History, Events And Facts

Hitler systematically murdered roughly two-thirds of Europe’s Jews: about 6 million of the 9–10 million living in Europe before the war.  The large and vibrant Jewish communities of Eastern Europe were wiped out. The profound evil and the tragedy of the Nazi death camps of WWII are the most widely known feature of the Holocaust; but, from the very moment they came to power, the Nazis began implementing their systematic program of terror and violence directed primarily towards Jews. This is an essential point to make, because it means their actions were not the unfortunate necessities of war, but were in fact a plan to eradicate an entire people. . . . Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party, like other parties on the far right during the interwar period, saw attacks on Jews as a winning electoral strategy. But the Jews were always central to Adolf Hitler’s view of the world. He had picked up anti-Semitism in the nasty and polarized politics of Vienna before World War I. Afterward, he became lead...

 The Battle of Adwa, 1 March, 1896. 126 years ago, on the 1st of March 1896, the Ethiopian Empire under Menelik II inflicted the greatest military defeat on a European colonial power during the Scramble for Africa, when they decisively defeated the Italians at the battle of Adwa. Over 100.000 Ethiopians bore down on the c. 14,500 Italian and Ascari troops with an unovercomable zeal, that has since become legendary.  What follows is a rundown of the battle, from “Armies of of the Adowa Campaign 1896”, by Sean McLachlan.  “THE BATTLE  The attacks on Albertone’s command  It was Ras Alula’s scouts who sighted Albertone’s troops as they came into position; despite being on the Ethiopian left (north) wing, and thus furthest from Albertone’s brigade, the victor of Dogali was the first to spot them because he had scouts active across the entire area. Soon the entire Ethiopian camp was alerted, and began forming up to envelop the invaders. On the right, south of Adowa, w...