The biggest factor was nationalism. The USSR was one large super-state made up of many smaller states that had been independent countries in the past; sort of like the United States, if Texas, California, and Idaho had all spoken separate languages for centuries and considered themselves, to varying extents, different races before being united under one federal government.
History
What Happened To The Prison Guards Of Dachau Concentration Camp When It Was Liberated?
Walenty Lenarczyk, a prisoner at Dachau, stated that following the camp’s liberation "prisoners swarmed over the wire and grabbed the Americans and lifted them to their shoulders… other prisoners caught the SS men.
The first SS man elbowed one or two prisoners out of his way, but the courage of the prisoners mounted, they knocked them down and nobody could see whether they were stomped or what, but they were killed."
How Effective Were Kamikaze Attacks In WW2?
By 1944 suicide attacks had become de facto conventional air attacks for most Japanese pilots attacking American naval task forces.
For example, the Battle of the Philippine Sea justly earned the nickname the “Marianas Turkey Shoot” because the Japanese air units lost over five-hundred aircraft attacking the US fleet with only minor damage to the USS South Dakota to show for their efforts.
[Read more…] about How Effective Were Kamikaze Attacks In WW2?
What Were Aztec Sacrifices Ritual Actually Like?
They were religious events first. The Aztecs believed that their gods got their sustenance from human sacrifice; and one of the basic duties of Religion is caring for your gods. The most important of these sacrifices were carried out during the 18 monthly festivals of the Solar Year.
One of these, to give you an example, was the Tlacaxipehualiztli, the Festival of the Flaying of Men, celebrated at spring equinox before the rainy season, one of the most brutal and complex.
[Read more…] about What Were Aztec Sacrifices Ritual Actually Like?
What was Hitler’s last day on Earth like?
In late April 1945, chaos reigned in Berlin. Years of war had turned former superpower Germany into a battleground, and its cities from strongholds into places under siege. The Red Army had completely circled the city, which now called on elderly men, police, and even children to defend it. But though a battle raged on in the streets, the war was already lost. Adolf Hitler’s time was almost up.
[Read more…] about What was Hitler’s last day on Earth like?
What Was it Like Living in Occupied France During WWII For the Average Person?
In France, the Nazis split France into an occupied and unoccupied zone – occupied being the north, unoccupied, or Vichy, being the south. Nazis would have been living in the occupied zone – you would have had to board one for several days at a time – from 1940, and into the unoccupied zones from 1942.
[Read more…] about What Was it Like Living in Occupied France During WWII For the Average Person?
Did Some Southerners Immigrate to Brazil after the Civil War?
Meet the Confederados
Defeated in the Civil War, some Southerners refused to live in a land without slavery. They also hated the idea of being part of the Union, so they left the United States.
Where did they go? Some 10,000 – 20,000 packed up and headed further south to Brazil, where they would be known as the Confederados. Some returned during the reconstruction, but most stayed and built new lives in their new country.
[Read more…] about Did Some Southerners Immigrate to Brazil after the Civil War?
Did Japan Have a War Plan Against The US After Pearl Harbor?
Japan’s hopes was that after destroying the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that it would take at minimum 2 years for the US to rebuild the fleet back up to seriously take on the Japanese fleet.
[Read more…] about Did Japan Have a War Plan Against The US After Pearl Harbor?
Could A Single M1 Abrams Survive An Entire SS Tank Battalion In 1940?
Assuming that all of their tanks were operational (unlikely) a German Heavy Tank Battalion in WWII had 45 tanks, with an additional 8–11 SPAAGs, 5 Recovery Vehicles, and 11 armored half tracks. These would be pretty much the entirety of what the Abrams would have to destroy without being disabled.
[Read more…] about Could A Single M1 Abrams Survive An Entire SS Tank Battalion In 1940?
Has the CIA Ever Trafficked Drugs to Fund Political Factions or Operations?
The general consensus with the corroborating claims is yes. The Iran-Contra conflict specifically was centered on this particular type of scandal. The CIA and military were allegedly funding Contra rebels in staging the overthrow of the Sandinista government that was then distributed and sold in global markets, and used to provide the Nicaraguan Contras with weapons and training in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras through a CIA asset named Danilo Blandon.
[Read more…] about Has the CIA Ever Trafficked Drugs to Fund Political Factions or Operations?