Posted inFirst World War, Second World War

The Spectacular Fort Built by the Italians Atop Mount Chaberton in the Alps is the Highest in Europe

Located at 3,130 meters above sea level at the summit of Mount Chaberton in the Cerces Massif of the French Alps, the fortified complex known as the Chaberton Battery is the highest military fort in Europe. Built between 1898 and 1910 by the Kingdom of Italy, it played a relevant, though brief, role during World […]

Posted inFirst World War

The Battle of the Porpoises, when a Brazilian Cruiser Fired on the Animals Believing Them to Be a German U-boat

What’s going on with the Brazilian navy and marine life? Once upon a time, warships from that country had their ups and downs with the French during a conflict of grotesque proportions known as the Lobster War. Now, we’re going to look at an even more bizarre episode: the Battle of the Porpoises, an incident […]

Posted inFirst World War

“Willy-Nicky Correspondence”, the Exchange of Telegrams between the Tsar and the Kaiser on the Eve of World War I

In the year 1918, just after the end of World War I, American journalist, writer, and diplomat Herman Bernstein published a book titled The Willy–Nicky correspondence. It was an anthology of private telegrams exchanged between Tsar Nicholas II and Kaiser Wilhelm over several years, on the eve of the conflict, attempting to soothe tensions. The […]

Posted inFirst World War, Science

The chemical process invented to manufacture explosives that today feeds one-third of the world’s population

If I review the term Haber Process and accompany it with descriptive words such as industry, ammonia, nitrogen, fertilizer, and energy consumption, it is almost inevitable that most people will picture factories working non-stop, emitting columns of smoke into the air through their long chimneys, and ultimately polluting the environment. And there is certainly some […]