Czarina Catherine II the Great, born as petty German princess of Zerbst (in Saxony), was married off in 1744 to Russian half-wit crown prince Peter of Holstein, on Prussian recommendation. She probably ended that unhappy marriage by murder. Her rule was ruthless but successful. More potential throne rivals were eliminated, rebellions repressed bloodily. Even her love-life was part of her ambitious power thirst. Only her greatest general, prince Potemkin, probably enjoyed true love. Russia expanded, mainly east and south at the Ottoman's expense, becoming a major ...

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The Great Wall, only partially preserved, is today's icon of China. It was built by the Han dynasty (2th c. BC) from their capital Chang-An against the northern nomadic barbarians, then the Hsiang-Nu, previously paid off or given Chinese princess bride to spare China and the Silk road their incursions. To spare the Confucian mandarins-administrated empire this humiliation, cavalry and mobile tactics were successfully adopted to repel the barbarians. Now a northern fortification was needed, a daunting drain even on its vast resources requiring massive forced labor and ...

August 1793: Lord McCartneys British delegation on its way to the imperial capital Peking is amazed to discover the Great Wall, and their Chinese escort's utter indifference about it. The present wall was build under the Ming dynasty. In 1541 the Mongolian ruler Altan Khan, who has established his capital Huehot in Chinese fashion, asks to establish trade. After the emperor has his delegation executed, the nomads invade. A new commanding general is ordered to assure the empires northwestern defense by building a long wall along nine pre-existing forts, partially ...

Es ist ein Machtkampf, wie es ihn nie zuvor gegeben hat: König gegen Papst. Wer ist der Stärkere? Es geht um die Macht im Königreich der Deutschen und im christlichen Abendland. Als der deutsche König Heinrich IV. im Jahr 1077 in Canossa vor Papst Gregor VII. kniet, scheint er auf dem Tiefpunkt seiner Macht angekommen. Die nackte Angst vor dem Verlust der Krone hat den stolzen Herrscher zu diesem letzten Mittel greifen lassen. Nur der Papst kann seine Macht retten und ihn vom kirchlichen Bann lösen.

In this two-part documentary serious researchers' theories are elaborated to trace the roots of characters and other elements in Fortunatus' famous saga -best known from Richard Wagner's cycle of operas - to historic and pre-existing literary inspiration. Thus the 'worm' (dragon) may be the Roman army (Xanthen was a major garrison) as symbolized by the cohort's crocodile head-shaped "dragon standard", Siegfried standing for the Cheruskian war king Arminius whose Germanic coalition defeated three legions in the forest near Worms, some royal characters to the ...

Second and concluding part of the study about the background of the famous 'Wagnerian', actually medieval saga with both Ancient and feudal inspiration.

Ancient Nubia, confusingly known as 'Ethiopia' then, roughly covering present Sudan, was colonized or annexed to its mighty northern neighbor Egypt for much of the Pharaonic age to supply gold, black slaves and other commodities. However when Egypt's imperial power broke down, possibly even its 24th dynasty were mere Nubian conquerors, the south went solo again, culturally and religiously almost a copy of the land of pyramids with its own at their royal capital. An African peculiarity was that besides the king, an office existed for a princess with her own ...