# Caliph
History’s Out of the Ordinary Radicals
In 1946, Brazil’s government prohibited the country’s newspapers from mentioning Japan’s defeat in the recently concluded Second World War. The term “unconditional surrender” was also banned from the country’s official documents. Why?…
A Countdown of History’s 16 Most Influential and Formidable Mercenaries
Mercenaries - warriors hired to take part in armed conflicts, without being a formal part of a government's forces -…
12 Surprising Things You Should Know About the Fierce Mongols and their Unforgiving Conquests
Until the late 1100s, the Mongols were an obscure nomadic tribe. Roaming the Eurasian Steppe north of China, various Mongol…
12 Royal Deaths that Took a Bizarre and Undignified Turn
Throughout most of history, royals have been mankind's most privileged class. The ones born to the purple got the best…
Bizarre Deaths: 12 of History’s Weirdest Deaths, From Antiquity to the Middle Ages
It has been said that the only inevitable things in life are death and taxes, but with enough money to…
A Musician Slave Changed Fashion, Music, and Dining in the Middle Ages
Abul-Hasan Ali Ibn Nafi, also known as Ziryab, was one of the greatest innovators of his era yet his name…
Six Times the Islamic Empire Was Nearly Torn Apart
Although early sources are not completely reliable, most historians acknowledge that Islam originated at the beginning of the 7th century in…