BC/AD VS. BCE/CE

Someone asked me what is the difference between BC/AD and BCE/CE. Well BC is short for Before Christ. AD is short for Anno Domini which is Latin for Year of Our Lord. BCE is short Before the Common Era. CE is short for Common Era. AD and CE are used to show dates that happened after year 1 or the birth of Jesus. CE and BCE are used to show dates that happened before year 1. Here are a few examples: 453 BC, 33BCE, 1453 AD and 1988 CE. Other then the religious side of the two systems they are the same. So... it is just which system you want to use. I found a few pictures of the people who promoted these two systems. The first picture is a photo of a statue of Charlemagne. He made the people of his kingdom use BC/AD. The second picture is of Johannes Kelper. He tried to get the BCE/CE system installed in Europe and the BC/AD system removed or replaced.

From Constantinople to Istanbul

A friend of mine asked me the other day about the cities of Constantinople and Istanbul. He wanted to know about the name change. I told him that the city was also called Byzantium. The early Greeks settled there and called their city Byzantium. The city kept this name from 657 BCE to 330 CE. The city was later taken over by the Romans and a later Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great changed the name of the city to Constantinople, in honor of himself. The city kept this name from 330 CE until 1453 CE. In 1453 the Ottoman Turks captured the city and yet again changed the name of the city to Istanbul and till this day the city is called Istanbul. So... I told my friend an easy way to remember all of the changes: Byzantium is Greek, Constantinople is Roman and Istanbul is Turkish. I have also found a couple of maps. One is a map of the Roman city of Constantinople and the second is of Istanbul in modern Turkey.

The Last Battleship

While I was researching the South American battleships I found one that peeked my interest. The HMS Vanguard was the ship that I found. It is called the last Battleship. She was commissioned in 1940 and served the United Kingdom until 1960. The ship was constructed too late to see service in WWII. She was the biggest and fastest battleship that the Royal Navy had in it's service. the Vanguard served mostly as a royal yacht for the British royal family. The ship was also in films, one was Sink the Bismarck! in 1960. The ship played the roles of Bismarck, Hood and the King George V. Out of all of battleships from that era the Vanguard had one of shortest careers in naval history. I found a few pictures online of the HMS Vanguard.

Red, White or Black Russians

Over the years I have been asked if I knew what the difference between a Red, White and Black Russian was. So... I did some digging and found that besides names for very colorful drinks made from vodka. White and Red Russians were nicknames given the armies under the control the Communist and Tsarist groups during the Russian Civil War in 1917. The Communist forces were called the Red Army. The Tsarist forces were called the White Army. So the nicknames of White and Red Russians stuck. The first picture is of the Flag of the Red Army. The second picture is of the flag of the Imperial flag of the Russian Empire. The Black Russian is just a drink... no real historical ties that I could find.

South American Battleships

When people talk about battleships, we all think of the German battleship Bismarck, the Japanese Yamoto and the American ships Missouri and Arizona. But, did you know that other nations from that time period also had battleships. I did some research and found a few nations that surprised me. Those nations are Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Brazil had 4 battleships, Argentina had 2 and Chile had 2 as well. Most historians say that these nations had a rivalry and they called it the South American Dreadnought Race. All of them agree these battleships would have been some of the best in the Western Hemisphere, if WWI had not broken out. The race fell apart after the first world war due to a change in the public view on ships, money and pressure from other nations. I found a few pictures of these nation's battleships. The first is the Brazilian battleship Minas Geraes. The second ship the Argentine ship Rivadavia and the last is the Chilean ship Almirante Latorre. There is also one more fact that all of these ships have a common... they are all were all made in other countries. Most of these South American ships were scrapped in the mid or late 1950's. Thus ending South America's attempt to being a naval super power.

5 Years

5 years... it has been 5 years since I wrote or even visited my blog. I am sorry dear readers, life has a way of leading people down different paths. My path has finally lead me back to this blog. I am finally back and willing to continue my mission. That mission is sharing fun and interesting historical facts with the world!!!

Cool & Fun Facts

It has been awhile and I am sorry for that. To make up for that fact, I have some facts that I found that I just had to share with the world. Please enjoy!!!

The German U-boat SM U-35 has the most kills in Submarine history at 224 ships.

Dragon’s Blood Tree is the rarest tree in the world; it only grows on one island in the Indian Ocean.

The Mayans did not use metal of the wheel to build their pyramid temples.

The Continental Congress wanted to make Quebec the 14^th state.

25.9% of Wyoming has a German background

15.2% of America has a German background

The Great Wall of China is 6,000 Miles long.

The Somogitians were the last group of Europeans to convert to Christianity in 1413.