History of Bermuda Triangle - World History Point

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis20FOe2gft7S7qC0-EV36ROICqMxpB5xqmkA99NmJIDj9Ar9dOP0WRWhsaw7QSInd4M6sqBm7KQoVCMWP4TdmHwO4OGafbf5_ZAxQSDM92Br98s7AGi6w0vn7SYhQqQOTd29prU1cP1Mz/s1600/bermuda-triangle-H.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis20FOe2gft7S7qC0-EV36ROICqMxpB5xqmkA99NmJIDj9Ar9dOP0WRWhsaw7QSInd4M6sqBm7KQoVCMWP4TdmHwO4OGafbf5_ZAxQSDM92Br98s7AGi6w0vn7SYhQqQOTd29prU1cP1Mz/s400/bermuda-triangle-H.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28.8px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Bermuda Triangle is a mythical section of the Atlantic Ocean roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico where dozens of ships and airplanes have disappeared. Unexplained circumstances surround some of these accidents, including one in which the pilots of a squadron of U.S. Navy bombers became disoriented while flying over the area; the planes were never found. Other boats and planes have seemingly vanished from the area in good weather without even radioing distress messages. But although myriad fanciful theories have been proposed regarding the Bermuda Triangle, none of them prove that mysterious disappearances occur more frequently there than in other well-traveled sections of the ocean. In fact, people navigate the area every day without incident.</span></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28.8px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28.8px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></span></div> <h2 class="section-head accordion-toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" href="#section_1" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Roboto Condensed', sans-serif; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.9em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"> LEGEND OF THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE</h2> <div class="section-group collapse" id="section_1" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; height: auto !important; line-height: 19.25px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition: height 0.35s ease;"> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> The area referred to as the Bermuda Triangle, or Devil’s Triangle, covers about 500,000 square miles of ocean off the southeastern tip of Florida. When Christopher Columbus sailed through the area on his first voyage to the New World, he reported that a great flame of fire (probably a meteor) crashed into the sea one night and that a strange light appeared in the distance a few weeks later. He also wrote about erratic compass readings, perhaps because at that time a sliver of the Bermuda Triangle was one of the few places on Earth where true north and magnetic north lined up.</div> <div class="accordion-group"> <div class="section-group collapse" id="section_1" style="height: auto !important; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition: height 0.35s ease;"> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest,” which some scholars claim was based on a real-life Bermuda shipwreck, may have enhanced the area’s aura of mystery. Nonetheless, reports of unexplained disappearances did not really capture the public’s attention until the 20th century. An especially infamous tragedy occurred in March 1918 when the USS Cyclops, a 542-foot-long Navy cargo ship with over 300 men and 10,000 tons of manganese ore onboard, sank somewhere between Barbados and the Chesapeake Bay. The Cyclops never sent out an SOS distress call despite being equipped to do so, and an extensive search found no wreckage. “Only God and the sea know what happened to the great ship,” U.S. President Woodrow Wilson later said. In 1941 two of the Cyclops’ sister ships similarly vanished without a trace along nearly the same route.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> A pattern allegedly began forming in which vessels traversing the Bermuda Triangle would either disappear or be found abandoned. Then, in December 1945, five Navy bombers carrying 14 men took off from a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, airfield in order to conduct practice bombing runs over some nearby shoals. But with his compasses apparently malfunctioning, the leader of the mission, known as Flight 19, got severely lost. All five planes flew aimlessly until they ran low on fuel and were forced to ditch at sea. That same day, a rescue plane and its 13-man crew also disappeared. After a massive weeks-long search failed to turn up any evidence, the official Navy report declared that it was “as if they had flown to Mars.”</div> </div> </div> <div class="accordion-group"> <h2 class="section-head accordion-toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" href="#section_2" style="font-family: 'Roboto Condensed', sans-serif; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.9em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"> BERMUDA TRIANGLE THEORIES AND COUNTER-THEORIES</h2> <div class="section-group collapse" id="section_2" style="height: auto !important; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition: height 0.35s ease;"> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> By the time author Vincent Gaddis coined the phrase “Bermuda Triangle” in a 1964 magazine article, additional mysterious accidents had occurred in the area, including three passenger planes that went down despite having just sent “all’s well” messages. Charles Berlitz, whose grandfather founded the Berlitz language schools, stoked the legend even further in 1974 with a sensational bestseller about the legend. Since then, scores of fellow paranormal writers have blamed the triangle’s supposed lethalness on everything from aliens, Atlantis and sea monsters to time warps and reverse gravity fields, whereas more scientifically minded theorists have pointed to magnetic anomalies, waterspouts or huge eruptions of methane gas from the ocean floor.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> In all probability, however, there is no single theory that solves the mystery. As one skeptic put it, trying to find a common cause for every Bermuda Triangle disappearance is no more logical than trying to find a common cause for every automobile accident in Arizona. Moreover, although storms, reefs and the Gulf Stream can cause navigational challenges there, maritime insurance leader Lloyd’s of London does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an especially hazardous place. Neither does the U.S. Coast Guard, which says: “In a review of many aircraft and vessel losses in the area over the years, there has been nothing discovered that would indicate that casualties were the result of anything other than physical causes. No extraordinary factors have ever been identified.”</div> </div> </div> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div>

History of Bermuda Triangle - World History Point

The Bermuda Triangle is a mythical section of the Atlantic Ocean roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico where dozens of ship...

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What was ANZAC? - World History Point

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNxHSfR9HumiD28CaQGfDwtcypa9CBbmakVTaMGqu-4IuwE32M-cAe1-dUx1-YUD0PVNIak1vR3oTzNExyKslmHNlmSzjBlvjB5FcQFDe0CMp4BLs8QGVGAfqvY7RpGzoX2zW4GraqVtU/s1600/anzac-B.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNxHSfR9HumiD28CaQGfDwtcypa9CBbmakVTaMGqu-4IuwE32M-cAe1-dUx1-YUD0PVNIak1vR3oTzNExyKslmHNlmSzjBlvjB5FcQFDe0CMp4BLs8QGVGAfqvY7RpGzoX2zW4GraqVtU/s400/anzac-B.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #101010; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> Along with several other English colonies, Australia and New Zealand entered World War I shortly after the British Empire declared war on Germany in August 1914. Aussies and Kiwis volunteered to serve by the thousands, and most were shipped to Egypt for training in late 1914. The combined Oceanic force was originally known as the “Australasian Army Corps,” but after both nations balked at losing their individual identities, it was rebranded as the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, or ANZAC.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #101010; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> ANZAC is best remembered for its heroic performance during 1915’s ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign against the Ottoman Empire. The operation originally called for the Allies to conquer the Dardanelles Strait in modern-day Turkey and join forces with the Russians in the Black Sea. But following a failed naval push, the Allies resorted to a risky ground invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula. On April 25, 1915, as British troops landed at nearby Cape Helles, ANZAC forces stormed the beach at what became known as Anzac Cove, a small inlet surrounded by high ridges. The ANZACs managed to establish a beachhead, but faced increasingly spirited opposition from Ottoman Turkish defenders led by Mustafa Kemal, the man who would later become known as “Ataturk” while serving as Turkey’s first president. Combined with miscommunications and poor planning by the Allies, the Turkish barrage soon ground the ANZAC advance to a halt. For the next several months, the two sides remained locked in a grueling stalemate. Disease, stifling heat and trench warfare took their toll on the ANZACs, who nevertheless became legendary for their good humor and extreme bravery under fire. When all further attempts to break the deadlock failed, the Allies staged a mass evacuation at Gallipoli in December 1915. By then, around 46,000 Allied troops lay dead, among them some 11,000 ANZACs. Australians and New Zealanders still observe “Anzac Day” every April 25 to honor those who served in the doomed campaign in the Dardanelles, and in 1985, the Turkish government officially changed the name of the ANZAC landing site to “Anzac Cove.”</div> <br />

What was ANZAC? - World History Point

Along with several other English colonies, Australia and New Zealand entered World War I shortly after the British Empire declared war ...

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History of Titanic - World History Point

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmKYjl4n6ugPpdhJmzs7ivJ-kB34fPgXRtU4MA_iV4Sa3bMI7pMvX5beW6tBD5tNHdsJr5DUGpioyXBHCVthVNR52IjulzRPCq7rT2dnUIBArE44r1v4DBFuOpJ69lylWZXqsm4SEFgIK1/s1600/titanic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmKYjl4n6ugPpdhJmzs7ivJ-kB34fPgXRtU4MA_iV4Sa3bMI7pMvX5beW6tBD5tNHdsJr5DUGpioyXBHCVthVNR52IjulzRPCq7rT2dnUIBArE44r1v4DBFuOpJ69lylWZXqsm4SEFgIK1/s400/titanic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-large;">Titanic</span></b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b>Titanic is perhaps the most iconic ship in history, its tragic story known the world over.</b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b>The most celebrated ocean liner of its time even before it first sailed, Titanic was an incredible feat of engineering and ambition. Its maiden voyage ended in tragedy when it struck an iceberg and sank, killing more than 1,500 passengers and crew.</b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b>From its construction in Belfast, through its dramatic sinking to the discovery of the wreck, it is a story that continues to capture the public imagination.</b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b></b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b>Photo: Titanic on its arrival at Queenstown (now Cobh) harbour, 11 April 1912 (Davidsons)</b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">More information </span></b><b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">about:</span></b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">Titanic</span></b></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div> <h2 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #323232; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3em;">Titanic was one of three 'Olympic Class' liners commissioned by the White Star Line to be built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. Construction began on the first of these great ships, Olympic, on 16 December 1908. Work on Titanic started soon after, on 31 March 1909. These magnificent vessels were the industrial marvels of their age and Titanic was to be the biggest, fastest and most luxurious liner yet.</span></h2> <h2 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #323232; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 16px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">After just three years, Titanic was finished - a floating city, ready to set sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. On board was a collection of passengers comprising millionaires, silent movie stars, school teachers and emigrants, in search of a better life in the United States.</span></div> <div style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 16px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">By the fifth day of its journey, Titanic was making swift progress across the Atlantic. Although Captain Edward Smith had plotted a new course upon hearing earlier reports of ice from other liners, there were many more communications that day of ice in Titanic's path. On the night of Sunday 14 April 1912, the sea was flat calm, the sky clear and moonless, and the temperature was dropping towards freezing. In such conditions, sea ice is very hard to spot.</span></div> <div style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 16px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">At 11.40pm the lookout sounded the alarm and telephoned the bridge saying "Iceberg, right ahead." The warning came too late to avoid the iceberg and Titanic struck it less than 40 seconds later, tearing a series of holes along the side of the hull. Upon inspecting the damage, Titanic's chief naval architect Thomas Andrews said to Captain Smith that the ship would certainly sink. Six of the watertight compartments at the front of the ship's hull were breached, five of them flooding within the hour. Titanic was designed to stay afloat with only four compartments flooded.</span></div> <div style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 16px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Less than three hours later Titanic lay at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, nearly four kilometres down. The sinking of Titanic claimed more than 1,500 lives. For many, the tragic fate that befell Titanic would come to mark the passing of the opulence of the Edwardian era and foreshadowed the global tragedy of World War One. The story captured the public imagination across the world, spawning countless books, films, plays, memorials, museums and exhibitions. The discovery of the wreck by oceanographer Robert Ballard on a Franco-American expedition in 1985 gave rise to a fresh wave of interest that continues to this day.</span></div> </span></h2> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div>

History of Titanic - World History Point

Titanic Titanic is perhaps the most iconic ship in history, its tragic story known the world over. The most celebrated ocean line...

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History of Taj Mahal - World History Point

<h1 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Bebas Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 32px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 2px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="color: #3d85c6;">History of Taj Mahal</span></h1> <div class="tour_details" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; min-width: 200px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"> <div class="box" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 12px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> </div> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcnaMRYz17gxFb6iYZvZ2iz5a3VBLrox8zIVaj5PyoTRlQtFOA_9a3GgvD8w4LSIJVRvJ1B71t5Z1d0tqE7uaKhXosdpYqzFmAiYdogFHrGcco_z-44p6YSnHrb3RCCj7KQ2yF_3eIduTY/s1600/taj5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcnaMRYz17gxFb6iYZvZ2iz5a3VBLrox8zIVaj5PyoTRlQtFOA_9a3GgvD8w4LSIJVRvJ1B71t5Z1d0tqE7uaKhXosdpYqzFmAiYdogFHrGcco_z-44p6YSnHrb3RCCj7KQ2yF_3eIduTY/s400/taj5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6px; text-align: justify;">The Taj Mahal of Agra is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, for reasons more than just looking magnificent. It's the history of Taj Mahal that adds a soul to its magnificence: a soul that is filled with love, loss, remorse, and love again. Because if it was not for love, the world would have been robbed of a fine example upon which people base their relationships. An example of how deeply a man loved his wife, that even after she remained but a memory, he made sure that this memory would never fade away. This man was the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who was head-over-heels in love with Mumtaz Mahal, his dear wife. She was a Muslim Persian princess (her name Arjumand Banu Begum before marriage) and he was the son of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir and grandson of Akbar the Great. It was at the age of 14 that he met Mumtaz and fell in love with her. Five years later in the year 1612, they got married.</span></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6px;"><br /></span></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6px; text-align: justify;"></span><br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6px; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 19.6px;">Mumtaz Mahal, an inseparable companion of Shah Jahan, died in 1631, while giving birth to their 14th child. It was in the memory of his beloved wife that Shah Jahan built a magnificent monument as a tribute to her, which we today know as the "Taj Mahal". The construction of Taj Mahal started in the year 1631. Masons, stonecutters, inlayers, carvers, painters, calligraphers, dome-builders and other artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the empire and also from Central Asia and Iran, and it took approximately 22 years to build what we see today. An epitome of love, it made use of the services of 22,000 laborers and 1,000 elephants. The monument was built entirely out of white marble, which was brought in from all over India and central Asia. After an expenditure of approximately 32 million rupees, Taj Mahal was finally completed in the year 1653.</span></span></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6px; text-align: justify;"> </span><br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6px;"><br /></span></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6px; text-align: justify;"></span><br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6px; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 19.6px;">It was soon after the completion of Taj Mahal that Shah Jahan was deposed by his own son Aurangzeb and was put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort. Shah Jahan, himself also, lies entombed in this mausoleum along with his wife. Moving further down the history, it was at the end of the 19th century that British Viceroy Lord Curzon ordered a sweeping restoration project, which was completed in 1908, as a measure to restore what was lost during the Indian rebellion of 1857: Taj being blemished by British soldiers and government officials who also deprived the monument of its immaculate beauty by chiseling out precious stones and lapis lazuli from its walls. Also, the British style lawns that we see today adding on to the beauty of Taj were remodeled around the same time. Despite prevailing controversies, past and present threats from Indo-Pak war and environmental pollution, this epitome of love continuous to shine and attract people from all over the world.</span></span></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6px; text-align: justify;"> </span><br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /></div>

History of Taj Mahal - World History Point

History of Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal of Agra is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, for reasons more than just looking magnifi...

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Love Story of Taj Mahal Agra - World History Point

<h1 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Bebas Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 32px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 2px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> <span style="color: #3d85c6;">Taj Mahal Story</span></h1> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetrp_PJYaFIcS_i-MJEoppQR7tURt4oa3xOMhBYa4V7IW-Mz2ynbk6BKu8gVHw2BrRC8-rfdNt-FkRQcfcxSdOAthVWsDhX1CgrUz1znSV9Bt5bplGZYHUPYsMiLtXPfu-kqFSxPp5A7z/s1600/minaret.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetrp_PJYaFIcS_i-MJEoppQR7tURt4oa3xOMhBYa4V7IW-Mz2ynbk6BKu8gVHw2BrRC8-rfdNt-FkRQcfcxSdOAthVWsDhX1CgrUz1znSV9Bt5bplGZYHUPYsMiLtXPfu-kqFSxPp5A7z/s400/minaret.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="tour_details" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; min-width: 200px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"> <div class="box" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 12px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;">Male Protagonist:</strong> Shah Jahan (Prince Khurram)<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" /><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;">Female Protagonist:</strong> Mumtaz Mahal (Arjumand Banu Begum)<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" />Taj Mahal, the magnificent monument that stands at the heart of India has a story that has been melting the hearts of millions of listeners since the time Taj has been visible. A story, that although ended back in 1631, continues to live on in the form of Taj and is considered a living example of eternal love. It's the love story of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, two people from the course of history who set an example for the people living in present and the future to come. An English poet, Sir Edwin Arnold best describes it as "Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passion of an emperor's love wrought in living stones." The story that follows next will prove why the statement is true.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" />Shah Jahan, initially named Prince Khurram, was born in the year 1592. He was the son of Jehangir, the fourth Mughal emperor of India and the grandson of Akbar the Great. In 1607 when strolling down the Meena Bazaar, accompanied by a string of fawning courtiers, Shah Jahan caught a glimpse of a girl hawking silk and glass beads. It was love at first sight and the girl was Mumtaz Mahal, who was known as Arjumand Banu Begum at that time. At that time, he was 14 years old and she, a Muslim Persian princess, was 15. After meeting her, Shah Jahan went back to his father and declared that he wanted to marry her. The match got solemnized after five years i.e., in the year 1612.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" />It was in the year 1628 that Shah Jahan became the Emperor and entrusted Arjumand Banu with the royal seal. He also bestowed her with the title of Mumtaz Mahal, meaning the "Jewel of the Palace". Though Shah Jahan had other wives also, but, Mumtaz Mahal was his favorite and accompanied him everywhere, even on military campaigns. In the year 1631, when Mumtaz Mahal was giving birth to their 14th child, she died due to some complications. While Mumtaz was on her deathbed, Shah Jahan promised her that he would never remarry and will build the richest mausoleum over her grave.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" />It is said that Shah Jahan was so heartbroken after her death that he ordered the court into mourning for two years. Sometime after her death, Shah Jahan undertook the task of erecting the world's most beautiful monument in the memory of his beloved. It took 22 years and the labor of 22,000 workers to construct the monument. When Shah Jahan died in 1666, his body was placed in a tomb next to the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal. This magnificent monument came to be known as "Taj Mahal" and now counts amongst the Seven Wonders of the World. This is the true story of the Taj Mahal of India, which has mesmerized many people with its bewitching beauty.</div> <div> <br /></div> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <br />

Love Story of Taj Mahal Agra - World History Point

Taj Mahal Story Male Protagonist:  Shah Jahan (Prince Khurram) Female Protagonist:  Mumtaz Mahal (Arjumand Banu Begum) Taj Mahal, th...

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What was Operation Mincemeat? - World History Point

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZo4Bchuv2TPvrCR_GLWpVYwkcUaie-bEEWDa9CwsFnLIUhDpjwBXAKGUmI7CviL_a4IjBcUqA9kKu4XkkpMaJ0l6bMTmSG5HavVlLvzKbTOO09Wv5Ip4GY_0MuuSV_oo3-wDmbHabdS7/s1600/ask-history-what-was-operation-mincemeat-E.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZo4Bchuv2TPvrCR_GLWpVYwkcUaie-bEEWDa9CwsFnLIUhDpjwBXAKGUmI7CviL_a4IjBcUqA9kKu4XkkpMaJ0l6bMTmSG5HavVlLvzKbTOO09Wv5Ip4GY_0MuuSV_oo3-wDmbHabdS7/s400/ask-history-what-was-operation-mincemeat-E.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #101010; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> During World War II, British intelligence officers managed to pull off one of the most successful wartime deceptions ever achieved: Operation Mincemeat. In April 1943, a decomposing corpse was discovered floating off the coast of Huelva, in southern Spain. Personal documents identified him as Major William Martin of Britain’s Royal Marines, and he had a black attaché case chained to his wrist. When Nazi intelligence learned of the downed officer’s briefcase (as well as concerted efforts made by the British to retrieve the case), they did all they could to gain access. Though Spain was officially neutral in the conflict, much of its military was pro-German, and the Nazis were able to find an officer in Madrid to help them. In addition to other personal effects and official-looking documents, they found a letter from military authorities in London to a senior British officer in Tunisia, indicating that Allied armies were preparing to cross the Mediterranean from their positions in North Africa and attack German-held Greece and Sardinia.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #101010; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> This intelligence coup for the Nazi spy network allowed Adolf Hitler to transfer German troops from France to Greece ahead of what was believed to be a massive enemy invasion. The only problem? It was all a hoax. The “drowned” man was actually a Welsh tramp whose body was obtained in a London morgue by British intelligence officers Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu, the brains behind Operation Mincemeat. After creating an elaborate fake identity and backstory for “William Martin,” Cholmondeley and Montagu got Charles Fraser-Smith (thought to be the model for Q in the James Bond novels, written by former British naval intelligence officer Ian Fleming) to design a special container to preserve the body during its time in the water. One of England’s leading racecar drivers transported the container to a Royal Navy submarine, which dropped it off the Spanish coast. Once the Spanish recovered the body, British authorities began their frantic attempts to recover the case, counting on the fact that their efforts would convince the Nazis of the documents’ validity. As a result of the false intelligence carried by “William Martin,” the Nazis were caught unawares when 160,000 Allied troops invaded Sicily on July 10, 1943. In addition to saving thousands of Allied soldiers’ lives, Operation Mincemeat helped further Italian leader Benito Mussolini’s downfall and turn the tide of the war towards an Allied victory in Europe.</div> <br />

What was Operation Mincemeat? - World History Point

During World War II, British intelligence officers managed to pull off one of the most successful wartime deceptions ever achieved: O...

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Remembering “The Great Escape,” 72 Years Ago - World History Point

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvijQrb6OjcfapCjV_yTbJNI_vId2sOiq5vLvcVg1ROVVcSS9htBnExv6kwKOR814QKdbuJ-tYPIZ1h7OcB84X-06_6k8DDK4JmntwY72BkiUEFyhobAmnGedSXLf9R-IK2ljjw3dmL2CH/s1600/hith-remembering-great-escape-70-years-3099624-E.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvijQrb6OjcfapCjV_yTbJNI_vId2sOiq5vLvcVg1ROVVcSS9htBnExv6kwKOR814QKdbuJ-tYPIZ1h7OcB84X-06_6k8DDK4JmntwY72BkiUEFyhobAmnGedSXLf9R-IK2ljjw3dmL2CH/s400/hith-remembering-great-escape-70-years-3099624-E.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="strong" style="background-color: white; color: #101010; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> Military ceremonies are being held in Poland this week to remember the dozens of Allied prisoners of war executed by the Nazis 72 years ago following their ingenious breakout from the infamous Stalag Luft III camp, an event immortalized in the 1963 film “The Great Escape.”</div> <div prop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 19.25px;"> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> Around 10:30 pm. on the cold, moonless night of March 24, 1944, Johnny Bull slowly peeked his head out of the ground and filled his lungs with freedom as he breathed in the frigid air. The sweat-soaked prisoner of war had just poked away at the last nine inches of grass and dirt atop a vertical shaft at the end of a tunnel that ran more than 30 feet below the oblivious Nazi guards patrolling the Stalag Luft III camp, which held thousands of Allied airmen captured by German forces in World War II.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> The flyboys who bravely soared the skies had demonstrated courage and ingenuity below ground as well in toiling for nearly a year to construct a tunnel that would allow them to flee from captivity. The secret plan had been led and organized by Roger Bushell, a Royal Air Force pilot who had been shot down over France while assisting with the evacuation of Dunkirk. After Bushell, nicknamed “Big X,” escaped twice from German prisoner of war camps, he was sent to what the Nazis believed to be one of their most secure facilities—Stalag Luft III. At this camp, 100 miles southeast of Berlin, the Nazis had taken measures to prevent tunneling, such as raising prisoners’ huts off the ground and burying microphones nine feet underground along the camp’s perimeter’s fence. In addition, the camp was built atop sandy ground through which it would be extremely difficult to tunnel. Still, Bushell would not be deterred.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> In the spring of 1943, he and others began work on an audacious plan to construct three tunnels with the code names of Tom, Dick and Harry that would stretch over 300 feet to outside the camp’s perimeter fence. Under the rules of engagement of the Geneva Conventions, the penalty for being caught, generally 10 days in solitary confinement, was worth the risk.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> Inside Hut 104, the prisoners of war building the Harry tunnel—who included many British airmen as well as Americans, Canadians, Australians, French and other Allied pilots—toiled for days chipping away at the building support columns to avoid being seen working underneath the huts. From a trap door concealed below a heating stove always kept lit to discourage the Nazi guards from getting too close, they burrowed down 30 feet in order to be out of the range of the microphones. Working in claustrophobic conditions, the prisoners excavated 100 tons of sand, which they stuffed bit by bit into concealed socks and discreetly sprinkled into the garden soil being raked by other prisoners. The diggers stripped to their long johns or took off all their clothes so that the bright golden sand wouldn’t stain them and raise the suspicions of the German guards.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> The prisoners scavenged and stole materials for the operation. They stripped 4,000 wooden bed boards to build ladders and shore up the sandy walls to prevent collapse. They stuffed 1,700 blankets against the walls to muffle sounds. They converted 1,400 powdered milk tin cans provided by the Red Cross into digging tools and lamps in which wicks fashioned from pajama cords were burned in mutton fat skimmed off the greasy soup they were served. Eventually, some prisoners stole a wire that they then hooked up to the camp’s electrical supply to power a string of light bulbs in the tunnel. They fashioned a crude air pump system built in part with hockey sticks and constructed an underground trolley system pulled by ropes to transport the sand with switchover stations named after two London landmarks—Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> By March 24, 1944, Harry was complete and all that was left was for Bull to break through the last piece of earth. One by one, the prisoners, dressed in civilian clothes and carrying forged documents, lay down on the rope-operated wooden trolley and were pulled through the 2 foot square tunnel to their escape. The process was tedious. Fewer than a dozen men made it through every hour, and a 1-hour blackout during a midnight air raid also slowed the operation.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> Around 5 a.m.., a German soldier on patrol nearly fell into the exit shaft and discovered the tunnel. The prisoners inside scrambled back to the hut and burned their forged documents, while the Nazis mobilized a massive manhunt. They erected roadblocks, increased border patrols and searched hotels and farms. Within two weeks, the Nazis had recaptured 73 of the escapees. Only three men successfully fled to safety—two Norwegians who stowed away on a freighter to Sweden and a Dutchman who by rail and foot ended up in Gibraltar.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> A furious Adolf Hitler personally ordered the execution of 50 of the escapees as a warning to other prisoners. In violation of the Geneva Conventions, the Gestapo drove the airmen, including Bushell and Bull, to remote locations and murdered them. “Escaping from prison camps has ceased to be a sport,” read posters the Nazis put up in the POW camps to warn future escapees that they would be shot on sight. In 1947, a military tribunal found 18 Nazi soldiers guilty of war crimes for shooting the recaptured prisoners of war, and 13 of them were executed.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> Hollywood immortalized the breakout in the 1963 blockbuster “The Great Escape,” which starred Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson and James Coburn. However, the real-life heroes are the ones being honored this week on the event’s 72th anniversary. Yesterday, hundreds gathered in Zagan, Poland, to remember the victims and place wreaths at the exit point of the tunnel. Today, 50 serving Royal Air Force officers began a four-day, 105-mile march from the site of Stalag Luftig III to the British war cemetery in western Poland where the executed airmen are buried.</div> </div> <br />

Remembering “The Great Escape,” 72 Years Ago - World History Point

Military ceremonies are being held in Poland this week to remember the dozens of Allied prisoners of war executed by the Nazis 72 years...

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About 5 Facts Pearl Harbor and USS Arizona - World History Point

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4OE7cTbcihXhJBZGUm8gR3g1Mb7ruEpDwTYfI4u1hHxLvAstAnJqylAdmLjBi-ghPYsimzjEOHAuCf1sCn7aYL34TmCAthMk5Rr6wLkBm7HCum-T_UcKEF-IRV2Rio-O6NhuMj57tRNSn/s1600/HITH_pearl_harbor_banner-D.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4OE7cTbcihXhJBZGUm8gR3g1Mb7ruEpDwTYfI4u1hHxLvAstAnJqylAdmLjBi-ghPYsimzjEOHAuCf1sCn7aYL34TmCAthMk5Rr6wLkBm7HCum-T_UcKEF-IRV2Rio-O6NhuMj57tRNSn/s400/HITH_pearl_harbor_banner-D.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br /></div> <div class="strong" style="background-color: white; color: #101010; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time (12:55 p.m. EST) on December 7, 1941, Japanese fighter planes attacked the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, launching one of the deadliest attacks in American history. The assault, which lasted less than two hours, claimed the lives of more than 2,400 people, wounded 1,000 more and damaged or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. Almost half of the casualties at Pearl Harbor occurred on the naval battleship USS Arizona, which was hit four times by Japanese bombers. As we commemorate the anniversary of this “date which will live in infamy,” as President Franklin D. Roosevelt described it on December 8, 1941, explore five little-known facts about USS Arizona and the attack that plunged America into war.</div> <div prop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 19.25px;"> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> <strong>1. Twenty-three sets of brothers died aboard USS Arizona.</strong><br />There were 37 confirmed pairs or trios of brothers assigned to USS Arizona on December 7, 1941. Of these 77 men, 62 were killed, and 23 sets of brothers died. Only one full set of brothers, Kenneth and Russell Warriner, survived the attack; Kenneth was away at flight school in San Diego on that day and Russell was badly wounded but recovered. Both members of the ship’s only father-and-son pair, Thomas Augusta Free and his son William Thomas Free, were killed in action.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> Though family members often served on the same ship before World War II, U.S. officials attempted to discourage the practice after Pearl Harbor. However, no official regulations were established, and by the end of the war hundreds of brothers had fought—and died¬—together. The five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa, for instance, jointly enlisted after learning that a friend, Bill Ball, had died aboard USS Arizona; Their only condition upon enlistment was that they be assigned to the same ship. In November 1942, all five siblings were killed in action when their light cruiser, USS Juneau, was sunk during the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> <strong>2. USS Arizona’s entire band was lost in the attack.</strong><br />Almost half of the casualties at Pearl Harbor occurred on the naval battleship USS Arizona, which was hit four times by Japanese bombers and eventually sank. Among the 1,177 crewmen killed were all 21 members of the Arizona’s band, known as U.S. Navy Band Unit (NBU) 22. Most of its members were up on deck preparing to play music for the daily flag raising ceremony when the attack began. They instantly moved to man their battle positions beneath the ship’s gun turret. At no other time in American history has an entire military band died in action.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> The night before the attack, NBU 22 had attended the latest round of the annual “Battle of Music” competition between military bands from U.S. ships based at Pearl Harbor. Contrary to some reports, NBU 22 did not perform, having already qualified for the finals set to be held on December 20, 1941. Following the assault, the unit was unanimously declared the winner of that year’s contest, and the award was permanently renamed the USS Arizona Band Trophy.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> <strong>3. Fuel continues to leak from USS Arizona’s wreckage.</strong><br />On December 6, 1941, Arizona took on a full load of fuel—nearly 1.5 million gallons—in preparation for its scheduled trip to the mainland later that month. The next day, much of it fed the explosion and subsequent fires that destroyed the ship following its attack by Japanese bombers. However, despite the raging fire and ravages of time, some 500,000 gallons are still slowly seeping out of the ship’s submerged wreckage: Nearly 70 years after its demise, Arizona continues to spill up to 9 quarts of oil into the harbor each day. In the mid-1990s, environmental concerns led the National Park Service to commission a series of site studies to determine the long-term effects of the oil leakage.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> Some scientists have warned of a possible “catastrophic” eruption of oil from the wreckage, which they believe would cause extensive damage to the Hawaiian shoreline and disrupt U.S. naval functions in the area. The NPS and other governmental agencies continue to monitor the deterioration of the wreck site but are reluctant to perform extensive repairs or modifications due to the Arizona’s role as a “war grave.” In fact, the oil that often coats the surface of the water surrounding the ship has added an emotional gravity for many who visit the memorial and is sometimes referred to as the “tears of the Arizona,” or “black tears.”</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> <strong>4. Some former crewmembers have chosen USS Arizona as their final resting place.</strong><br />The bonds between the crewmembers of Arizona have lasted far beyond the ship’s loss on December 7, 1941. Since 1982, the U.S. Navy has allowed survivors of USS Arizona to be interred in the ship’s wreckage upon their deaths. Following a full military funeral at the Arizona memorial, the cremated remains are placed in an urn and then deposited by divers beneath one of the Arizona’s gun turrets. To date, more than 30 Arizona crewmen who survived Pearl Harbor have chosen the ship as their final resting place. Crewmembers who served on the ship prior to the attack may have their ashes scattered above the wreck site, and those who served on other vessels stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, may have their ashes scattered above their former ships. As of November 2011, only 18 of the 355 crewmen who survived the bombing of USS Arizona are known to be alive.</div> <div style="color: #101010; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 40px;"> <strong>5. A memorial was built at the USS Arizona site, thanks in part to Elvis Presley.</strong><br />After Arizona sank, its superstructure and main armament were salvaged and reused to support the war effort, leaving its hull, two gun turrets and the remains of more than 1,000 crewmen submerged in less than 40 feet of water. In 1949 the Pacific War Memorial Commission was established to create a permanent tribute to those who had lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor, but it wasn’t until 1958 that President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation to create a national memorial. The funds to build it came from both the public sector and private donors, including one unlikely source. In March 1961, entertainer Elvis Presley, who had recently finished a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, performed a benefit concert at Pearl Harbor’s Block Arena that raised over $50,000—more than 10 percent of the USS Arizona Memorial’s final cost. The monument was officially dedicated on May 30, 1962, and attracts more than 1 million visitors each year.</div> </div> <br />

About 5 Facts Pearl Harbor and USS Arizona - World History Point

At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time (12:55 p.m. EST) on December 7, 1941, Japanese fighter planes attacked the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, ...

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