PN1501

In December 1944, General George S. Patton Jr. was everywhere at the front, riding in his Jeep through the frozen mud of Luxembourg and France. But one cold morning near Nancy, France, a scene unfolded that had nothing to do with the Germans. A white first lieutenant stood face to face with a black second … Read more

In March 1945, in Germany, a supply sergeant named Harold Vance noticed a shortage in his inventory that he could not explain through normal consumption. Flour, potatoes, and canned vegetables had been taken in small amounts at irregular intervals over a period of three weeks. The quantities were not enough to disrupt operations, but they … Read more

Don Carlos of Spain had an inbreeding coefficient of 0.211. A child born to first cousins scores 0.0625. He was 3.4 times more inbred than that. The version of Don Carlos most people carry in their heads comes from an opera. Verdi's Don Carlos, premiered in Paris in 1867, gives you the beautiful doomed prince, … Read more

In late July 1944, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower stood over a map table in Normandy, tracking the progress of George Patton's Third Army. The blue line representing Patton's advance should have been near Avranches. It was not. It was 40 miles beyond. An aide updated the position again. Now it was 60 miles past … Read more

Few monarchs in Spanish history have been judged as harshly as Ferdinand VII. Historians who have studied his reign tend to reach the same conclusion: that he was cruel, vindictive, and sexually deviant in ways that shaped the fate of a nation. Yet the full story of his marriages, his deformities, and his obsessions is … Read more

Perched above the rugged peaks of the Bavarian Alps, the Kehlsteinhaus—better known to the world as the Eagle's Nest—remains one of the most striking surviving relics of the Nazi era. Completed in 1938, the building sits more than 6,000 feet above sea level, overlooking the village of Obersalzberg and, far below, the town of Berchtesgaden. … Read more

Charles II of Spain was born on November 6, 1661, in the royal Alcazar of Madrid. He was the only surviving son of Philip IV of Spain and Mariana of Austria. His father was his mother's uncle, making the child both grandson and great-nephew to the same man. His birth was not merely a political … Read more

The Nazi regime officially promoted a conservative vision of marriage and family. German women were expected to be mothers and housewives above all, and the state even awarded medals to women who bore large numbers of children. Divorce was frowned upon, and Germany lagged far behind its enemies in mobilizing women for war work or … Read more

On January 27, 1945, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz, the largest of the Nazi extermination centers in German-occupied Poland. Between 1940 and 1945, an estimated minimum of 1.3 million people were deported to the camp, and at least 1.1 million of them were murdered. Not all prisoners died in what has been called a Nazi … Read more