The East German Hot Air Balloon Escape
In September of 1979, two East German families escaped to the west using a very unconventional method - a hot air balloon. It was an escape that required failed prototypes, a near disaster, and raw gu...
20 Apr 19min
War of the Golden Stool
In 1900, a British colonial official demanded an African tribe - the Ashanti - give him a holy relic as a symbol of their capitulation to the English Crown. They refused - and instead took up arms aga...
17 Apr 14min
Milwaukee Bridge War
The city of Milwaukee began as a collection of three towns around the mouth of the Milwaukee River. None of these communities liked each other very much, and vied for supremacy over the area. This com...
16 Apr 14min
Florentine Diamond
The Florentine Diamond is a 137-carat diamond, known for its long association with European royalty. However, after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 - the diamond disappeared. And it wo...
15 Apr 14min
St. Olga of Kyiv
Saints, in the Christian tradition, are people that are in heaven and can influence the world. Most saints are there for their kindness, generosity, piety, or any number of good traits. And then there...
14 Apr 18min
Cher Ami - the Hero Pigeon
In darkest hours of World War I, more than 500 American troops were surrounded by the Germans in the Argonne Forest in France. They were facing furious fire - and were subject to artillery fire from t...
13 Apr 18min
Ocracoke Island Cemetery
The British flag flies in many places around the globe, but one of the most unlikely is a small cemetery on Ocracoke island in North Carolina. Its origin dates back to WWII, and the location has been ...
10 Apr 13min
Haitian Independence Debt
In 1804, Haiti gained its independence. Two decades later the fledgling nation was struggling for international recognition. That is until they struck a deal with France - agreeing to pay 150 million ...
9 Apr 22min
