Ukraine, empty fields

The Rise of the Soviet Union

In 1917, in the middle of the First World War, the Soviets seized control of Russia. They killed Czar Nicolas, as well as the rest of his family, and started the communist revolution. We may know that communism does not work, that the economic system is a failure, and that the cars in communist Russia were horrible. Yet, there is a part of history far worse than that. The Holodomor.

In the 1930’s the Soviets committed genocide. They tried to eradicate the Ukrainian people, so that they could replace them by ethnic Russians. The event would become known as the Holodomor. It is another instance where a government tries to change the ethnic make up of a country in order to increase its control. The strategy is similar to what the Chinese are doing in Tibet, but what the Soviets did was far more cruel.

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The Spartan Army

The Spartan Sacrifice

Everyone knows the story of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. Immortalized a few years ago in a movie with the simple title ‘300’. These Spartan warriors fought against the invading Persian army, and died. Persia had decided to invade Greece, so that they could be subjugated and pay tributes to the great Persian empire. A huge army and fleet was sent to attack the Greeks. A small Greek force was sent forward, to Thermopylae, to defend and hold the Persians as long as they could.

Not only Spartans were present at the battle, but their last stance is what legends are made of. They fought until the bitter end. After their weapons had broken or been lost, they continued fighting with tooth and nail. So many arrows rained down upon them, that it blocked out the sun. They were slaughtered. Moreover, they had known from the start that this was a suicide mission. Death was a worthy sacrifice for something greater. Something greater than their own lives, something they considered worth dying for. Freedom.

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Two personalities combined into one being. Drawing based on the Fight Club movie.

Two World Wars

Everyone with some level of education is well aware that Germany got itself involved in two world wars during the 20th century. Germany also lost both times, since both wars ended up being more or less everyone against Germany. But how did Germany manage to get itself in a two-front war, not once, but twice within a century?

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Battle of Kircholm, by Wojciech Kossak

Beata Szydlo, Prime Minister of Poland since 16^th of November 2016, recently lashed out at the EU. Back in March of this year, she accused the EU of blackmail when they threatened to fine Poland if they did not take a certain number of migrants that have been entering Europe from Africa and the Middle East. Only last month, June 2017, the EU announced to start legal proceedings against Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary, for not wanting to cooperate with the EU relocation plan for migrants. The Polish Prime Minister responded to these threats by saying they would rather face EU sanctions than to change their migrant policy.

The Polish here leads a minority of countries within the EU, which fearlessly retaliates when the EU threatens them. How come the Poles are so willing to accept the wrath of the EU? To understand this question, one must first understand the history of the country. 

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