The couch on which Freud’s patients lay became identified with psychoanalysis itself. He shipped it to London when he left Vienna.

Secrets of American History

What Drove Sigmund Freud to Write a Scandalous Biography of Woodrow Wilson?

The founder of psychoanalysis collaborated with a junior American diplomat to lambaste the former president

In the spring of 2018, Angeline Nanni revisited Arlington Hall, where the Venona team got cracking. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Secrets of American History

The Women Code Breakers Who Unmasked Soviet Spies

At the height of the Cold War, America’s most secretive counterespionage effort set out to crack unbreakable ciphers

How to Cipher Like a Soviet

See if you can figure out how the American code-breakers unraveled the complexities of the Russian codebook

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