History & Persons

Vladimir Grigoryan30.06.2026

The Armenian Genocide of 1915 was not a consequence of the First World War—it was one of the reasons the Ottoman Empire entered into the war. I didn’t arrive at this conclusion quickly. For at least twenty years I tried to understand why the Turks embarked on the gamble of joining Germany. One common explanation […]

Egor Yakovlev29.06.2026

Once upon a time, Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev invented a smokeless pyrocollodion powder. At the time, European armies were rearming, and the Russian Naval Ministry reasoned that it would be better to have its own smokeless propellant technology than to rely on pyroxylin, which was already being produced at the Okhta Powder Works using French technology […]

Yuri Chekalin21.06.2026

The mass disturbances in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait occurred on November 7, 1963, the 46th anniversary of the October Revolution. At 10:00 a.m., as usual, an official workers’ parade was proceeding through the city’s central square, just as it was throughout the Soviet Union. From the reviewing stand, slogans and praises honoring the Communist […]

Yuri Chekalin18.06.2026

A.R. Dyukov, known on Telegram under the modest nickname “Historian Dyukov,” decided to continue his denunciations of Vladimir Lenin and came up with the following: “I can’t help once again admiring Lenin’s genius. On February 26, 1921, when the country was already in a deep economic disaster and people were supposedly dying of hunger: ‘The […]

Yuri Chekalin12.06.2026

Oda Nobunaga is one of the most influential figures in Japanese history. Living during the turbulent Sengoku, or “Warring States,” period, he began the process of unifying Japan after more than a century of civil conflict. Through military innovation, political vision, and bold leadership, Nobunaga transformed the balance of power in Japan and laid the […]

Yuri Chekalin09.06.2026

Throughout the 1930s, Trotsky and his supporters waged relentless attacks on the Soviet leadership and the Comintern. The goal of these attacks, regardless of the accusations against Stalin, slogans, and theoretical postulates advanced, was essentially the same: to remove the moderate wing of the Bolshevik Party, led by Stalin, from power in the USSR, transfer […]

Yuri Chekalin08.06.2026

The circumstances of Lev Trotsky’s death have long attracted the attention of researchers. It’s no secret that Ramon Mercader, who fatally stabbed the leader of the Fourth International with an alpenstock on August 20, 1940, was not just a lone fanatic, but a tool of the USSR’s state security agencies. However, knowing the details of […]

Klim Zhukov08.06.2026

In 1881, France grabbed another colony—Tunisia. The Italians were very upset about this, as they had long wanted Tunisia for themselves. The public dubbed this unfortunate demarche the “Tunisian slap in the face,” after which Italy joined the then-secret alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary. But that’s a different story. The issue lies in Tunisia itself—an […]

Alexander Palladin13.05.2026

On May 13th, 1991, an assassination attempt was made on Pope John Paul II in the Vatican. He was wounded with pistol shots by Mehmet Ali Ağca, member of the Turkish “Grey Wolves” group of nationalists. Previously, Ağca killed Agdi Ipekçi, editor of Turkey’s major newspaper Milliyet. He was caught and convicted, but managed to […]

Yaroslav Listov22.04.2026

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s birthday is a good opportunity to remember what this name means to us, modern residents of Russia. Today, as a matter of principle, I will not discuss the lofty matters of philosophy and political analysis. Lenin was not only a politician, but also a brilliant philosopher, sociologist, economist, historian, and, of course, […]

The Reasons the Ottoman Empire Entered the WW1

The Great Russian Scientist Mendeleev

Code 10-44 for Azerbaijani City of Sumgait on November 6, 1963

Dyukov on Lenin

Oda Nobunaga: The Unifier Who Changed Japan

Why Was Trotsky Killed?

The Circumstances of Trotsky’s Death

How an Abkhazian Boy Sold Out Italy, and Tunisia Ended up a French Colony

45th Anniversary of Assassination Attempt on Pope John Paul II

Voice from Russia

The Michael Jackson Biopic is Missing its Most Controversial Story

Madama Butterfly and the Japan of the Western Imagination

The Spanish Civil War at 90: the Republic’s Response

Terminator Is about 80 Years Old