In what is sometimes described as the largest artillery bombardment in history, the Soviets opened the road to Berlin in 1945 at the Battle of Seelow Heights with a massive barrage that saw over <a href="https://www.thelocal.de/20150416/battle-of-s…
The Dream Team has nothing to do with basketball. On a 2009 episode of Charlie Rose, former Soviet Premiere Mikhail Gorbachev was a guest, commemorating the …
The reign of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (or USSR) came to a screeching halt in 1991. After 68 years of reign, the collective of socialist countries were dissolved and reformed into new borders and republic entities.
This month, …
On Aug. 22, 1944, the Soviet Union secured an armistice with Romania for the Allies. In 1937, Romania’s king, Carol II, dissolved what became a fascist government not unlike that of Nazi Germany. In 1940, the Soviet Union co-opted control of two Romanian provinces, so the king turned to Nazi Germany to help level the … Continued
Today, the Bell Aircraft Corporation is best known for making helicopters like the legendary UH-1 Iroquois. Aviation enthusiasts will recall that the company also made the X-1, the rocket-powered aircraft that took Chuck Yeager past the sound barrier. However, Bell also made one of the deadliest American fighter planes of WWII. It just wasn’t flown … Continued
On Aug. 20, 1968, two hundred thousand Soviet troops and five thousand tanks invaded Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was firmly democratic for decades before World War II, but German forces partially occupied it during World War II and, in 1948, it was conquered by the Soviets. The Communists had supporters in the working class and a stranglehold … Continued
This week in history, East German soldiers closed the borders between East and West Berlin. What started as a makeshift wall in 1961, pieced together with barbed wire, soldiers and tanks, eventually morphed into a 15-foot high symbol of division tha…
On July 20, 1969, the United States won the space race. America had put two astronauts on the moon, secured the ultimate high ground, and put an end to decades of back and forth victories won by American and Soviet scientists. While many Americans s…
Although the USSR under Joseph Stalin didn’t start World War II as a reliable ally, it sure helped finished the job. By the end of the war, the Red Army had captured much of Germany, including Berlin, and had mauled the Nazi Wehrmacht all across the Eastern Front. The Soviet victory over Nazi Germany came … Continued
The Soviet-built Tupolev ANT-20 – also known as the Maxim Gorky – was the largest aircraft in the world while it flew. First taking off in 1934, it was an eight-engine flying machine the size of a Boeing 747 at a time when companies were still producing biplanes. It was also both a literal and … Continued