#history

Andorra’s co-princes

Andorra is a sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, established as a principality in 1278, bordered by France and Spain.

· Link post  #history
Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Adenauer was the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963 and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1946 to 1966. He was a devout Catholic and previously involved in the Catholic Centre Party, serving as Mayor of Cologne and in the Prussian State Council.

· Link post  #history
Italy as a US state

The Italian Unionist Movement, formed on 12 October 1944 by Ugo Damiani, Santi Paladino, and Corrado Gini, aimed to have Italy join the United States to form a world government for peace.

· Link post  #history
Distribution of individualism in Vietnam

The paper proposes the selective migration hypothesis, suggesting that the migration of individualistic people from collectivist regions to frontiers contributes to current cultural differences along the individualism–collectivism dimension.

· Link post  #history
Oswald Mosley and fascism in Britain

Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley was a British politician who founded and led the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s, after becoming disillusioned with mainstream politics.

· Link post  #history
Francisco de Pina

Francisco de Pina (1585–1625) was a Portuguese Jesuit who created the first Latinized script of the Vietnamese language, influencing the modern Vietnamese alphabet.

· Link post  #history
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was a South Vietnamese military officer who served as president from 1967 to 1975. Initially joining and then leaving the Việt Minh, he became a general in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces and was accused of corruption during his presidency.

· Link post  #history
Graham Martin

Graham Anderson Martin was the last U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam from 1973 to 1975, appointed with the perception that as a liberal Democrat, any failures wouldn’t adversely affect the Republican Nixon administration. His commitment to the Vietnam War was notable when others had lost faith.

· Link post  #history
Đổi Mới

Đổi Mới refers to economic reforms in Vietnam initiated in 1986 aimed at transitioning from a command economy to a socialist-oriented market economy, introducing private ownership and a stock exchange.

· Link post  #communism #history
Eleusinian Mysteries

The Eleusinian Mysteries were annual initiations for the cult of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis in ancient Greece, rooted in older agrarian cults and possibly Mycenaean practices, involving symbolic phases of loss, search, and ascent.

· Link post  #history
Friendly societies privatised welfare

Friendly societies are mutual associations that provide insurance, pensions, savings, or cooperative banking services to their members, established before modern insurance and welfare systems.

· Link post  #history
Vietnam loves free markets

Vietnam’s economic system is termed a socialist-oriented market economy; it’s a multi-sector market with state direction aimed at developing socialism ultimately, stemming from the Đổi Mới reforms of 1986.

· Link post  #history #communism
Khalid Sheldrake: The East Dulwich man who would be King

Bertie Sheldrake, originally from a South London pickle-making family, converted to Islam at 16, adopting the name Khalid, under the guidance of Abdullah Suhrawardy.

· Link post  #history
The White Rajahs

The White Rajahs, the Brooke family, ruled Sarawak on Borneo from 1841 to 1946, after James Brooke received the territory for helping fight piracy and insurgency.

· Link post  #history
Silpa Bhirasri, the father of modern art in Thailand

Silpa Bhirasri (born Corrado Feroci) was a pivotal figure in Thai modern art, founding Silpakorn University, and is often referred to as the father of modern art in Thailand.

· Link post  #history
Earth’s deepest hole

The Soviet Union initiated the Kola Superdeep Borehole project in the 1960s to explore the Earth’s upper crust, aiming to reach the boundary between the crust and mantle.

· Link post  #history
Two-thirds of Chinese POWs in the Korean War chose to be repatriated to Taiwan

At the end of the Korean War, only a third of Chinese POWs returned to Communist China; the majority went to Nationalist Taiwan, marking a propaganda achievement.

· Link post  #china #communism #history
Air Chief Marshal Fufu

Fufu was a Thai poodle owned by Vajiralongkorn, the then Crown Prince of Thailand.

· Link post  #history
Lee Kuan Yew's pragmatism and the money illusion

Money illusion refers to people’s tendency to think in nominal rather than real terms, misunderstanding the economic reality. Fiscal illusion is a similar concept that occurs when tax structures or labeling disguise the real economic situation, as seen in Singapore’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) used for public services like housing and healthcare. CPF contributions, although not labeled as “taxes”, function similarly to tax-funded public programs found worldwide.

· Link post  #history
Julius Caesar was captured by pirates

In 75 BCE, Cilician pirates captured the Roman nobleman Julius Caesar, demanding a ransom of 20 talents, which Caesar insisted be raised to 50 talents, recognising his own value.

· Link post  #history
World War II R&D

The US government’s Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) during World War II led to substantial public investment in applied R&D.

· Link post  #history
Desmond Arthur, Irish aviator and ghost

Lieutenant Desmond Arthur of No. 2 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, died in Scotland’s first fatal aircraft accident and was initially blamed for the crash, though later cleared of responsibility by a subsequent inquiry.

· Link post  #history
Flower wars

Flower wars were ritualistic conflicts fought by the Aztec Triple Alliance against their enemies from the mid-1450s to 1519, detailed earliest by Texcocan nobleman Ixtlilxochitl.

· Link post  #history
Immigrants were key to European development

The study analyses data on over 22,000 individuals born between 1000 and 2000 to understand the impact of famous immigrants, emigrants, and locals on European regions’ knowledge specializations.

· Link post  #history
Tlaxcala

Tlaxcala was a pre-Columbian city-state in central Mexico, never conquered by the Aztec Empire despite being completely surrounded by it and in constant conflict.

· Link post  #history