In 1981, Israel launched a daring airstrike that destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. But the mission, codenamed Operation Opera, was not the first military attempt to halt Saddam Hussein’s nuclear ambitions. A year earlier, Iran’s air force had already bombed the same facility, with Israel’s secret backing. During the late 1970s and early … Read more
Lady Jane Grey is remembered as one of the most tragic figures in English royal history, a teenager who was placed on the throne against her will and held it for only nine days before her own government turned against her. Her downfall began with her cousin, King Edward VI, who named her his successor … Read more
On the evening of November 16, 2019, inside Buckingham Palace, a 59-year-old man sat under television lights to answer questions no member of the British royal family had ever faced on camera. Across from him sat Emily Maitlis of BBC Newsnight, one of the country’s most forensic interviewers. Within four days of the broadcast, his … Read more
On April 26, 1945, a German aircraft threaded through Soviet anti-aircraft fire and landed on a tree-lined avenue beside the Brandenburg Gate. The general flying it had been hit. The woman behind him reached over his shoulder and brought the plane down safely. She then walked into the Führerbunker and stayed for three days while … Read more
On the morning of August 13, 1868, in a small farmhouse along the Republican River in Cloud County, Kansas, 17-year-old Sarah White watched six Cheyenne warriors eat breakfast prepared by her mother. The men had smiled, promised friendship, and accepted the food. Within minutes, they seized the girl, threw her onto a horse, and rode … Read more
In 1875, a 17-year-old Belgian princess married a German prince more than a decade her senior. The union, arranged for diplomatic reasons, quickly turned abusive, and the princess eventually fled her husband—an act that led to her being confined in a psychiatric asylum for over six years. Princess Louise of Belgium was born on February … Read more
The guest list for Prince Philip’s funeral on April 17, 2021, was limited to just 30 people due to pandemic restrictions. Nearly every name belonged to the immediate royal family, their spouses, or members of the Duke of Edinburgh’s scattered German relatives. The thirtieth guest, however, was neither blood nor marriage. Her name was Penelope … Read more
On June 22, 1941, German forces crossed the Soviet border without a declaration of war, along a front stretching from the Baltic to the Carpathians. Within weeks, entire Soviet armies were destroyed, and millions of soldiers fell into German hands. For most of those prisoners, captivity meant a slow death. Men were held in open … Read more
During a recent visit to the United States, I was in New York City and took the opportunity to tour the preserved aircraft carrier USS Intrepid. It is an excellent museum and well worth visiting, but one question occurred to me as I walked around the ship. My question was this: if the British Royal … Read more
Born on Christmas Eve in 1809 near Richmond, Kentucky, Christopher “Kit” Houston Carson could have easily passed into obscurity. His father, Lindsey Carson, had ten children from a first marriage and five more with Kit’s mother, Rebecca Robinson. A Scots-Irish Presbyterian farmer and cabin builder, Lindsey was a veteran of America’s early conflicts, having lost … Read more