As the Third Reich annexed the Sudetenland and Poland and the German war machine pushed through the Eastern Front towards…
The Extra Special Relationship: Thatcher, Reagan, and the 1980s
The “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom has served to unite the two nations over the…
Sputnik, The Ugly American, and the Push to Improve FSI Language Training
In the depths of the Cold War, the USSR in 1957 launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the earth.…
The U.S. Returns Okinawa to Japan, 1971
In 1945, towards the end of World War II, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps invaded Okinawa with 185,000 troops; a third of the…
Martinis, Carpets and Sacks of Gold: A U.S. Diplomat in French Tunisia
Tunisia achieved independence from France after almost 75 years as a protectorate. Life under French rule was pleasant for some,…
From Russia with Love and Back Again: Rostropovich’s Exile and Return
Mstislav Rostropovich, considered one of the greatest cellists of the twentieth century, was born in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan…
134 Cells, One Inmate: The Closure of Spandau Prison
From November 1945 until October 1946, the International Military Tribunal indicted and prosecuted Nazi leaders for their roles in the…
Evolution of the European Union: Early Seeds of Dissolution?
Britain has always been a part of Europe and yet at the same time, it has seen itself as distinct…
How Did We Get Here? A Look Back at the Creation of the European Union
Welcome to Part I of our crash course on the formation of the European Union (EU). Each treaty signed between 1948…
We Don’t Give a Dam — The Feud Over Financing the Aswan High Dam
Egypt’s agriculture has always depended on the water of the Nile; the river’s perennial floods, while critical in replenishing the…