World War II

“Paris must not fall into the hands of the enemy,” Adolf Hitler told his top general in Paris, “or if it does, he must find there nothing but a field of ruins.”

During World War II, the Liberation of Paris Saved the French Capital From Destruction

Adolf Hitler wanted Paris razed. Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted his troops to stay out of the city. In August 1944, an uprising by French resistance fighters forced the Allies to intervene

Another rare example of Alan Turing's handwritten notes, which went to auction in 2015

British Government Places Export Ban on Alan Turing's World War II-Era Notebooks

The mathematician took careful notes while working on a portable voice encryption system in the mid-1940s

The munitions are primarily located in Lake Thun, Lake Brienz, Lake Lucerne and Lake Neuchatel.

For Decades, Switzerland Dumped Munitions Into Its Pristine Alpine Lakes. Now, It Wants Them Gone

Officials are offering cash rewards for the best strategies to safely remove the submerged weapons

The rooftop addition has a hotel, restaurants and thousands of plants.

Germany Turns Former Nazi Bunker Into a Leisure Complex

Built as an air raid shelter in the 1940s, the massive structure now houses a hotel, restaurants and a rooftop park with lush greenery

L to R: John F. Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. in London in 1937

The Top-Secret World War II Mission That Killed Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the Heir Apparent to the Political Dynasty

In August 1944, the older brother of Robert and John F. Kennedy died while piloting a drone aircraft over England, leaving his younger siblings to fulfill their father's dreams

Video footage captured by a remotely operated underwater vehicle shows the cable winch of the S.S. Dellwood, a 3,500-ton U.S. Army vessel that had been installing communication lines when it collided with a submerged rock pinnacle.

Unraveling the Mysteries of the Battle of Attu, the 'Forgotten Battle' of World War II

Underwater archaeologists discovered three shipwrecks submerged near the small Alaskan island, which was the site of one of the deadliest conflicts in the Pacific

A little over a century ago, a limestone cave system north of Kuala Lumpur was reborn as a holy Hindu shrine, called Batu Caves.

From Cisterns to Temples, These Twelve Underground Worlds Are Open for Exploring

Some of these age-old subterranean spaces have even been transformed into amusement parks, art galleries and restaurants

Of these featured individuals, Benjamin Spock, Johnny Weissmuller and Harold Sakata medaled at the Olympics.

Ten Surprising Public Figures Who Dreamed of Olympic Gold

The list includes European royals, Darth Vader's stunt double and an American World War II general

The explosion at Port Chicago on July 17, 1944, killed 320 people and injured 400 more.

Black Sailors Exonerated 80 Years After Deadly World War II Disaster

The Navy secretary officially cleared the 256 Black service members who were punished in connection with the explosion in Port Chicago, California

The five-foot-tall bronze statue was installed in Peace Park in the '90s.

A Statue of a 12-Year-Old Hiroshima Victim Has Been Stolen

The monument to Sadako Sasaki, who died of leukemia in 1955, vanished from Peace Park in Seattle

Riviera Coast Scene, Winston Churchill, circa 1935

Check Out Ten Never-Before-Seen Paintings by Winston Churchill

The former British prime minister was an avid painter who sometimes gifted his works to other world leaders

Was Leicester Hemingway's micronation of New Atlantis a quixotic experiment in democracy or an elaborate improv comedy sketch? 

Why Ernest Hemingway's Younger Brother Established a Floating Republic in the Caribbean

On July 4, 1964, Leicester Hemingway founded New Atlantis, a raft-turned-micronation intended to support marine life in the region

Baskind was buried under a Star of David with full military honors at the Normandy American Cemetery in France this week.

A Jewish Soldier Found in a German Mass Grave Has Been Reburied in an American Cemetery

Nathan Baskind received a Jewish burial exactly 80 years after his death in World War II

St. Gregory of Nazianzus is finally heading home to Germany.

This Rubens Painting Vanished During World War II. Now, It's Returning Home to a Castle in Germany

"St. Gregory of Nazianzus," once part of the Baroque palace's collection, was stolen and sold at the end of the war

Rickwood Field is the oldest ballpark in the United States.

Everyone Should Know About Rickwood Field, the Alabama Park Where Baseball Legends Made History

The sport's greatest figures played ball in the Deep South amid the racism and bigotry that would later make Birmingham the center of the civil rights movement

Food, Fruit and Glass on a Table, Peter Binoit, circa 1620s

Two Nazi-Looted Paintings Were Returned to a Jewish Family, Who Donated Them Back to the Louvre

The 17th-century artworks were recovered from Germany and placed at the Paris museum in the 1950s

Edmond O'Brien and Jan Sterling during the filming of a 1956 adaptation of George Orwell's 1984

What Does George Orwell's '1984' Mean in 2024?

Now 75 years old, the dystopian novel still rings alarm bells about totalitarian rule

War correspondent Martha Gellhorn (left) and her first husband, Ernest Hemingway, in 1940

Martha Gellhorn Was The Only Woman to Report on the D-Day Landings From the Ground

In June 1944, the veteran journalist hid on a hospital ship so she could report firsthand as Allied soldiers fought their way onto the beaches of Normandy

The 311-foot-long vessel was built in Connecticut starting in 1941 and made six war patrols in search of Japanese warships.

Wreck of WWII Submarine Found After 80 Years

The USS Harder, known by the nickname "Hit ‘em HARDER," was led by a commander known for his 'particularly audacious attacks' on Japanese warships

The tiles were likely made in the Netherlands in the late 17th century.

This Polish Museum Received a Mysterious Package in the Mail—With Missing 17th-Century Tiles Inside

The ceramic tiles, which vanished during World War II, once adorned a Baroque bathing pavilion in Warsaw

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