Visitors to zoos today see animals housed in large enclosures where the creatures have room to play, exercise and interact with their own kind. This wasn’t always the case. More than a century ago, animals were kept behind bars in small cages. Sometimes the situation was even worse, as with Gunda the elephant, an inmate […]
Yes, There Really Was Cocaine in Coca-Cola
We don’t call the soft drink Coca-Cola “Coke” for nothing. The original formula contained cocaine, but how much is debatable. The beverage’s syrup was manufactured with an extract of coca leaves – it’s the leaves that contain cocaine – and the caffeine rich kola nut. (This post is a companion piece to Melina Druga’s WWI […]
5 Things I Learned While Writing A Tale of Two Nations
If you’ve been studying a subject for as long as I have, you may think there isn’t anything left to discover. I’ve been studying World War I and how it changed the lives of ordinary people since I was a teenager. When I embarked on writing A Tale of Two Nations: Canada. U.S. and WW1, […]
The History of Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is a holiday born near the dawn of the 20th century. It was conceived by a woman who, ironically, later degraded the holiday as too commercial and tried to stop it. (This post is a companion piece to Melina Druga’s WWI Trilogy, Angel of Mercy, Those Left Behind and Adjustment Year, available wherever […]
Race to the Sea
At the beginning of World War I, the predominate view was that the war would be over soon, even as early as Christmas. And perhaps it would have if events had gone differently. (This post is a companion piece to Melina Druga’s WWI Trilogy, Angel of Mercy, Those Left Behind and Adjustment Year, available wherever […]
The Armenian Genocide: The Slaughter of 600,000-1.3 Million People
Decades before the Jewish Holocaust there was another slaughter of an innocent minority group, this one lesser known to history. It was the Armenian Genocide of World War I. (This post is a companion piece to Melina Druga’s WWI Trilogy, Angel of Mercy, Those Left Behind and Adjustment Year, available wherever eBooks are sold.) Historians […]
The Causes of World War One: Part 5 – Assassination
Alliances, nationalism, militarism and conflict would congregate in one event: The assassination of Austria-Hungary’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand by 19-year-old Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. In 1914, nearly half of Austria-Hungary’s population was neither Austrian or Hungarian. Assassination in Sarajevo On June 28, 1914, Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were visiting Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, an Austrian-Hungarian province. […]
Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry: Canadian Men with Previous Military Experience
The first battle the Canadian Expeditionary Force engaged in during World War I was the Second Battle of Ypres. However, a group of soldiers did participate in earlier engagements. These men were members of Princess Patricia’s regiment. (This post is a companion piece to Melina Druga’s WWI Trilogy, Angel of Mercy, Those Left Behind and […]
Austria-Hungary: The Lesser Known WW1 Central Power
A lesser known, but equally important, member of the Central Powers was the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The assassination of its archduke sparked World War I. (This post is a companion piece to Melina Druga’s WWI Trilogy, Angel of Mercy, Those Left Behind and Adjustment Year, available wherever eBooks are sold.) The empire came into existence in […]
Christmas Truce of 1914: Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men
Many Christmas carols speak about peace on earth, but rarely does it ever happen. One notable exception is the Christmas truce of 1914. (This post is a companion piece to Melina Druga’s WWI Trilogy, Angel of Mercy, Those Left Behind and Adjustment Year, available wherever eBooks are sold.) It started with a declaration by Pope […]