Mental Floss
Mental Floss

WAR

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“Twenty-five years of peace, Mr. Carnegie, and I hope there will be twenty-five more!” Thus Kaiser Wilhelm II greeted Andrew Carnegie, the world-famous industrialist and peace advocate, who had come to Berlin to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Kaise

Erik Sass
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In our Retrobituaries series, we spotlight those departed whose lives are insufficiently celebrated. Here is a look at the life of Major General Thomas Farrell, who died at 75 in 1967.

David W Brown
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In the 1950s and 60s, the U.S. Army conducted training exercises using an imaginary enemy named, quite simply, Aggressor. The soldiers assigned to play the part of Aggressor troops had to speak a different language: Esperanto, the language of peace.

Arika Okrent
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Before the First Balkan War between the Balkan League and the Ottoman Empire was even over, another conflict was brewing—this time between the members of the Balkan League.

Erik Sass
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While “Dixie” (you know, “Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton/Old times there are not forgotten…”) might seem as inseparable from the South as collard greens and barbecue, the song was actually written in New York by an Ohio native.

Matt Soniak
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Installment #56: On February 18, center-right politician Raymond Poincaré took office in an inauguration ceremony at the Hôtel de Ville. Poincaré’s presidency was an important factor in the lead-up to the First World War for a number of reasons. Although

Erik Sass
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