World War 1
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The Netherlands remained neutral during the First World War. However, that did not mean the country was unaffected by the conflict. In the course of 1916, for instance, food shortages began to emerge. In Amsterdam, this led to the so-called Potato Riot in the summer of 1917. Potatoes were the staple food of the common…
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Last weekend I spent in Liverpool. The weather was fantastic and there was a great atmosphere. While I was walking around the docks, I came across these memorials, of service men of several countries, merchants sailors, and civilians who died in World War 2 and 1. I would like to share those memorials with you.
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Les Morts Dansant is a 1984 song by Magnum. from their classic album “On a Storytellers night” The song was initially called “Cannon”, this Tony Clarkin composition is about one of the horrors of war. In World War I, a surprising – some would say disgraceful – number of British soldiers were executed by firing…
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Henry Tandey (1891–1977) was a British soldier best known for an incident during World War I that became a subject of enduring historical debate. He is often remembered not only for his service but also for his association with Adolf Hitler, a moment that was later mythologized into an iconic and controversial story. Tandey was…
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On may 15 1945 , Otto Frank wrote the following letter, while on board the Monowai steamship. This was exactly 5 years after the Dutch army had capitulated to the Germans. “The closer we get to home the greater our impatience to hear from our loved ones. Everything that’s happened the past few years! Until…
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Nowadays, it is easy to blame social media for the widespread distribution of fake news through memes and other formats. However, this phenomenon is far from new. About 100 years ago, propaganda postcards and cartoons served the same purpose (after all, a meme is essentially a digital version of a propaganda or satirical postcard or…
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The title may sound unusual, but it reflects the difficulty of capturing this idea succinctly. One of the most damning aspects surrounding the Holocaust—arguably even more troubling than the staggering number of victims—is how the international community repeatedly stood by as Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles. At multiple points, Germany’s military expansion could have…
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In 1918, Germany lost the First World War. By the end of the war, uprisings and revolutions had broken out across the country. Many German revolutionaries followed the example of the revolution that had erupted in Russia in 1917, which led to a bloody civil war that lasted until 1922 and ended with the proclamation…
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I know what you all will be thinking that this will be a blog about President Truman, possibly about the order he gave to drop the atomic bombs. Well, you’d be wrong. It is indeed a blog about some explosive events but nothing WWII related. In fact it isn’t about President Truman either. The subject…
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On 20 December 1915, the Gallipoli Campaign effectively ended not with a final charge or a decisive victory, but with silence. In the early hours of that winter morning, the last Allied troops slipped away from the beaches of Anzac Cove and Suvla Bay, leaving behind empty trenches, abandoned positions, and a battlefield that had…
History of Sorts 