Browsing: Lists

A Brief History On June 12, 1987, Emperor Bokassa, former leader of the Central African Empire, was sentenced to death for atrocities during his reign of 13 years.  At least he was acquitted of cannibalism!  Goofy leaders like Bokassa have appeared throughout history and continue to appear.  Here we list 10 such buffoons, people of massive egos, incredible cruelty, sub-standard intellect, or just plain old buffoonery.  We are talking about goofs that could just as easily be a cartoon character villain.  These guys have pictures of themselves all over their country, statues, too.  Sometimes they declare themselves a god or…

A Brief History On June 11, 1937, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had eight of his top army generals executed as part of The Great Purge.  From 1934 to 1940 Stalin had vast numbers of government, party, and army officials murdered to satisfy his paranoid delusions that everyone was out to get him.  This purge left his military in bad shape when war came, stripped of many of its most capable officers, but just another day for “The Man of Steel.”  Stalin was a bad person indeed, and although Hitler is generally regarded as the most evil man in history, Uncle Joe gives…

A Brief History On June 10, 1942, and again on June 10, 1944, the German army committed atrocities in Czechoslovakia (Lidice), France (Oradour-sur-Glane), and Greece (Distomo, Boeotia) in separate incidents.  Slaughtering or massacring innocent civilians or prisoners of war was a sadly not uncommon practice of one of history’s most brutal regimes.  Here we list 10 such examples of how rotten the Nazis really were, and thus why there should be no romanticizing about their “glory days.”  Indeed, with good reason, multiple Nazis appear on the list of most evil people in history due to their many atrocities.  Most of…

A Brief History On June 9, 1667, the Dutch Navy handed the British Royal Navy its worst defeat in its history in what is known as the Raid on the Medway.  The Dutch burned 13 British ships, including 3 of the largest (“capital ships”) and towed away 2 more large ships, including the Flagship of the Royal Navy, the HMS Royal Charles.  This raid was done in England, far up the river Thames and then up the river Medway at Chatham.  Bold raids such as this are sometimes spectacularly successful, and sometimes not so much.  Raids are surprise attacks of short duration,…

A Brief History On June 8, 1972, Nick Ut of the Associated press took his famous photograph of a 9 year old Vietnamese girl running naked from a US napalm attack.  For this poignant photo Ut won a Pulitzer Prize.  Sometimes a photographer is just in the right place at the right time and takes the photo of a lifetime.  Here we list 10 great examples of the photographers’ art.  (Note: By its nature, this list is subjective!  That is why we do not presume to call them the “greatest.”  Also, because a picture already says a thousand words, we shall…