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The Home Fronts in World War I - The Effects of Total War on Civilians
The First World War (1914-18) saw fighting on an unprecedented scale but also involved civilians as never before. For the first time, people hundreds of miles from the fighting front were vulnerable to air attacks. The war at sea dramatically...
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Athena Parthenos by Phidias
The magnificent temple on the Acropolis of Athens, known as the Parthenon, was built between 447 and 432 BCE in the Golden Age of Pericles, and it was dedicated to the city's patron deity Athena. The temple was constructed to house the new...
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Battle of Kursk - Largest Tank Battle in History
The Battle of Kursk (Jul-Aug 1943), which involved nearly 6,000 tanks, was the largest tank battle in history and ended in a decisive victory for the Red Army in WWII (1939-45). Two Axis armies had attempted to cut off a Red Army bulge in...
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Discovery of Troy
In his epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Greek poet Homer (c. 750 BCE) told the story of the Trojan War, a ten-year siege of the city of Troy by an alliance of Greek city-states. Troy was also known by its Latinised name of Ilium...
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Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805), or the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of the most significant battles of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). It saw French Emperor Napoleon I (r. 1804-1814; 1815) and his Grande Armée decisively...
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The Red Army in WWII
The Red Army of the USSR began the Second World War (1939-45) with a series of shocking defeats, but from late 1942, it rallied and held on to key cities like the capital Moscow, Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), and Stalingrad (Volgograd). Then...
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Russia's Provisional Government of 1917
The Russian Provisional Government of 1917, really a series of unelected coalitions, briefly held power from March to November, that is between the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917) and the Bolshevik Revolution led by Vladimir...
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Battle of Moscow in 1941-2 - The USSR's First Victory
The Battle of Moscow (Oct 41 to Jan 42) was Germany's first major land defeat in the Second World War (1939-45). Although Axis panzer divisions reached within 20 miles (32 km) of the Soviet capital, the USSR's Red Army, led by Marshal Georgi...
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The Stolypin Reforms - Tsar Nicholas II's Attempt to Stave off Revolution
Pyotr Stolypin (1862-1911) was a Russian politician who served as prime minister to Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917). Stolypin ruthlessly quashed anti-Tsarist rebellions after the Russian Revolution of 1905 but was also responsible for...
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Battle of Kiev in 1941
The Battle of Kiev (Kyiv) in July-September 1941 was a major Axis victory in Operation Barbarossa, Adolf Hitler's attack on the USSR during the Second World War (1939-45). Hitler wanted the resources of Ukraine since these would allow the...