Portrait of a female author standing against a brick wall, wearing a green jacket and grey shirt.

Sophia R.

Mittelbau-Dora: Inside the Nazi Tunnel Factory That Built the V-2 Rocket

The V-2 rocket killed more people building it than it ever killed in flight. Its engineers went on to build the rocket that reached the Moon.

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Mittelbau-Dora: Inside the Nazi Tunnel Factory That Built the V-2 Rocket

Europe

The epicenter of global conflict and history. Explore the trenches of the World Wars, the Cold War's Iron Curtain, and the medieval dungeons hidden beneath Europe's historic cities.

Wünsdorf: The Forbidden City Where the Soviet Army Ruled East Germany

Wünsdorf: The Forbidden City Where the Soviet Army Ruled East Germany

Soviet troops sealed off a Brandenburg forest for forty years and forbade Germans to enter. They watched the Berlin Wall fall from behind their own.

Portrait of a male author with glasses standing against a concrete wall, wearing a green shirt and jacket.

Skrunda-1: The Secret Soviet Radar City That Latvia Blew Up and Sold

The US paid $7 million to blow up a Soviet radar tower in Latvia on live television. The secret town around it was left standing, and later auctioned off.

Edward C.

Newgrange: The 5,200-Year-Old Tomb That Was Ancient Before the Pyramids

Ruins of Civilizations

Newgrange: The 5,200-Year-Old Tomb That Was Ancient Before the Pyramids

A 5,200-year-old Irish tomb, built before the pyramids, still catches the winter solstice sunrise — by a people who vanished without a name.

Portrait of a female author smiling in warm evening light on a city street.

Berghof: Hitler's Mountain Home That the RAF Bombed and Bavaria Dynamited

Hitler broke Austria and bluffed Britain from a chalet with a view. Bavaria dynamited what was left on the anniversary of his suicide.

The Zone Rouge: The French Land Declared Unfit for Human Life After World War I

France declared 1,200 square kilometres of its own territory unfit for human life in 1919. A century later, clearing it would take another 700 years.

Sophia R.

The Ninth Fort, Kaunas: The Fortress That Never Fought a War and Killed 50,000 People

Tragedies & Disasters

The Ninth Fort, Kaunas: The Fortress That Never Fought a War and Killed 50,000 People

It was built to stop an army and never fired a shot. What happened in the fields behind its walls, the Germans spent 1943 trying to erase.

Malbork Castle: The Largest Castle in the World

Malbork is the largest castle on earth and almost nobody has ever taken it by force. In 1457 the Teutonic Order's own mercenaries sold it instead.

The Battle of Grunwald: The Day the Teutonic Order Broke

In 1410 a Polish-Lithuanian army destroyed the Teutonic Order in one afternoon. The Order had run out of a reason to fight twenty-four years earlier.

Keroman Submarine Base: The Nazi U-Boat Fortress That Allied Bombs Could Not Break

The Allies dropped 4,000 tons of bombs on Lorient in five weeks and destroyed 90% of the city. The U-boat bunkers they were aiming at never cracked.

Tito's Bunker (ARK D-0): Inside Yugoslavia's Largest Secret Nuclear Command Center

Tito spent 26 years and $4.6 billion secretly digging a nuclear bunker for 350 people under a Bosnian mountain. He never once set foot inside.

The Eagle's Nest: Hitler's Mountaintop Fortress — the Gift He Barely Used

Martin Bormann blasted a road and a brass elevator through a mountain to build Hitler the ultimate gift. The Führer barely wanted to set foot in it.

Edward C.

Wilhelm Gustloff: The Deadliest Shipwreck in History

Tragedies & Disasters

Wilhelm Gustloff: The Deadliest Shipwreck in History

9,400 people died when the Wilhelm Gustloff sank in 1945 — six times the Titanic's toll. Why has almost nobody heard of history's deadliest shipwreck?

Sophia R.

Mittelbau-Dora: Inside the Nazi Tunnel Factory That Built the V-2 Rocket

Europe

Wünsdorf: The Forbidden City Where the Soviet Army Ruled East Germany

Skrunda-1: The Secret Soviet Radar City That Latvia Blew Up and Sold

Newgrange: The 5,200-Year-Old Tomb That Was Ancient Before the Pyramids

Berghof: Hitler's Mountain Home That the RAF Bombed and Bavaria Dynamited

The Zone Rouge: The French Land Declared Unfit for Human Life After World War I

The Ninth Fort, Kaunas: The Fortress That Never Fought a War and Killed 50,000 People

Malbork Castle: The Largest Castle in the World

The Battle of Grunwald: The Day the Teutonic Order Broke

Keroman Submarine Base: The Nazi U-Boat Fortress That Allied Bombs Could Not Break

Tito's Bunker (ARK D-0): Inside Yugoslavia's Largest Secret Nuclear Command Center

The Eagle's Nest: Hitler's Mountaintop Fortress — the Gift He Barely Used

Wilhelm Gustloff: The Deadliest Shipwreck in History

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