Category: History

Witness the transformation across time and interpret the past of human societies while shedding light on the most prominent events.

French Invasion of Russia, 1812: Napoleon’s Russian Campaign
September 14, 2022
Robert Fortune: The tea spy, and the most profitable heist ever
September 14, 2022
Timeline of Human History: From 8 Million Years Ago to 3000 BC
Around eight million years ago, our ancestors lived in Africa. We emerged seven million years later and developed skills such as advanced toolmaking and agriculture which allowed us to establish settlements all over the world. Humans are now a distinct species on the planet, but this was not always the case.
Strange human ancestors once roamed the Earth, such as Nutcracker Man or Homo floresiensis, whose tiny bodies resembled hobbits. Fossils show that Homo sapiens once interacted with Neanderthals, and a recently discovered species known as the Denisovans adds to the evidence that modern humans and some of our forefathers lived close to each other.
Timeline of human history
- 7 million years ago:
  Hominin and chimpanzee lineages merged.
- 7 – 6 million years ago:
  The species Sahelanthropus tchadensis may have lived before the Hominin-Chimpanzee divergence.
- 5.7 – 5.2 million years ago:
  Ardipithecus kadabba, a similar species of A. ramidus.
- 4.4 million years ago:
  Ardipithecus ramidus (“Ardi”) looked like a chimpanzee but definitely walked on two legs.
- 4.1 – 2 million years ago:
  Australopithecus afarensis had a bigger brain than modern chimpanzees, but still climbed trees.
- 3.6 million years ago:
  The date of hominin footprints found in volcanic ash at Laetoli, Tanzania.
- 3.5 – 2 million years ago:
  The first identifiable hominin fossils of Australopithecus africanus.
- 3.3 million years ago:
  The first marks made on bones with stone tools in Dikika, Ethiopia, point to the first stone tool use and meat consumption.
Skeletal cast of “Lucy”. (Credit: H. Lorren Au Jr/ZUMA Press/Corbis)
- 3.18 million years ago:
  “Lucy” represents the actual appearance of Australopithecus afarensis; 13 males and females of different ages formed the “First Family” of A. afarensis fossils.
- 2.6 million years ago:
  The first known stone tools appeared in the Gona region of Ethiopia.
- 2.5 – 1.2 million years ago:
  The “Nutcracker Man”, Paranthropus boisei, had large teeth and jaws for grinding food.
- 2-1 million years ago:
  Paranthropus robustus, the first Paranthropus discovered.
- 1.9 – 1.6 million years ago:
  Homo habilis (“handy man”) is believed to have made tools and left bone markings.
- 1.8 million years ago:
  Homo ergaster was much taller and slimmer than its ancestors.
- 1.7 million years ago:
  The first known fossils of hominins found outside Africa are those of Homo georgicus, which was discovered in Eurasia, in Dmanisi, Georgia.
- 1.65 million years ago:
  The Acheulean hand axes represent an important step toward human intelligence.
“Turkana boy.” (Credit: Neanderthal Museum, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- 1.65 – 1 million years ago:
  Homo erectus remains were discovered in Java, but they were most likely from 1.5 million years ago.
- 1.6 million years ago:
  The first known hand tools in China were thought to have been made by Homo erectus, but it was later realized that they are 0.8 million years younger than the fossils recently found in the region.
- 1.5 million years ago:
  The “Turkana boy” is a nearly complete skeleton of an adult Homo ergaster found in Tanzania.
- 1.5 – 1.4 million years ago:
  Signs of fire sites were found in South Africa, but they could have occurred naturally.
- 1.2 million years ago:
  The emergence of the first Europeans; Homo antecessor.
- 0.79 million years ago:
  The first reliable evidence for the control of fire at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel.
- 0.78 million years ago:
  Earth’s magnetic field began to polarize as it does today.
- 0.6 million years ago:
  Homo heidelbergensis is now widespread.
- 0.4 million years ago:
  Typical Neanderthal anatomy found across Europe.
The Clacton Spear, dating back 400,000 years. (Natural History Museum, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- 0.4 million years ago:
  The Clacton Spear or Clacton Spear Point, was found at Clacton-on-Sea in 1911. It is the oldest dated piece of crafted wood, dating back 400,000 years.
- 0.3 million years ago:
  Evidence for hubs used for making tools with multiple parts.
- 0.3 million years ago:
  Modern human skeletal features appear in African Homo heidelbergensis.
- 0.28 million years ago:
  Shaped stones found in Israel may be the first examples of art.
- 0.28 million years ago:
  The first evidence of the use of natural colors.
- 0.2 million years ago:
  Mitochondrial Eve (DNA) was the last common ancestor of all humans.
- 0.186 – 0.127 million years ago:
  Neanderthals engaged in mass hunting and killing.
- 0.16 million years ago:
  Age of the Homo sapiens idaltu; the skull has some primitive features, but shares distinctive features with modern humans.
- 130,000 – 115,000 years ago:
  Increased consumption of fish and marine mammals in South African sites.
- 120,000 years ago:
  First possible Neanderthal grave.
- 110,000 – 90,000 years ago:
  The first Homo sapiens arrived in the Levant.
- 75,000 years ago:
  Advanced “blade” technologies, shell grains, and jagged ochre from Blombos Cave in South Africa.
The eruption of Mount Toba. (Credit: Unknown artist)
- 73,500 years ago:
  The eruption of Mount Toba in Sumatra led to a global drop in temperatures.
- 46,000 years ago:
  The earliest fossils of modern humans found in South Asia.
- 45,000 years ago:
  Widespread human settlement in Australia.
- 45,000 years ago:
  The first Homo sapiens reached Europe.
- 40,000 years ago:
  The first settlements in New Guinea.
- 40,000 years ago:
  Late Homo erectus lived in China.
- 40,000 years ago:
  The first Homo sapiens appeared in China.
- 37,000 years ago:
  Campanian ignimbrite eruption in Italy; ash covers much of Europe.
- 36,000 – 28,000 years ago:
  Some tools found suggest that Neanderthals and humans interacted in Europe.
- 35,000 years ago:
  Aurignacian technology spread across Europe, including typical stone tools and examples of art.
- 32,000 years ago:
  The first Homo sapiens appeared in Japan.
32,000 years old Chauvet cave paintings.
- 32,000 years ago:
  Chauvet cave paintings, France.
- 28,000 years ago:
  The earliest Neanderthal settlements.
- 28,000 – 21,000 years ago:
  The birth of Gravettian culture.
- 27,000 years ago:
  The date of the complex settlements of hunter-gatherers on the Russian plains.
- 21,000 years ago:
  Solutrean technologies emerged.
- 21,000 – 18,000 years ago:
  Last Glacial Maximum.
- 18,000 years ago:
  Magdalenian technologies emerged.
- 18,000 years ago:
  The appearance of the controversial Homo floresian specimen, a.k.a the “hobbit”.
- 17,000 years ago:
  The first known spear-throwing humans arrived in the Combe Sauniere region of France.
- 16,000 – 15,000 years ago:
  Beginning of re-settlement in areas of northern Europe previously abandoned due to poor climatic conditions.
- 15,000 years ago:
  Lascaux cave paintings.
The domestication of dog. (Credit: Ettore Mazza)
- 15,000 years ago:
  Controversial early South American settlement site in Monte Verde, Chile.
- 14,000 years ago:
  The domestication of dog.
- 11,500 – 9000 BC:
  Rapid settlement of the Americas by various peoples using Clovis stone tools.
- 10,800 – 9600 BC:
  Younger Dryas glacial period, probably caused by melting ice sheets; temperatures rose rapidly after 9600 BC.
- 10,500 BC:
  The first domestication of cereals occurred with rye, wheat, and barley. The earliest evidence is from Syria, around 8000 BC.
- 9500 – 8000 BC:
  Construction of a temple by hunter-gatherers in Göbekli Tepe, Turkey.
- 9000 BC:
  The first domesticated animals in Western Asia.
- 9000 – 7000 BC:
  Archaeological sites in Cyprus show that the island was inhabited and that sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs were transported by ships.
- 9000 – 3000 BC:
  Increased rainfall created the “Green Sahara”; lakes, rivers, marshes, and meadows in North Africa.
- 8500 – 7300 BC:
  A stone wall built around a large village in Jericho, Israel, probably to prevent flooding, not warfare.
- 8000 BC:
  In China, early agricultural settlements grew corn in the Yellow River Valley.
“Green Sahara”, 9000 – 3000 BC. (Credit: Carl Churchill)
- 8000 BC:
  Mesoamerica was the first place where squash was domesticated, and Ecuador is where the oldest squash and beans were found.
- 7000 BC:
  The first domestication of Zebu animals occurred in Mehrgarh, West Pakistan by farmers growing wheat, rye, and lentils.
- 7000 BC:
  The first domestication of cattle occurred by hunter-fisher communities in the Green Sahara.
- 7000 BC:
  New Guinea plantations were the first to grow bananas, taro, and yam.
- 6500 BC:
  Simple irrigated agriculture began in Central Mesopotamia.
- 6200 BC:
  Establishment of the first farming communities in the Euphrates Valley in Southern Mesopotamia.
- 6000 BC:
  Production of fish and rice, as well as pig and chicken raising, in Yangzi Valley villages (China).
- 6000 BC:
  The first native corn developed in Mexico from the wild teosinte plant.
- 5500 BC:
  Independent development of copper craftsmanship in the Balkans.
- 5100 BC:
  Copper mining in the Ai Bunar region of Bulgaria.
- 5000 – 1000 BC:
  With locally mined, cold-processed copper trade and industry, ancient copper culture flourished in North America’s Great Lakes region.
- 5000 BC:
  In West Asia, North Africa, and Europe, the first domestic animals were kept for milk and plowing, as well as for meat.
A potter’s wheel from 3500 BC.
- 4000 BC:
  The first domestication of grapes and olives occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean.
- 4000 BC:
  In China, irrigated rice cultivation began in water-covered, ploughed fields.
- 3500 BC:
  The first wheeled transport which was used for local needs and military purposes emerged and spread across large areas of Eurasia.
- 3500 BC:
  Stamp seals began to be used for administrative and economic purposes in Western Asia.
- 3300 BC:
  Writing was invented in Mesopotamia.
- 3200 BC:
  The first ever city of Uruk emerges.
- 3200 BC:
  The beginning of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing.
- 3200 BC:
  The first bronze production in Western Asia.
- 3100 – 2900 BC:
  Proto-Elamite (Early Bronze Age) writing system from the Iranian Plateau.
- 3000 BC:
  … and metallurgy made its way to Western China.
Bibliography:
1. Craig Stanford; John S. Allen; Susan C Antón. (2009). Biological Anthropology: The Natural History of Humankind
2. Monroe W Strickberger. (2000). Evolution.
3. Donovan Webster (2010). Meeting the Family: One Man’s Journey Through His Human Ancestry.
September 11, 2022
Great Frost of 1709: The Coldest Winter in 500 Years Killed 600,000
September 9, 2022
Timeline of the History of Money: The Evolution of Currency
September 7, 2022
How Did The Discovery of America Change The World?
How did Christopher Columbus discover America and change the world? Christopher Columbus transported the Europeans to the “New World” and died without understanding that the lands he discovered were not the coastlines he was seeking for. He lived only 55 years before dying in Spain, having been largely exhausted throughout his life. This brings us to the moment of the discovery of the “New World” by Columbus in 1492, which afterwards was renamed “America.”
Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America
With Columbus’ discovery of the new continent, the process of colonization through the slaughter of thousands of locals had begun.
When Columbus returned to Europe in 1493, the news he brought caused tension between Portugal and Spain. Until that time, Portugal had been leading the opening of new trade routes to Africa. In 1481, the Papacy officially declared that all lands in the south of the Canary Islands belonged to Portugal, which meant a new source of income for the office of Pope.
But now Spain was opposed to the north-south divide. Fernando and Isabel claimed that they had rights to all discoveries in the west and consulted with Pope Alexander VI for justice. In 1493, the Pope decided to draw a perpendicular line 370 miles west of the Azores; the lands to the east of it belonged to Portugal and those to the west to Spain.
Portuguese King Joao opposed this decision because it cut off the favorable winds that carried the ships to the south. In 1494, the two ambassadors met at Tordesillas to solve the problem. The line would be shifted approximately 1,000 miles west so that their ships could go south and east without violating Spanish rights.
What no one knew at that time was that the line cut the east coast of South America. A Portuguese sailor, Pedro Alvares Cabral, on his way to India in 1500, encountered a large piece of land east of the line and registered it on behalf of his country. For this reason, the lands we know today as Brazil belonged to Portugal.
How the discovery of America affected the New World
Until the beginning of the 15th century, Europe’s only relationship with Africa and the East was through the land, and it was a difficult and slow-moving relationship. However, after Christopher Columbus’ journeys, the seas meant new possibilities for connection, not obstacles.
This development had disastrous consequences for the peoples of America, the first continent to fully experience the influence of Europeans. Until that day, many cultures had risen, fought, and collapsed in South and Central America. Some societies, such as the Aztecs and Incas, created great empires. Others, such as Peru’s Mochica and the Maya of Central America, created the finest examples of art that would be called the “pre-Columbian era.”
With the arrival of the Europeans, these cultures were doomed to die. Europeans were supported by ships, weapons, and horses and proved to be invincible. On the other hand, the destructive effects of diseases to which Americans were not resistant brought death to the majority of the local people in the 100 years following the arrival of foreigners. All local cultures disappeared, from Mexico to Peru in the south and the Amazon in the east. Tons of handmade objects, especially golden ones, were stolen.
Despite that, the shadow of pre-Columbian culture continued to exist. Blended with European influence in architecture, the visual arts, religion, language, and technology, these cultures became even more complicated with the arrival of African slaves, who introduced a completely different culture.
The effects of the discovery of America on Europe
The first things imported from the New World were potato plants and hammocks.
The discovery of America’s first impact on Europe was the precious metal mining influx. In the 50 years after the discovery of America, Spain seized around 180 tons of gold, largely artistic pieces, and practically melted all of it. This plunder is considered one of the greatest wealth transfers and art thefts of all time. Meanwhile, the Spaniards extracted 16,000 tons of silver from the mines and sent it to their home country.
This action deprived the world of this unique artistic heritage forever, leading to controversial wastefulness in Europe. The transferred wealth was mostly spent on war, which caused prices to rise to excessive levels. On the other hand, the relationship with America had another surprising consequence. Many unknown plants were growing in Europe on the hills of the high Andes Mountains; potatoes, tomatoes, and corn were completely new tastes for the Old World. Tobacco was also unknown until the Spaniards saw the Indians smoking it for medical purposes and religious ceremonies.
Over the centuries, thousands of medicines have been produced with the resources gathered from South America. For example, a curative plant—a poison that affected the nerves—used by the Amazon’s indigenous arrows was used as a muscle relaxant during surgeries.
Who followed Colombus?
Vasco da Gama sailed from Africa to India and opened a way to Asia, making Portugal the biggest power in the Indian Ocean. “Vasco da Gama” (circa 1460-1524), oil on canvas, by Antonio Manuel da Fonseca, 1838
While Spain was trying to provide capital through the achievements of Christopher Columbus, Portugal continued to travel to the south and east. In 1497, Vasco da Gama toured the Cape of Good Hope, discovered the coasts of East Africa, and then set out for India, intending to break the Arab monopoly in Indian trade. This was also an unfortunate journey, as he could not sell anything, and the scurvy outbreak turned his three-month return journey into hell. However, this road proved to be usable. In the next decade, Portugal would use da Gama’s success as a step both to improve its trade with India and to move toward the Spice Islands (Moluccas) in Southeast Asia. In 1509, a trade fleet arrived in Malaysia. From 1520 on, Portugal dominated the Southeast Asian trade.
The Great Ocean was the last thing that needed to be completed. It was believed that America was a large piece of territory, and another ocean behind this continent was located in 1513 when Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Panama Canal and set foot on the beaches of the Great Ocean. The first round-the-world voyage took place between 1519 and 1522, and thus the southern tip of the continent was fully discovered.
Who coined the name “America”?
Amerigo Vespucci knew that the new land was not the Far East that everyone initially thought, and so the continent was named after him.
The continent was named “America” after the explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who descended from the east coast of South America to Patagonia between 1501 and 1502. Vespucci realized that this place could not be the Far East and concluded that this land had to be between Europe and China, whether it ended with a nose or reached the South Pole. Therefore, in 1504, he wrote that it would be more appropriate to call it the “New World.” German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller gave these lands the name of Vespucci, on an atlas he made in 1507. Amerigo Vespucci calculated the circumference of the Earth as only a minus 50 miles from its actual length. So, Waldseemüller named the continent after Vespucci.
Vikings discovered America before Christopher Columbus
In fact, Columbus had not “discovered” America. Millions of native Americans had been living there for tens of thousands of years. Columbus wasn’t the first visitor to reach the continent, either. Recent discoveries in Newfoundland point to a residential area where the Vikings seemed to lived for more than a generation. According to Icelandic epics, Bjarni Herjolfsson, a Greenland Viking, had gone off course on his ship in the 1000s when the winds of the North Atlantic were softer and had probably reached a temperate, forested land that is today’s Newfoundland coast.
Bjarni spent a winter in that land and eventually left the area as a result of the attacks from the locals and the shortage of food. Another Viking, Leif Ericson, reached North America as well. The Vikings noted that they stayed in the land for a short time, which they called “Vinland” because of the abundance of vines.
According to a Latin manuscript from the 10th century, Irish priest Saint Brendan VI, who lived in the 19th century, roamed the Atlantic Ocean in a leather boat stretched on a wooden frame. Although there are references to Iceland’s volcanoes and icebergs, there is no evidence that Brendan reached America.
Christopher Columbus quotes
- “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
- “Gold is a treasure and he who possesses it does all he wishes to in this world.”
- “Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World.”
- “When there are such lands there should be profitable things without number.”
- “Riches don’t make a man rich, they only make him busier.”
September 7, 2022
History of Steam Engines and Steam Power
September 7, 2022
Historical Development of the First Submarines
The first submarine concepts date back to the 16th century. However, the first design ideas for underwater travel go even further. The initial challenges with the submarine design were all about how to operate the ship overall. Most efforts were made to improve underwater durability and performance. Now let’s learn more about the invention of the first submarine and the historical development of these underwater vehicles.
The invention of the submarine
The first real submarines did not appear until the 19th century. During the American Civil War, the Confederate forces developed the H.L. Hunley submarine and sank a Union ship, the Housatonic, which was launched in 1864. The first practical and modern submarines were invented after World War I.
The timeline below summarizes the entire design process of submarines, from manned battleships to today’s nuclear-powered solutions.
1578 – William Bourne
The first known drawing of an underwater vehicle.
William Bourne created the first submarine design. He couldn’t, however, go beyond the planning stage. Bourne’s concept depended on ballast tanks, which are chambers filled with water to submerge the vehicle and then drain it to the surface.
When tried in the 1600s, this wooden-framed submarine was wrapped in waterproof leather but failed against the underwater dirt. Today’s submarines employ the ballast tank principle in their design.
1620 – Drebbel
Cornelius Drebbel’s 12-oar submarine in the Thames River
Cornelis Drebbel, a Dutchman, devised and constructed an underwater vehicle with oars. Drebbels’ idea handled the problem of air replenishment while the ship was underwater. By burning potassium nitrate, Drebbel created oxygen (saltpeter). King George, I employed the vehicle, which could dive up to 3.5 meters.
1776 – Turtle, the first military submarine
The turtle.
David Bushnell created the Turtle submarine, and only one person was in charge of it. With this machine, the Colonial Army attempted to sink the British battleship HMS Eagle. It was the first submarine to participate in a naval engagement.
A manually operated propeller moved the Turtle. The operator had to descend under the hostile ship and remove the mine bomb carried by the Turtle.
1798 – Nautilus
Nautilus
Robert Fulton built the Nautilus submarine, which used two different forces for propulsion. They were the sail when it was on the surface and the manually controlled propeller when submerged in the water. The sail is believed to be a mistake in the design.
1895 – Holland VIII, electric engine submarine
Holland VII
John P. Holland created the Holland VII submarine. Later, he designed the Holland VIII (1900). The most recent version had two engines: a petroleum engine on the surface and an electric engine below. Until 1914, all naval forces across the globe employed this design.
1904 – Aigrette
Aigrette
The Aigrette, a French submarine, was one of the first to deploy an electric engine. The primary motor, though, was crucial: a diesel engine for surface propulsion. Diesel engines have benefits in submarines. As a result, all models nowadays wear them. They do not directly operate the propellers but rather charge the electric engine’s batteries.
1943 – U-264
The German U-264’s snorkel mast was supplying air to the engine. This revolutionary technology-enabled German U-boats to operate in shallow waters for longer periods of time than had previously been possible. Recharging the batteries does this.
1944 – U-791
The German U-791 was the first submarine to use hydrogen peroxide as an alternative fuel source.
1954 – Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine
Nautilus – 1954
The USS Nautilus was the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. Nuclear power has transformed submarines into true “submersibles.” This energy enabled them to stay underwater indefinitely.
1958 – Albacore
USS Albacore (AGSS-569) was a research submarine and had a hull design that had never been seen before. It is called a “teardrop,” which reduces underwater resistance to allow Albacore to operate faster. The USS Skipjack adopted this idea later.
1959 – USS George Washington
The USS George Washington was the first nuclear-powered submarine in the world equipped with ballistic missiles. This operational terror machine meant a huge advantage in the Cold War.
September 7, 2022
Rama: The Hero And the God of the Hindu Religion
Once upon a time, a prince named Rama was born in an era that was not written but remembered. He was the first son of Dasaratha, the ruler of the Kosala kingdom in the north of India. When Rama was a little boy, he killed a horrible demon that haunted the people. When he grew up, he married a very beautiful princess named Sita by setting up and even breaking the bow that no other man excelled in a power contest.
Rama, Sita, and Ravana
Combining power with courage and beauty with virtue, Rama has awakened jealousy in the monarch’s palace over time. The king chose him as his successor, but to pay off a debt of honor, he later had to make his choice in favor of another wife’s son, Bharata. He ordered Rama to leave his kingdom. Rama saw his father’s trouble and preferred to bow to his fate.
Animal friends: According to the tale, Rama sits with his brothers and close companions in the beautiful scenic countryside of Ayodhya, after he managed to defeat the ten-headed demon king Ravana. The elephants, deers, tigers, monkeys and other creatures shown in the picture display Rama’s closeness with his friends in the animal kingdom.
It will never be known if Rama is someone who lived. The great epic of Ramayana, the book that describes his life, was written in the 1st millennium AD when India was conquered by the Aryans, the light-skinned horsemen from the north of the country.
Rama’s adventures might have been built around the life of a true prince who lived in the north of India between 1000 and 700 BC. There is no doubt that their adventure played an important role in the Hindu religion, just as much as the impact of the Aryan invasion had on the history of India. As is known, there is no single central figure in Hinduism. However, in the Hindu tradition, Rama’s majesty shines brightly.
Rama and Sita
According to legend, Rama enters the magical Dandaka forest after leaving her father’s palace. Here he rescues a series of holy men from the hands of evil spirits. This, however, attracts the wrath of Ravana, the guardian of this forest. Ravana is the ten-headed demon king of Lanka island. To take revenge on Rama, he deceives Rama’s wife Sita, and takes her to his castle.
Rama has no companions, but he is so virtuous that an army of bears and monkeys offers to help him. They build a bridge over the strait that separates Lanka, ravaging Ravana and saving the princess. Rama is reluctant to take Sita. He is afraid that he may have lost his virtue while he was in prison. Sita jumps into a fire, but never burns.
Valmiki appears in his own story
After Rama returns victoriously to Ayodhya, the capital of Kosala, he wears the royal crown with great celebrations. However, his journey is not over yet. There are rumors about the purity of his wife Sita. Rama drives Sita to the forest as a prisoner of his perfectionism. Sita goes under the patronage of the great wise Valmiki and gives birth to two sons. When the boys grow up, the family reunites for a short time. Sita suggests that she is innocent and wishes the earth split and swallows her. Her wish comes true. Rama gives up his land in favor of her sons and climbs to heaven.
Life Test: Rama’s wife Sita throws herself into a blazing fire to prove that she remained loyal to Rama while she was held in Lanka. The god of fire Agni saved her from burning, and Rama believes in her innocence.
Every Hindu is familiar with the Ramayana’s 24,000 couplets (slokas). The epic is said to have been composed in Sanskrit, India’s traditional language, by the wise Valmiki.
The Ramayana epic’s subject of integrity and bravery in the face of a series of tests and provocations may be describing the character of an Aryan prince; the name “Aryan” means “noble” in Sanskrit.
Rama is said to be the seventh body that the Hindu deity Vishnu wears. Rama is a sign of courage, but it also represents God’s teaching and the personal way to salvation. Sita, on the other hand, is perfect for a pious, chaste Hindu lady. Lakshmana, Rama’s half-brother, and friend is a symbol of loyalty. Hanuman, the Monkey Commander, is revered as an example of full devotion to a celestial ruler.
Rama’s story becomes a movie, Gandhi’s death, and the demolition of a mosque
Around 1,000 years ago, Hindus started to revere Rama. Rama became the center of a cult known as Bhakti some 500 years ago. With the invasion of India by the Mongolian-born Mughal Empire in the 16th century, Muslims took control of the nation. The Hindu masses’ response was more cultural than political, and they were inspired by the poet Tulsidas (1532-1623), who effectively portrayed the Rama epic. Tulsidas was writing in Hindi, the northern and central Indian language. Many different versions of the Ramayana have been written in many languages and areas.
When Gandhi was killed, his final words were “Hey, Rama!” which translates as “Oh, God!” When a Ramayana adaptation aired on television in the 1980s, almost 700 million Hindus tuned in every Sunday morning for more than a year. Ramayana is also popular in Indonesia, where Muslims constitute the bulk of the population. A Thai monarch wanted the epic to be translated into his language two centuries ago. Since then, every ruler of this Buddhist kingdom has used the title “Rama” to demonstrate the legitimacy of their rule.
In 1992, a mob of Hindus demolished a mosque in Ayodhya, thought to be Rama’s birthplace, that had stood since the Mongolian invasion. 1,000 people were killed in the events that followed. In modern India, people still argue about whether secularism can beat the feeling that Hinduism stirs up in its regions.
September 6, 2022
World War II Codes, Ciphers, and Codebreakers
The Enigma machine, created by the Germans, is well-known for being a type of electro-mechanical rotational device used to encrypt messages during World War II. The British used a similar machine called Type X, while the Americans developed a more complex encryption machine called SIGABA. The Japanese also had an encryption device, referred to as PURPLE by the United States, which was successfully deciphered in 1942. Despite the complexity and frequent updates of the encryption systems utilized by these machines, it was widely believed that breaking the code was impossible due to the large number of calculations required. The machines were sending new signals every day, every hour, or even every minute.
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The Ciphers of World War II
Although the encryption machines were overall invincible, it was not uncommon for a weakness to appear due to mistakes made by people or due to a lack of effort. This is also evident in the story of how the Enigma code was broken. The information obtained through decoding Enigma was referred to as “ULTRA” and, similar to the Zimmermann Telegram, the concern with “ULTRA” intelligence was how long it could remain undetected by the Germans before they realized their confidential codes had been deciphered and read.
- Type X Mark III
Type X Mark III
This code breaker was created for use in the field and did not require electricity to function. To use it, the tape roll was swapped out depending on whether the message was encrypted or unencrypted, and the hand lever was used to turn the rotating cipher discs.
- SIGABA
SIGABA
This cipher, known as the Combined Cipher Machine (CCM) system, was a more advanced version than Type X. It was used for encrypting messages starting in 1943.
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However, the machine was too large and heavy to be used in battle. It utilized three sets of five coded rotor discs in its encryption process, but did not have any reflectors.
Bletchley Park and Women Codebreakers
Female codebreakers in World War II.
This courthouse located in Buckinghamshire, England played a significant role in the effort to decrypt the Enigma code and other codes used by the enemy during the war. In 1939, it became the headquarters of the newly established Government Code and Cypher School, which replaced Room 40 as the British decryption center. The courthouse was home to a diverse group of cryptographers, mathematicians, scientists, historians, linguists, and researchers during the war.
They were supported by a team of hand-picked Army printers, secretaries, and communications officers. To promote teamwork and collaboration, the group would organize rounders and tennis matches.
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The team’s responsibilities included not only breaking the Enigma code, but also deciphering codes used by the German Navy, Italian, and Japanese.
Codenames of the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
During the war, the United States, with the aid of the United Kingdom, embarked on a highly classified initiative to swiftly develop a nuclear “device.” This effort, known as the “Manhattan” project, was led by a team of scientists from multiple countries and overseen by American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The project was named after the U.
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S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Manhattan Engineers District in New York City, and its top-secret operations took place in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of New Mexico, using codenames such as:
- 509th Composite Group
This group, utilizing the B-29 Superfortress aircraft, served as the bomber wing for the Manhattan Project.
- Alberta
The individuals on the team put together the explosive devices on Tinian Island, located in the Pacific region.
- Alsos
Allied operations that were kept confidential were carried out in regions of Europe that were under occupation in order to abduct nuclear experts and materials like uranium. These missions were limited to only three.
- Bockscar
On August 9, 1945, the plane released the atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
- Box 1663
The Santa Fe postal code was utilized by everyone who was involved in the project.
- Enola Gay
The first atomic bomb was released from an aircraft on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The bomb was named after the mother of the plane’s pilot, Lieutenant Paul Tibbets.
- Fat Man
The atomic bomb was set off in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
- Fission
This phrase, which was first used by Otto Frisch, refers to the process of splitting atoms by bombarding them with neutrons.
- Gadgets
A general phrase utilized by officials from Los Alamos for the nuclear weapons that they have manufactured.
- Little Boy
On August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
- Site-Y
Los Alamos Laboratory, which the local residents refer to as “the peak.”
- Trinity
The site of the first nuclear test was carried out on July 16, 1945.
Codenames of World War II Operations
A group of Landing Craft Assault vessels are shown passing by a landing ship during training exercises prior to the Normandy invasion.
During the Second World War, many of the forces involved in the conflict utilized codenames for almost any type of operation or initiative as a way to provide a superficial level of security.
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- Adlertag
The battle of Britain, which occurred in 1940, was instigated by an attack from the German air force, known as the Luftwaffe.
- Attila
The occupation of the Vichy region of France by the Nazis, 1942
- August storm
Manchuria’s invasion by the Soviet Union, 1945
- Avalanche
The arrival of the Allies in Salerno, Italy in 1943.
- Avonmouth
The Allied operation to Narvik, 1940
- Bagration
Soviet offensive aimed at liberating Belarus, 1944
- Barbarossa
The German attack on the Soviet Union, 1941
- Cartwheel
Combined allied operations in the Southwest Pacific, 1943
- Gomorrah
The bombing of the British Air Force against Hamburg, 1943
- Ichi-Go
Japanese Offensive in China, 1944
- I-Go
Japan’s counterattack in the Southwest Pacific, 1943
- Lightfoot
Battle of El Alamein, 1942
- Market-Garden
The Allied landing near Arnhem, 1944
- Nordlicht
Attack on Leningrad by German forces in 1942.
- Overlord
The Allied invasion of Normandy, 1944
- Steinbock
Air raids conducted by German forces against cities in England in 1944.
- Torch
The Allied landing on French North Africa, 1942
- Weiss
The invasion of Poland by Germany in 1939.
September 6, 2022
History of the World Wide Web: How Berners-Lee Invented the Web?
September 6, 2022
Discovery of Cataract and History of Retinal Surgery
September 6, 2022
History of Surgery: Development of Modern Surgical Interventions
Let’s talk about the development history of surgery. Columbia University School of Medicine once was referred to as “Columbia School of Physicians and Surgeons”, as it refers to the independent development of medicine and surgery, sometimes opposite each other. Even today, some surgeons in the UK use the title “Mr.” with great pride rather than defining themselves as a Doctor. They have already deserved it.
The surgical interventions of ancient times were still in use until the Middle Ages.
The first surgery performed on a human was probably done after the invention of cutting tools. Evidence of the first surgical intervention dates back to the Neolithic Age (10th to 6th century BC). Even the first brain surgeries date back as early as the 8th century BC. Trepanation, which was the process of piercing the skull with a surgical saw to reduce pressure on the brain, was a common technique even at that time. Any of the three skull bones (anterior, lateral, or posterior bone) of a living patient were taken out to reach the dura mater, the hard, fibrous membrane that forms the outermost layer of the brain. Although there were no pain prevention methods such as anesthesia or antisepsis, in these surgeries performed thousands of years ago, the chances of survival for the patient were quite high, unless the dura mater was damaged.
Until the 2500s BC, Egyptians successfully circumcised both men and women, as evidenced by their many carved works that have survived to the present day. They also performed various amputation operations (surgical cutting of various parts of the body) using the willow bark and leaves as a medicine against infection. Ancient Egyptian medical papyri give detailed instructions on a wide range of surgical procedures, such as how to fix a broken leg and sew up a big cut.
Hindus in ancient Indian civilization used surgical methods to remove bladder stones, tumors, and even sick tonsils and to treat a broken leg. But their biggest contribution to medical science is in the field of plastic surgery. The history of this surgery began in the Ancient Indian civilization in 2000 BC, when plastic surgery operations were so much needed because of the nose- or ear-cutting punishment imposed on criminals.
Sushruta Samhita, a text on surgery
The surgical methods applied to people whose noses or ears were cut during these years were first described in a book named Sushruta Samhita. Sushruta had focused on nasal surgery but, surprisingly, also performed eye-related surgical interventions such as the removal of cataracts in the eye. In his book, he divided surgical interventions into seven categories; Chedya (excision), Lekhya (scarification), Vedhya (puncturing), Esya (exploration), Ahrya (extraction), Vsraya (evacuation), and Sivya (suturing). The following text is a section from the book:
When a person’s nose is cut or damaged, the surgeon takes a leaf of the plant into the shape and size of the damaged areas as a model. This leaf is placed on the patient’s cheek and a leaf-sized skin piece is taken from the cheek (but during this procedure, one side of the skin piece should remain attached to the cheek). Then, the cut edges of the nose are removed again and the piece of skin taken from the cheek is carefully closed over this damaged area and suturing is done from the edges. The physician then places two thin straws in the nostrils to facilitate breathing and prevent the sutured skin from collapsing. Then, apply licorice root and barberry powder in this area and cover it with cotton. When the sewn skin begins to grow with the skin of the nose, the physician completely cuts the skin from the cheek.
Sushruta Samhita
Corpus Hippocraticum, and Hippocratic Oath
Hippocrates refusing the gifts by Artaxerxes, king of the Persians and enemy of the Greeks asking for help to cure a plague.
In the 4th century BC, the Greek physician Hippocrates made great contributions to surgery with his writings, which depict various surgical operations in detail. But these attempts always required courage and strength. The surgical instruments used at that time were made of iron, copper, or copper alloy. These rough tools were used to remove bladder stones as described in the Corpus Hippocraticum. But when we think of the Hippocratic Oath, which prohibits breaking the kidney stone with the words “I will not cut, even for the stone, but I will leave such procedures to the practitioners of that craft,” there is irony. The ancient Greeks inserted a hollow metal tube through the urethra to empty the bladder. This pipe, known today as the catheter, is made of straight copper for women and S-shaped copper or lead for men. This was a dangerous procedure that greatly hurt the patient, like all procedures performed at that time.
The philosopher Celsus says a surgeon must be vigorous. His intuition must be strong and sharp, and his nature must be brave; he must be merciful enough to treat his patient, but he must not be affected by his painful screams and rush his job. He must act as if he never heard the painful screams.
The barber surgeons
Barber surgeons working on a boil on the forehead of a man.
Before the Middle Ages (5th–14th centuries), surgery was considered a profession of the proletariat class. Between these centuries, surgeons were kept at a much lower level than trained physicians. Surgical interventions were performed only by barbers. For this reason, the field of surgery experienced a long period of stagnation during this period. It is interesting that during this period, the barbers who wandered from town to town were only trusted when they bled a patient’s blood in large quantities to remove a tumor in the body, pull a tooth, stitch cuts, and treat various diseases. The barber’s pole sign–a staff or pole with a helix of colored stripes–is from the period when barbering and surgery were not separated. At that time, the barbers shed the blood of the people to protect them from diseases, and the red strip was for the patient’s blood, the white strip was for the bandage wrapped around the patient’s arm, and the cylinder was the stick that was given to the patient.
The surgery is on the rise
The guide to surgery and practical medicine Chirurgia Magna enlightened the people of the Dark Ages.
Until the French surgeon Guy de Chauliac wrote his great work “Chirurgia Magna” in 1316, there was no improvement in surgery. This work allowed surgery to regain respectability in Europe, if not the rest of the world. After three hundred years, both surgery and medicine have witnessed major developments. French surgeon Ambroise Pare developed the ligation method in which the vessels are tied to stop bleeding. The discovery of the ligation put an end to cauterization, an ancient method of cauterizing the wound with a hot iron or oil to stop bleeding. With a better understanding of how blood moves through the body and why capillaries are there, surgical procedures have become much more effective.
However, until the 1840s, surgeons rarely had the opportunity to examine the depths of the human body and tamper with vital organs due to the risk of infection and the pain the patient felt. Then, on March 30, 1842, medical doctor Crawford Williamson Long managed to remove one of the two tumors in the neck of a patient named James Venable, using ether as an anesthetic. This was the first time that anesthesia was used for surgical purposes in the history of medicine. However, Dr. Long’s failure to publish the successful results of his work until 1848 caused William Morton, who worked in the same field, to collect praise for this great invention.
The birth of modern surgery
Antiseptic surgery environments were designed by Joseph Lister.
By minimizing the pain felt in surgical interventions, the only obstacle that was preventing surgery from being a complete revolution and remedy for the treatment of numerous diseases was the risk of infection. Louis Pasteur’s discovery that fermentation or decay was caused by bacteria in the air was the first step toward the understanding of infection. With British surgeon Joseph Lister’s innovation of antiseptic surgery by applying Pasteur’s findings in 1865, modern surgery was born.
Lister developed a series of antiseptic products with carbolic acid spray in order to provide hygiene in the operating room. Today, the mouthwash named “Listerine” is named after him. Australian physician Ignaz Semmelweis and American physician Oliver Wendell Holmes later improved the hygiene sensitivity in medical practices and insisted physicians wash their hands and wear clean clothes just before the surgery.
September 6, 2022
History of Blood Transfusion: Discovery of 0, AB, Rh Terms, the Racism
When William Harvey discovered the fact that the blood was circulating in the body in a closed system, it led to the idea of blood transfusion. A few moments after, Oxford physician Richard Lower started working on the dog-to-dog and animal-to-animal blood transfusions. In the 16th and 17th centuries, blood, milk, and saltwater transplants were carried out in various countries to meet the patient’s blood needs, but these often caused terrifying situations.
Discovery of Blood Transfusion
Karl Landsteiner.
By the 20th century, when microbiological research was prevailing on the scene, numerous scientific details were acquired about some infections, and more importantly, significant improvements were made to human cellular functions (white blood cells) and the responses of antibodies. The blood transfusion, and the revolutionary developments it brought with it, caused the 20th century to be called the “age of immunology.” The biggest development in this field happened in 1901.
Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner discovered this while working with unsuccessful blood transfusion samples. He mixed small amounts of blood samples with the blood samples of different patients, and the result was an agglutination (clustering) of red blood cells, but not always. However, the same agglutination sometimes resulted in deaths and illnesses. Because this was a result of the inappropriate blood transfusions. Based on this experience, Landsteiner discovered that this was due to the presence or absence of two antigens called A and B that adhere to the outer layer of the cell membrane in the red blood cells.
Later, he mixed the blood samples he took from his physician friends and separated them into either group A or group B as compatible or clustered. He found a type of blood type that did not lead to clustering when mixed with both A and B groups. Understanding that no antigens adhere to the outer layer of the cell membrane in the red blood cells, Landsteiner called this blood type the 0 (zero) group (which later turned into the letter “O”). After a series of shuffles and observations, he discovered a new group called AB, where the cells carry both antigens.
Unfortunately, the remaining details about blood transfusion could not be easily and quickly discovered. It would take another forty years to embrace the life-saving function of blood transfusion with the discovery of other antigens (Rh, M, N, and P), the emergence of anticoagulant drugs and blood storage products that prevent blood clotting, the establishment of blood banks, and the beginning of World War II. As a result of the widespread use of blood transfusions, diseases such as viral hepatitis and, later, AIDS, have emerged after blood transplantation. This has been eliminated by scanning the donors’ blood with the help of radioimmune analysis and other methods.
Blood Transfusion, and the Race Wars
The Nuremberg Law for the Protection of Blood and German Honor.
Today, we understand that the word “value” has deviated from its meaning and degenerated to be turned into a political tool, especially in the recent past. Mostly, when we look at the examples mentioned above, we realize this degeneration better. Before written history, even a single drop of blood was valued highly; it reflected our personalities, determined our race, and symbolized living species. In 1935, German doctor Hans Serelman had a patient in need of an emergency blood transfusion. This happened at a time when blood banks (except the first blood bank established in Leningrad in 1932) were not yet established and blood transfusions were made directly from the donor’s vein to the recipient’s vein. Serelman gave the patient his blood because there were no compatible donors. While he had to be praised for saving the patient’s life, he was sent to the concentration camp because he was a Jew, and the blood of the German race was contaminated.
In the years that followed, Germany began working on preventing eight thousand Jewish doctors from doing their job and reducing the Jewish “influence” in the field of medicine, among many other applications. German immunology studies focused on finding the differences between pure Aryan blood and Jewish blood, which had no contribution to science. The Nuremberg Law for the Protection of Blood and German Honor imposed significant limitations on the blood to be removed from the donor during the blood transfusion, “in the case of the donor carrying sufficient pure Aryan blood”, to create a pure Aryan breed.
American Racism
The US started accepting the blood of black people after the Pearl Harbor attack.
If we look at the United States, we see similar racial practices. The army was divided into two, and the Red Cross refused to collect blood from the blacks. After the Pearl Harbor attack, the need for blood was so high that the institution began to accept the blood of black people. He labeled and processed the blood taken from them differently. In the late 1950s, the state of Arkansas enacted a law requiring the separation of black and white people’s blood, while the state of Louisiana enacted a law that criminalized this for physicians who gave “blood of the black” to white people without permission.
Today, it is unknown how many deaths and suffering have resulted from widespread racial discrimination among black and white people. Some of the legislators that support these laws, policies, and practices are also the heads of the parties that govern us; It is they who decide who can get health care, the distribution of organs in transplants, who has the right to abortion, stem cell research, who can access secret medical documents, who will have the human genome, and the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink.
September 6, 2022
Great Wall of China: History, Purpose, Facts, and Shi Huang
September 5, 2022