Today in military history: Napoleon enters Moscow
On Sep. 14, 1812, just one week after crushing the Russian Army at Borodino, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his Grand Armée entered the city of Moscow. The Emperor controlled…
These are the 10 rules the CIA used for spying on the Soviet Union in Moscow
During the Cold War, fighting had grown hot in many countries, but never ignited between the two global superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. For the intelligence agencies…
Aces High: Over the Volga with Lydia Litvyak
In all of history, women have played a pivotal role in military campaigns. From the Israelites’ Deborah, to female machine gunners in the 1948-49 War of Independence, to the vicious…
The origin of the famous red phone in the Oval Office
In countless movies, in references across all mediums, the red phone exists. Brightly hued and highlighted through dramatic dialogue, we are shown this famous form of communication within the White…
How Pepsi became the 6th largest military in the world
Almost everyone in the world has a favorite soda that they enjoy whenever they get the opportunity. But, is your favorite tasty drink worth giving up a military arsenal big enough to stock a whole country? Well, at one point in history, the Russi…
This proposed nuke would’ve destroyed a continent
Soon after America set off its largest-ever nuclear blast on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, one of the scientists behind the weapon’s design aimed for something even bigger: a 10,000-megaton blast that would’ve been 670,000 times as powerful as the …
This failed nuclear engine might be able to power your city
During the Cold War, the Air Force and the Atomic Energy Commission (which was later folded into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) set out to create an all-new nuclear reactor that not only would be more efficient than the reactors we have today, b…
‘Moscow continues to weaponize space’ — US Military condemns Russia’s latest anti-satellite missile test
Space is no longer the battlefield of the future — it’s already a contested “warfighting domain,” within which the US, Russia, and China are all jockeying for advantage. Russia recently…
U.S. officially withdraws from Open Skies Treaty; Moscow says ‘All options are open to us’
The United States formally withdrew on November 22 from the Open Skies Treaty, an 18-year-old arms control and verification agreement that Washington repeatedly accused Moscow of violating. The withdrawal is…
The 1980 Olympics are the ‘cleanest’ in history. Athletes recall how Moscow cheated the system.
When Moscow hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics, games were being played not only in Soviet arenas but at the headquarters of the KGB.
The Kremlin was determined to host an untarnished event after the United States and 65 other countries boycotted…