Zita Fletcher

Feb 20, 2024 | historynet.com | Brian Walker |Zita Fletcher

Those who study warfare will inevitably run into the so-called “great man theory” of history. Simply put, it denotes the study of individual leaders and their abilities. In earlier times, scholars adhered to this school of thought as explaining the entirety of military history to the myopic exclusion of all other factors.

Feb 14, 2024 | historynet.com | Claire Barrett |Zita Fletcher

These shoes were worn by a child evacuated from South Vietnam during Operation Babylift, which began on April 3, 1975 before the Fall of Saigon. The plan was initiated by U.S. President Gerald Ford and was intended to rescue Vietnamese orphans. Tragically the first plane to take off carrying children from South Vietnam crash landed after takeoff, resulting in the deaths of 50 adults and 78 children. However, 170 passengers survived.

Feb 14, 2024 | historynet.com | Claire Barrett |Zita Fletcher

For the duration of the Civil War, the Washington Monument looked like this, only partially completed. Legendary D.C. photographer Mathew Brady captured this image of the Washington Monument around 1860, but no progress had been made in construction since 1854, when the monument’s private funding society went bankrupt. Though an impressive 156 feet high, construction only became more difficult and costly as the obelisk ascended, and architect Robert Mills’ 600 foot design seemed an impossibility.

Feb 9, 2024 | historynet.com | Brian Walker |Zita Fletcher

This Japanese kawari-kabuto, or individualized helmet, dating from the 17th century sports the shape of a crouching rabbit forged from a single piece of iron. The helmet’s ear guards are shaped like ocean waves. Rabbits are commonly depicted with waves in Japanese art, particularly during the early Edo period in the 1600s. It is said that ocean whitecaps resembled white rabbits darting over the waters in the moonlight.

Jan 22, 2024 | historynet.com | Brian Walker |Zita Fletcher

In 1942, British authorities in Cairo arrested an Egyptian dance superstar for espionage. Her name was Hekmet Fahmi. Allegedly a nationalist with connections to Anwar el-Sadat, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and members of the Egyptian revolutionary Free Officers Movement, Fahmi had gained access to top secret intelligence from a well-informed British lover who worked at GCHQ and had passed this information to a pair of German spies who had managed to infiltrate Cairo.