Disaster
Boston’s Great Molasses Flood of 1919 Killed 21 and Moved at 35 MPH
On January 15, 1919, a poorly built storage tank in Boston's North End exploded, unleashing 2.3 million gallons of molasses that moved at 35 miles per hour — killing 21 people and…
Pompeii’s Shattered Ceiling Fresco Is Being Rebuilt from 2,000 Pieces
When Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii, a richly painted ceiling depicting the marriage of Dionysus and Ariadne shattered into more than 2,000…
American Revolution Casualties: Disease Killed More Than Double the Combat Dead
Approximately 17,000 American soldiers died of typhus, dysentery, and disease during the Revolutionary War — more than double the 6,800…
Kublai Khan Sent 4,400 Ships at Japan — Twice, and Lost Both Times
Kublai Khan built the greatest empire the medieval world had ever seen, then hurled the largest armada in history at…
Edmund Fitzgerald Sank in 17 Minutes — and Lake Superior Kept Every Secret
At 7:10 p.m. on November 10, 1975, Captain McSorley radioed four last words — then the Edmund Fitzgerald was gone…
Pompeii’s 20,000 Residents Were Killed in Seconds — Not by Lava
When Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, Pompeii's residents weren't buried by slow-moving lava — forensic evidence shows superheated pyroclastic surges…
New York Burned Twice — How the 1776 and 1835 Fires Remade the City
Twice in less than 60 years, catastrophic fires erased vast swaths of New York City — first during the British…
Great Depression Years: How One 1929 Crash Broke a Decade
The Great Depression lasted a full decade, from 1929 to 1939, but the stock market crash of Black Tuesday was…
EU4 Mongol Empire: What It Nails—and the Black Death It Ignores
Europa Universalis IV faithfully models the Mongol Empire's fragmentation and nomadic tension, but ignores the empire's most world-altering legacy: catapulting…
Great Depression Dust Bowl: When Black Sunday Made Two Catastrophes One
From the stock market crash of 1929 to Black Sunday's eight-thousand-foot dust wall in 1935, the Great Depression fused economic…