Category: Articles of the key ‘dark’ historical events across the world

By Tim Lambert Early Plague At different times in history, terrible pandemics have swept parts of the world killing millions of people. The best known is the Black Death of the 14th century but epidemics were nothing new in Europe. In 430 BC Athens was struck by an epidemic of an unknown disease, which devastated… Continue reading A History of Plague

By Tim Lambert Banishment Since Ancient Times forcing an offender to leave his home and go abroad or to another region either permanently or for a fixed period of time has been used as a punishment. Bastinado Bastinado was beating a person on the soles of their feet with a stick. Because the soles of… Continue reading A History of Punishments

By Tim Lambert The Background to the Witch Trials From the late 15th century to the late 18th century a wave of persecution washed across parts of Europe. Tens of thousands of people were executed for witchcraft. So what happened? Belief in magic was almost universal in the past. Almost all cultures believed that you… Continue reading A History of the Witch Trials in Europe

Pol Pot was one of the worst tyrants of the 20th century. Pol Pot was born in Cambodia in 1925. His family were not poor. Instead his father was a well off farmer. However Pol Pot became a Marxist. Marxism was the creation of Karl Marx (1818-1883). According to him society went through an inevitable… Continue reading A short biography of Pol Pot

By Tim Lambert Elizabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia was the victim of an unsolved murder that took place in 1947. She was just 22. Her body was found on the morning of Wednesday 15 January 1947 on a vacant building plot in the Leimert Park district of Los Angeles in California. Her naked… Continue reading Elizabeth Short, The Black Dahlia

By Tim Lambert Mussolini Seizes Power When the First World War began a Socialist called Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), who was editor of the newspaper Avanti! opposed Italy joining the war. However, he soon changed his mind. By October 1914 Mussolini decided Italy should join. He resigned from Avanti! and founded his own newspaper called Popolo… Continue reading Fascist Italy

By Tim Lambert About 6 pm on 26 November an 8-year-old boy called Percy Searle was walking along a lane between what is now Manor Close and Pallant House. (His mother sent him to get some material from a drapers shop in North Street). He was stabbed in the neck 3 times. One stab severed… Continue reading Jack the Ripper in Havant?

By Tim Lambert The Beginning n In the 19th century Australia had a number of outlaws or bushrangers; the most famous is Ned Kelly. Edward or Ned Kelly was born in 1855 of Irish parents. Ned Kelly became a bushranger in 1878 when policemen called Alexander Fitzpatrick went to arrest his brother for horse stealing.… Continue reading The Bushranger Ned Kelly

By Tim Lambert In 1666 London was devastated by a terrible fire. The Great Fire of London destroyed a great deal of property but fortunately only a small number of people were killed. In the 17th century fire was a constant danger in towns when many houses were made of wood and streets were narrow.… Continue reading The Great Fire of London 1666

By Tim Lambert In 1939 Stalin made a treaty with Hitler and they agreed to split Poland between them. Germany invaded Poland from the west on 1 September 1939. The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east on 17 September. All Polish resistance ceased on 5 October 1939. Afterward, Germany occupied about 2/3 of Poland… Continue reading The Katyn Massacre