A border country located at the confluence of the EU and Russia, a former Soviet republic with a population of 46 million, independent since 1991, known abroad by stereotypes such as the "granary of the former USSR", the "Chernobyl catastrophe", "Gas crisis" or "orange revolution", Ukraine is trying to build an identity.
The difficulty in finding this identity stems from the fact that Ukraine has long been fragmented between the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires, the current borders being drawn by Joseph Stalin. It is true that nationalist ideas took their place here in the nineteenth century, but it was only after the disintegration of the USSR that Ukraine became independent, except for a short period between 1917 and 1920.
You can read more interesting facts below.
1. If Russia, which is not entirely in Europe, is not taken into account, Ukraine is the state with the largest area on the "Old Continent". Ukraine has an area of 603,628 square kilometers;
2. Ukrainians celebrate National Day on August 24;
3. Arsenal in Kyiv is the deepest subway station in the world. It is located at a depth of 105 meters and was built in 1960 for military purposes. The reason? Threatening powerful states with nuclear bombs
4. Traditional Ukrainian food includes chicken, pork, beef, eggs, fish and mushrooms. Ukrainians also tend to eat a lot of fresh, pickled potatoes, cereals and vegetables.
5. The most famous Ukrainian dish is borscht. While many Russians claim to be from their homeland, many Ukrainians are passionate about believing that they are the founders of this dish.
6. Ukraine was at the center of one of the greatest catastrophes of the 20th century. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in April 1986. The blast was considered the worst accident in the history of nuclear power.
7. Unlike many civilized states in Ukraine, wedding rings are worn on the ring finger of the right hand.
8. The "Love Tunnel" also exists in Ukraine. Near the town of Klevan in Ukraine there is a railway line that is covered with vaults formed by the branches of the nearby trees. It has become a favorite destination for thousands of lovers.
9. The geographical center of Europe is located in Ukraine. In 1886, the geographers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, using the technology of the time, established the geographical center of Europe in the village of Dilove.
10. The city of Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region is one of the few places in the world where fossilized trees are kept. The trees are almost 250 million years old and create an entire fossilized forest that covers an area of 1 hectare.
11. The first gas lamp in history was invented in the Ukrainian city of Lviv.
12. The Ukrainians, namely the Antonov Design Bureau, have developed an aircraft with the highest payload capacity in the world - the An-225 Mechta. At first it was designed to transport spacecraft. Now "Dream" carries out commercial cargo transportation.
13. The author of one of the first constitutions in the world is Ukrainian political and public figure Pylyp Orlyk. On April 5, 1710, he was elected hetman of the Zaporizhian army. On the same day, Pylyp Orlyk announced the "Constitution of the rights and freedoms of the Zaporizhian army." In the United States, the Constitution was adopted in 1787, in France and the Commonwealth - only in 1791. An interesting fact is that Pylyp Orlik was born on the territory of Belarus - in the village of Kosuta, Oshmyany Povet.
14. In recent years, Ukraine has confidently retained its place in the top three world leaders in honey production. Being several times ahead of European countries in terms of honey production, Ukraine is at the same time the first state in the world in honey production per capita (1.5 kg).
15. Ukraine has the world's largest reserves of manganese ore - 2.3 billion tons, or about 11% of the world's total reserves.
16. Only six monasteries in the world have the status of Lavra. Three of them are in Ukraine. These are the Holy Assumption Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv, which received this status back in 1598, the Holy Assumption Lavra in the city of Pochaev and the Svyatogorsk Holy Assumption Lavra in the Donetsk region.
17. Ostroh Academy is the first higher educational institution in Eastern Europe, the oldest Ukrainian scientific and educational institution. In 1576, Prince Konstantin-Vasily of Ostrog founded the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy in Ostrog.
18. The first kerosene lamp was invented in Lvov by Ignaty Lukasiewicz and Jan Zekh in 1853, under the Golden Star pharmacy workers.In the same year, the first surgical operation was performed in the Lviv hospital under the illumination of a kerosene lamp. Subsequently, the kerosene lamp was presented at the international exhibition in Munich, the invention was awarded a special diploma there.
19. Monuments to the famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko have been erected in 1200 cities around the world.
20. The Ukrainian wind instrument trembita is the longest wind musical instrument in the world.
21. The shortest main street of all the capitals of the world, but at the same time one of the widest and most beautiful - Khreshchatyk in Kyiv. Its length is only 1225 m.
22. The oldest map known to scientists, as well as the oldest settlement of Homo Sapiens, were found in Ukraine: in the village. Mesopotamia of the Rivne region. They are about 14.5-15 thousand years old. The map is engraved on a mammoth bone.
23. The longest cave in Ukraine is called "Optimistic" and is located in Podolia. This is a gypsum cave at a depth of 20 m with a length of 216 km. The longest gypsum cave in the world and the second longest in general, it is second only to Mammoth Cave in the United States.
24. The geographical center of Europe (well, yes, we also have it :)). In Ukraine, near the town of Rakhiv, surrounded by the picturesque Carpathians, is the geographical center of Europe.
25. The oldest tree in Ukraine is considered to be a 1300-year-old oak in the Yuzefin tract, Rivne region.
26. The third most visited McDonald's in the world is located in Kyiv near the railway station. This establishment consistently ranks among the top five busiest McDonald's in the world.
27. One of the largest historical transport routes ran through the territory of Ukraine (as well as through the territory of Belarus) - “the path from the Varangians to the Greeks” - a system of river routes and portages between them 3 thousand km long, connecting the northern lands of Ancient Russia with the southern Russian lands and the Baltic sea with Black. Throughout ancient history, Ukraine has acted as a bridge between the worlds of Eastern Europe and the Ancient East, Antique, Byzantine and Latin Europe.
28. Ukraine ranks fourth in the world in terms of the number of citizens with higher education. The population of Ukraine is among the most educated, and the number of people with higher education per capita is higher than the average European level.
29. Ukraine, on its own initiative, abandoned the world's third largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. At the time of declaration of independence, more than a thousand nuclear warheads and missiles were located on the territory of Ukraine, the third largest nuclear potential after Russia and America. The warheads and missiles were handed over to Russia, the bunkers were destroyed. In response, Ukraine received money for disarmament, as well as security guarantees from nuclear powers (as we can see, these guarantees are not respected today).
30. The international Ukrainian anthem consists of only six lines (four in verse and two in the chorus). The remaining lines of the anthem are considered politically incorrect. (for example, "Stand, brother, in a crooked way from Xiang to Don" implies Ukraine's claims to the territory of Russia and Poland). The anthem was born in 1863, and adopted as a state anthem in 2003.
31.At the language beauty contest in Paris in 1934, the Ukrainian language took third place after French and Persian in terms of phonetics, vocabulary, phraseology, and sentence structure. And in terms of melodiousness, the Ukrainian language took second place after Italian.
32. Until the almost complete destruction in 1240 by the Mongol-Tatars, Kyiv was one of the largest cities in Europe, fifty times larger than London, ten times larger than Paris. It reached its peak under Yaroslav the Wise (1010 - 1054), who became related to the royal families of France, Norway, Romania and Poland. The population of today's capital of Ukraine was about 50,000 inhabitants. It took about 600 years to reach such demographic indicators again. Quite possibly, if it were not for the destruction of that time, Kyiv could have been the most developed largest city in Europe for many years.
33. Pablo Picasso was delighted with the works of the Ukrainian artist Kateryna Bilokur (1900-1961). When in 1954 he saw her works at an exhibition, he said that they were brilliant and compared Catherine with the world-famous artist Serafin Louis.
35. One of the most famous Christmas songs in the world is Shchedryk, a folk song recorded by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych. The world knows her as Carol of the Bells or Ring Christmas Bells. On Youtube, various performances of "Shchedryk" are gaining millions of views.
36. During the Anglo-Boer War (South Africa) in 1899 - 1902. the commander of one of the detachments of the Boers, Ukrainian Yuriy Budyak, saved a young English journalist from execution. Subsequently, the latter helped Budyak enter Oxford University. In 1917, Yuriy worked in the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic. In 1943 Yuri Budyak died in a Soviet concentration camp. The English journalist's name was Winston Churchill…
37. At the time of independence, there were 19.4 million pigs in Ukraine. Today, there are half as many of them - 8.3 million. Despite the reputation of a salo-eater, the average Ukrainian eats only 18 kg of pork per year. This is three times less than an ordinary German.
38. In Ukraine, near Nikopol, on a spit near the river. Lapinki, on one of the branches of the Dnieper, you can see, or rather hear a phenomenon that is rare in the world - singing sands. The "singing" of these, perhaps, the strangest sands appears after rain, when the top layer sticks together and forms a fragile crust. Walking along it, you can hear sounds similar to the whistling of air released from a car chamber.
39. In the town of Berdychiv (Zhytomyr region) in the church of St. Barbara on March 14, 1850, the local beauty Evelina Ganskaya was married to Honore de Balzac. Frederic Chopin lived in the same town for a long time, who, in addition to writing music, also supervised the restoration of the local organ.
40. It would be possible to collect a dictionary of Ukrainian surnames, distorted in the course of Russification by Russian officials. So, the Ukrainian clan Chekhov in the 19th century became Chekhov for some reason. Chekhov's grandfather was still a Czech. Anton Pavlovich himself wrote that his grandfather was a Ukrainian. Quite funny, the Deineks turned into Denikins. Cossacks Rozuma became Razumovsky, Chaikas become Tchaikovsky. The grandfather of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the great composer - Pyotr Chaika - graduated from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and as a physician, the Russian government sent him as a head physician to Vyatka.
41. Probably, the Ukrainian atmosphere in the Tchaikovsky family was preserved much better than that of the Chekhovs, because from the age of 24, the future composer lived in Ukraine almost every year for several months, where he wrote more than 30 works, including the opera Blacksmith Vakula (Cherevichki ”), “Mazepa”, song-romance “Cherry Garden of Haiti”, duet “On the Novgorod near the Ford” to the words of T. Shevchenko. In the cruel times of the empire's offensive against the Ukrainian language, he sought the production of "Taras Bulba" by N. Lysenko (the famous Ukrainian composer), used many Ukrainian folk songs in his works.
42. The great writer Fyodor Dostoevsky was Ukrainian by origin, because the Dostoevsky family came from the village of Dostoev near Pinsk (Ukrainian-Belarusian border), so Belarusians can also consider him their fellow countryman. One of the Dostoevskys becomes a hieromonk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and in 1647 takes part in the election of the next metropolitan. It is interesting that among the Dostoevskys who lived in Podolia, most of all were representatives of the clergy. Andrei Dostoevsky was a priest of the Ukrainian Uniate Church.
43. He was the grandfather of the writer F. Dostoevsky. Andrei's son quarreled with his father and brother and went to Moscow. His name was Mikhail, and as a memory of his family and Ukraine, he took with him, preserved and passed on to his sons his own Ukrainian poems. The daughter of Fyodor Mikhailovich recalls: "... poetic abilities were already in the Ukrainian family of my father, and were not given only through my Muscovite mother, as Dostoevsky's literary friends suggest." It is a pity that F. Dostoevsky did not join the defense of Ukraine.
44. This, in principle, cannot be said about V. Mayakovsky. The poet sharply criticized the “Muscovites”: “Comrade Muscovite, don’t joke about Ukraine.” He also reminded that Russians from the history of Ukraine know only Shevchenko, Taras Bulba, borscht and lard (“Russians have a shallow thickness of knowledge”).
45. By the way, he wrote about himself: "I am a Cossack from my grandfather, on the other - a Sich." Researchers point out that the Ukrainian clans of Mayakovsky went, probably, from those Cossacks who stood guard over the barrows, at the lighthouses that were set on fire during the Tatar attacks.
46. Unfortunately, the Ukrainians of Ripa turned into Repins. Although Ilya Repin, who was born in the Kharkiv region, still retained his sense of belonging to the Ukrainians and painted himself as a Cossack leaning on a cannon. “It's time to think about the Ukrainian style in art,” the artist noted. But he not only spoke, but also created many works on Ukrainian themes, for example, “The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan” - he wrote two versions of this picture.
47. In 1931, there were more Ukrainians in the USSR than Russians. In six years, 55 million disappeared ... This figure is indicated in the book "At the Great Construction Site", published in 1931 in Leningrad. The same data are presented in the first Soviet encyclopedia of 1926. Neither this encyclopedia nor the book is available in any library in Ukraine. We managed to find "At the Great Construction Site" in Moscow.
48. The figures of 81 million are clearly visible in these copies. It should be noted that the population of Ukrainian Galicia, which was part of Poland, was not taken into account here. Already the next census of 1937 indicates that only 26 million Ukrainians remained in the USSR. Where did all the rest go? Knowing such figures, the repressions of the 1930s seem even more terrible.
49. Freedom Square in Kharkov is the largest square in Europe.
50. The longest embankment in Europe is located in Dnepropetrovsk. Its length is 30 km.
Ukraine's eighth day of war has been difficult but optimistic, said President Zelensky's adviser Aleksey Arestovich last night. Near Nikolaev, the invaders were bombed from Grads facilities. In Kherson, the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed about 1,000 assailants, 20 helicopters, 200 cars. In Gostomel, two street fights took place, Ukrainian defenders destroyed a concentration of troops.
Bemorepanda collected 10 videos that are showing the reality behind the situation in Ukraine.
Russian troops arrived in the center of the Ukrainian port of Kherson on Thursday, the first major accomplishment of the invasion launched last Thursday, and in the capital Kyiv and other big cities, the occupation forces continued the destructive bombing, without significant troop movements, probably due to logistical problems. . A Ukrainian delegation has left for a second round of talks with Russian ceasefire officials. A fire broke out on Friday morning at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest of its kind in Europe, after a bombardment by Russian troops, causing concern around the world.
The United Nations says one million people have fled their homes in Ukraine to Poland and other neighboring countries.
The United Nations has overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and calling for the immediate withdrawal of its forces, in a global expression of outrage that has highlighted Russia's growing isolation.
At an emergency session of the UN General Assembly, 141 of the 193 member states voted in favor of the resolution, 35 abstained and five voted against.
The only countries that voted in favor of Moscow were Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria.
Russia's longtime allies, Cuba and Venezuela have joined China in refraining.
It is the first time in the last 40 years that the Security Council has sent the General Assembly to discuss a crisis and the 11th emergency session since 1950 and so far, writes The Guardian.
The General Assembly was convened after the Security Council, due to the lack of unanimity of the permanent members, failed to exercise its main function of acting appropriately for the maintenance of international peace and security.
"It will not stop the Russian forces in their tracks, but it is a big diplomatic victory for the Ukrainians and the United States and for all those who supported them," said Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group.
The Russians have captured the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, while the International Court of Justice has opened an investigation into the allegations of genocide and will hold public hearings starting next week. Kyiv resists the siege of Russian troops, and the city of Mariupol is surrounded. One million Ukrainians have left the country since the beginning of the invasion, and Russia has changed its military strategy and is pursuing the slow annihilation of the Ukrainian army.
About 150 public radio stations in Europe will broadcast the song "Give Peace a Chance" on Friday at 07:45 GMT, the European Radio and Television Union (EBU) announced.
The famous song, composed by John Lennon, will be heard in more than 25 countries, including Ukraine, and private radio stations can join the initiative, according to EBU.
Ukrainian authorities say Russian bombings in the city of Toretsk (Donetsk region) have hit a gas pipeline, leaving more than 15,000 people without heat. 400 homes, 8 schools, 9 kindergartens and 10 hospitals are affected, according to the Emergency Service
women, a lot of children, people who want to escape the horror of war. In the city, since 4 in the morning, anti-aircraft sirens sounded, a sound that is heard more and more often in the city. Many people have nowhere to flee and are trying to find a safe place.
Inside the Odessa train station, the images are even more dramatic, with thousands of children fleeing the horrors of war. I don't know when they will return and if they will have a place to return.
Many Ukrainians who are at the station on Friday at noon say they want to go to Poland and look for accommodation there.
To find their loved ones alive is the greatest wish of the Ukrainians who are now fleeing, hoping that they will escape the war. It is extremely difficult for them, because they leave behind their house, their fortune, their grandparents and they pray to survive until they manage to buy a ticket back, with which to return home, to their relatives, to their homes.
Images from the Odessa train station are painful and difficult to describe in words. It is an atmosphere of deep pain and emotion. People say that they do not know what is happening to them and why they have to witness this conflict that they do not understand and they wonder when this nightmare that they are living will end.
There are a lot of simple people in Odessa who say they can't go to other cities because they don't have enough money to get safely elsewhere.
They end up playing a lottery, where the price is their own life and they pray to God to survive.
In Odessa there are also tourists, but also foreign students who came to study at the Maritime University, a prestigious university, and who want to save their lives, it is very difficult for them to keep in touch with relatives, parents, because the phone signal is very weak and frequently falls in the area.
There are a lot of armed soldiers on the streets, ready to open fire if they don't understand clearly who you are and why you are in the area. There are soldiers who want to protect their families. There are a lot of volunteers in the army, defense groups of the city, made up of simple people, who went out on the street at night with hunting weapons and who say they are not ready to give up, do not want to give up and will defend their country and each centimeter of territory.
Biography of Boris Johnson - career, family, photos, achievements, and facts from his personal life
There are many interesting facts in the biography of Boris Johnson, which we will discuss in this article.
On July 23, 2019, Boris Johnson won the election as the leader of the Conservative Party and became the new Prime Minister of Great Britain, taking over from his predecessor, Theresa May. A master of ambiguous statements and deeds, an eccentric, a hooligan, a eurosceptic, a brilliant politician - with what associations the media did not honor him! We offer you to get to know Mr. Johnson better and reveal some interesting facts about his biography.
The stereotypical British politician has taught us to behave as politely as possible, does not make harsh public statements, and does not shock those around him. And if he shocks, then partly unconsciously, like Teresa May with a crazy robot dance. However, born Alexander Boris de Pfeffel-Johnson does not fit into these stereotypes in any way.
Origin of Boris Johnson
The origin of the current Prime Minister of Great Britain is a topic for a separate interesting conversation. On the paternal side, he is rooted in the Ottoman Empire: his great-grandfather, Ali Kemal, was in charge of internal affairs in the government of the last Grand Vizier of the empire, Ahmed Okday. His wife was an ethnic Circassian refugee Hanifa Fered from the Caucasus, she fell into slavery in the Ottoman Empire, but was ransomed by Ali Kemal, her future husband. Boris Johnson loves this story very much and has retold it many times with or without reason.
Johnson is no stranger to British monarchs. He himself spoke about this in a program about genealogy “What do you think about yourself?” on the BBC. It turned out that his grandmother Yvonne Eilynn Williams is a direct descendant of Duke Paul of Württemberg, who was a descendant of George II. Thus, Johnson is the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of George II. Turkish and Circassian blood also flows in his veins. Boris's great-grandfather, a wealthy Turkish nobleman, married a Circassian slave in the 19th century, whom he bought at a bazaar in Istanbul.
On the mother's side, in the family of the future politician, there were not only Americans in the 9nth generation but also Jews. For example, the famous paleographer Elias Avery Levy was born on the territory of modern Lithuania and was Boris' great-grandfather.
Boris Johnson's early years
Boris Johnson was born on June 19, 1964, in Manhattan, New York. His full name is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. His family name was simply Al. His mother is a talented artist, his father worked at the World Bank and was a member of the Conservative Party of the European Parliament. Parents divorced when the boy was 11 years old.
As a child, Boris suffered from deafness. He has undergone several surgeries to restore his hearing.
At birth, Boris received two citizenships at once - British and American. But in 2016, having become a member of the British government, he refused the latter.
Boris is not the only child in the family, his sister Rachel has built a successful career in journalism, regularly appears on discussion panels, including TV projects Question Time and The News. Boris's brother Joe has been Minister of State for Higher Education in the UK since 2016.
He was educated at Eton. To the alma mater of future kings and presidents. It was there that they began to call him Boris, not Alex (the full name of the British Prime Minister sounds like Alexander Boris de Pfeffel-Johnson). After Johnson studied at Oxford, where his closest friend was, oddly enough, former Prime Minister David Cameron. Both were considered promising daredevils at the university: Johnson and Cameron were members of the so-called Bullingdon Club, which, was a society of alcoholics and brawlers. The buddies' favorite pastime was dressing up, getting drunk at a bar, smashing a restaurant, and then honestly writing a check for the damage done.
Boris Johnson's personal life
Johnson is married for the third time. With his first wife, a model, and the daughter of a millionaire landowner, Allegra Mostyn-Owen, he started acting weird at the wedding. Appeared at the altar in trousers belonging to Conservative MP John Biffen. And an hour after the ceremony, he managed to lose the wedding ring he had just put on his finger. The bad omen worked—the marriage barely lasted six years.
Just twelve days after the divorce, the eccentric blond married lawyer Marina Wheeler, with whom he studied at the European School in Brussels. Their union seemed quite prosperous until adultery was discovered - it turned out that Johnson had secretly met with journalist Petronella White for four years, who managed to have two abortions during this time. Upon learning of this, Wheeler refused to let her husband even on the threshold of their house. But later it suddenly cooled down, and the couple reunited. But in the fall of 2018, they nevertheless announced the final break in relations.
Alone, Boris was not bored for long and soon began a relationship with the daughter of The Independent co-founder Matthew Symonds Carrie. The couple is known for emotionally sorting things out - Symonds' neighbors once even called the police after hearing screams and noise. After becoming prime minister, Boris Johnson moved to Downing Street with his lover (but not his legal wife, which is a precedent for the UK). At the end of May 2021, Boris and Carrie played a secret wedding in Westminster Cathedral. Now they are raising a common son, born in April 2020.
On April 29, Boris Johnson became a father for the sixth time - the son of the politician's fiancee Carrie Symonds was named Wilfred Laurie Nicholas. As Symonds, herself explained: "Wilfred is after Boris's grandfather, Laurie is after my grandfather, and Nicholas is after Nick Price and Nick Hart, the two doctors who saved Boris's life last month."
It is also important to mention that Johnson has two unexpected hobbies at once. He enthusiastically watches Bollywood movies and enthusiastically studies ancient Greek and Latin. However, it never hurts to diversify your leisure time, so Boris took part in The Spectator competition for the most offensive rhyme against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And he won, receiving a prize of a thousand pounds for his work.
Boris Johnson as Journalist
During the reign of Margaret Thatcher, Johnson was still far from big politics. In 1987, he began to earn all-around fame as a front-line reporter for the Daily Telegraph. Boris did not excite the audience in the same way that Alexander Nevzorov did in parallel in the perestroika USSR, but he nevertheless stood out against the background of the conservative journalistic workshop. His father's connections allowed the young journalist to get the prestigious position of special correspondent for the publication in Brussels, and upon his return, in 1994, the most popular political observer had the opportunity to take the chair of the deputy editor-in-chief.
Boris Johnson as Politician
With such a big name, it was possible to try yourself in a new incarnation. In 2001, Johnson had his first success in the general election - he was elected to the House of Commons from Oxfordshire. However, it was not enough for the fiery conservative to have a symbolic presence in Parliament, and it was still difficult to aim for more on the scale of the United Kingdom.
A few years later, Boris came up with a wonderful idea to become the mayor of London, because the overloaded capital lacked fresh, topical undertakings.
Boris Johnson as Mayor of London
Almost a decade of mayoral work was remembered first of all by the most successful holding of the 2012 Olympics. There were no infrastructural problems that were typical earlier for Beijing and later for Rio de Janeiro, the city treasury was replenished by a record amount due to the influx of tourists. Yes, and the transition to renewable energy at full capacity spun just under the leadership of an ardent opponent of environmental pollution and a fan of bicycles. The multi-million population remained quite satisfied.
Boris Johnson as Minister
And Boris would be the ruler and guide of grateful Londoners to this day, if not for new parliamentary elections. In July 2016, he was appointed foreign minister in Theresa May's cabinet and immediately took up the implementation of the "most important thing of a lifetime", that is, the UK's exit from the European Union. For the sake of Brexit, Johnson at some point was ready to risk even his political prospects and abandoned the portfolio two years after his appointment due to disagreement with the accepted procedure for renouncing EU membership.
Boris Johnson as Prime Minister
However, no steep dive happened. On the contrary, the British, even after some disappointment in the idea of separation from the European community of conservatives, still supported it. And it was Johnson, with the verbal support of Donald Trump, who replaced the resigned May as prime minister, at the same time gaining the powers of the head of the Conservative Party. As the head of the Cabinet, Johnson carried out Brexit - the UK almost completely left the EU.
Boris was nicknamed the "British Trump". But unpredictability and outrageousness did not immediately become the hallmark of the politician: as a child, he suffered from deafness, underwent four operations to restore the functions of the middle ear, so he was a very quiet child. Which, however, did not prevent him from dreaming of becoming the "king of the world" when he grows up.
Boris Johnson and Coronavirus
In 2020, the UK faced much more serious problems - the country was covered by a new type of coronavirus pandemic. They infected Prince Charles, Johnson himself, as well as thousands of Britons.
The Prime Minister announced his illness on March 27, 2020. The symptoms did not go away for 10 days and on April 5, Boris Johnson was hospitalized - after several days in intensive care, the politician recovered and was discharged.
The Prime Minister has already chosen a song for his funeral. Even though the politician is still quite young, he has already managed to think about such things. Johnson's choice fell on the song You Can't Always Get What You Want by the Rolling Stones, which he talks about quite openly.
St. Patrick's Day: Everyone wears green and drinks a lot of beer, the history and traditions of the holiday
March 17 has a special significance for the Irish. It is one of the most important days of the year, because they celebrate St. Patrick. Originally a Catholic holiday, today this festival is rather dedicated to the entire Irish culture and is celebrated with pomp in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, as well as in the United States. Bemorepanda collected some interesting facts and history details for you.
Saint Patrick was born in the 4th century in Roman Britain, but was captured by the Irish and held captive on the island for 6 years. At that time he dedicated himself to religion, and tradition says that he had a divine revelation by which God asked him to Christianize the Irish. After escaping from captivity, he returned to Ireland in 432 and began the Christianization process of the Irish, hitherto followers of polytheism. According to Irish folklore, he used the clover leaf to explain the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
Although St. Patrick was followed by many other missionaries, he remained the leading champion of Irish Christianity. Initially, the associated color of St. Patrick was blue, but later green, the symbol color of Ireland, began to be used. The custom of wearing green bows and clovers to celebrate March 17 (the day of his death) dates back to the seventeenth century.
National holiday from the 9th-10th centuries
The feast of St. Patrick was celebrated by the Irish as a kind of national day since the ninth and tenth centuries, but the official day was included in the Catholic calendar only in the early seventeenth century. In 1903, St. Patrick's Day became a national holiday in Ireland, and the St. Patrick's Festival appeared in the 1990s.
All the customs related to this holiday revolve around the color green. Everyone wears green clothes, clovers and, because it's Ireland, they drink beer. Guinness has even launched a special edition of their beer, the Green Edition. And the Irish diaspora around the world is celebrating today, with the most important activities taking place in America. For 40 years, the city of Chicago - with a significant segment of the population of Irish origin - has been manifesting its spirit of celebration by turning the Chicago River green (with the help of a vegetable paint).
In Ireland, although this holiday usually falls on Lent, the Catholic Church accepts meat on March 17 because, according to tradition, on St. Patrick's Day the Irish go to church in the morning, then organize a big feast in honor of their patron. spiritual.
SAINT PATRICK'S DAY: the two visions
St. Patrick's is Ireland's most beloved and well-known saint. Saint Patrick, the luminary of Ireland, was born around 381 AD in a village called Bannaven Taberniae. St. Patrick comes from a family of altar servants - his grandfather Potitus was a priest and his father Calpurnius a deacon.
The name Patrick or Patrichie means a great man in Latin. From the account of his life, we learn that at the age of 16 he ends up forgetting about God. When he reached this age, his village was looted by pirates, and he was sold into slavery in Ireland. He becomes a shepherd on Mount Slemish in Antrim County. Going into captivity completely changed his life. From the rich and carefree young man, comes the person who said at least a hundred prayers at night and as many during the day.
St. Patrick had two visions: in the first he was shown that he would return home, and in the second he was told that his ship was ready. The revelation made by God is fulfilled, so that after six years spent in captivity, he manages to return to his parents.
The Saint Patrick’s Day parade is a tradition both in Ireland and abroad. After the great famine of the 19th century, caused by the lack of potatoes, a wave of migrants left Ireland, and the parade of Saint Patrick’s Day became their way of manifesting their identity. Starting from the tradition, parades began to be organized all over the world, which came to include all those who share the same values.
Ireland celebrates March 17 every year on St. Patrick's Day, the spiritual patron saint of the Irish. This day is marked with great pomp not only in Ireland, but throughout the world, in Irish communities. Each family prepares a traditional dinner with beef and cabbage dishes.
The legend of the saint who patronizes Ireland
As for the biography of St. Patrick, the true story intertwines harmoniously with the legend. It is known that St. Patrick was born in Scotland and was abducted and sold to Ireland as a slave. He became a deacon, then a priest and ended up as a bishop. Arriving on the mainland, he was sent back by the Pope to preach the gospel. He traveled mainly to the Celtic settlements, as evidenced by the fact that today many places in Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and Ireland bear his name.
Legend and history become even more difficult to separate when various sources speak of St. Patrick standing on top of a hill and - with the help of a stick - throwing snakes into the sea, forbidding them forever to return to the shores of Ireland. Patrick became known in the world as the one who saved Ireland from snakes. It is true that there are no snakes in Ireland today, but it seems that there has never been one, at least since the island is separated from the mainland. It is probably a symbol of the end of pagan practices in those places.
Regardless of the weather, March 17 was considered spring day, as St. Patrick promised to tame the weather from that date. For this reason, during this period, Irish farmers began to grow potatoes.
Later, he meets Saint German, the bishop of the city, in Auxerre. He has another dream, in which he is asked to go to Ireland. He asked St. German for advice on the dream, and because he had prayed to God to give him a person to replace St. Palladium, he saw in this dream a response from God. We point out that the Holy Palladium had left Ireland less than a year after his ordination, because of the cruelty of the Irish.
He was ordained a bishop and in 432 left the monastery of Auxerre with some companions for Ireland. Surrounded by pagans, St. Patrick had many trials.
The Druids will be dissatisfied with the presence of St. Patrick and will send Dichu to kill him. He stiffens as he raises his sword to kill him. St. Patrick unleashes him from the unseen power that held him in place. In response to the miracle performed, Dichiu will offer the saint a shelter in which he will celebrate the Holy Mass. After this miracle, many Irish people received faith in Christ. Later, he and his disciples baptized the entire country.
St. Patrick passed away on March 17, around 480. He is depicted in iconography holding a clover (a three-leafed plant), a symbol of the Holy Trinity, one God in being, but three in person. It is celebrated every year, on March 17.
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated not only in Ireland, but in many countries around the world. The most important festival is considered to be the one in Dublin, in Leinster.
40 facts about ancient Egypt that will show how little we know about this civilization
Even if you are not a historian and did not study well at school, you, one way or another, have an idea about Ancient Egypt. Haven't you heard about Cleopatra, Tutankhamen and, of course, about the pyramids, which are the symbol of Egypt? You must have heard. So, most likely, you associate this country with the tombs of the pharaohs, hieroglyphs, and sands.
Spoiler: some facts will surprise even a history teacher
But besides this, Ancient Egypt had something to be proud of. Take at least science - the ancient Egyptian civilization left a lot of invaluable knowledge in astronomy, mathematics, and geography to subsequent generations. The ancient Egyptians were excellent engineers; otherwise, how could they have built their great pyramids known to the world? Here it was only possible to do with special knowledge.
However, how ancient Egypt is shown in the movies is very different from how it was. We at Bemorepanda have collected little-known facts about this ancient civilization, from which you can learn something new and get a slightly different idea.
1. Cleopatra is known for her beauty, but very little is said about her intelligence.
She spoke twelve languages and had considerable knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and oratory. The ancient Egyptian chroniclers described her as a ruler who paid tribute to scientists and often appeared in their company.
2. Women may not have been socially equal to men in ancient Egypt. Still, they enjoyed a relatively wide range of rights and freedoms, especially compared to other countries of the same era.
Unlike in Greece, where women practically belonged to their husbands, Egyptian women were allowed to divorce, remarry, and keep the wealth they brought into the marriage. In addition, they were allowed to buy and sell real estate, enter into legal agreements, and even sit on juries. They rarely worked outside the home, but they were usually guaranteed equal pay in formal employment.
3. Egypt was the first to introduce a healthcare program.
Stanford Egyptologist Ann Austin talks about the "earliest documented public health program" that allowed workers from the village that later became known as Deir el-Medina to take paid sick leave or visit a doctor while the pyramid was being built. Some modern countries could learn from this example.
4. Although the Egyptians may have deified their pharaohs, this did not mean they allowed their labor rights to be violated.
Egyptian workers even organized strikes to improve working conditions. One of the most famous occurred in the 12th century BC. during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses III when the builders working on the royal cemetery at Deir el-Medina did not receive their usual payment in grain. The workers staged a so-called strike - they went to the nearest mortuary temple and remained there until their demands were listened to and they received what they earned.
5. It is common knowledge that cats had a special status in ancient Egyptian culture, but did you know that wealthy families dressed their cats in jewelry and fed them food that not every ordinary family could afford?
Because cats were considered magical creatures, the ancient Egyptians believed they brought good luck to people who kept them as pets and treated them appropriately. If a pet cat died, the owner shaved off his eyebrows and mourned the loss until the eyebrows grew back.
6. Makeup was not only welcomed but also encouraged for both sexes.
As a rule, it was applied with wooden, bone, or elephant tools. Eye makeup was made by grinding malachite and galena. The resulting substance was known as kohl. Women also liked to paint their hands and nails with henna and paint their cheeks with red paint. Perfumes made from oil, myrrh, and cinnamon were popular with men and women. Makeup was believed to evoke the protection of the gods Horus and Ra and had magical healing powers. Interestingly, there was some truth in this assumption. Scientists have confirmed that lead-based cosmetics did help protect the Egyptians from eye infections.
7. Wars were part of the life of ancient Egypt.
One of the longest spanned more than two centuries, during which the Egyptians fought against the Hittite Empire to control the lands that would later become modern Syria. By the time Pharaoh Ramses II ascended the throne, both empires were under threat of attack from other countries. To end the battle, which had depleted many of the necessary resources, in 1259 B.C. Ramses II proposed what would later become known as the Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty, one of the first recorded peace treaties. This helped both countries stop the fight and join forces against other invaders. Today, a treaty copy can be found above the entrance to the United Nations Security Council Chamber in New York.
8. enslaved people did not build the pyramids.
Life as a pyramid builder certainly wasn't easy—worker skeletons usually show signs of arthritis and other ailments—but evidence suggests that the massive tombs were built not by enslaved people but by wage laborers. These ancient builders were a mixture of skilled artisans and temporary workers; some seemed to have taken great pride in their craft. Graffiti found next to the monuments shows that they often gave their brigades playful names such as "The Drunkards of Menkaur" or "Friends of Khufu." The idea that enslaved people built pyramids at the flick of a whip was first put forward by the Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century BC, but most historians now dismiss it as a myth. While the ancient Egyptians were not opposed to keeping slaves, they seem to have mainly used them as field laborers and domestic servants.
9. Moldy bread was used as a form of early antibiotic.
Mr. Allen, the curator of Egyptian art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, spoke of an ancient Egyptian text that suggested putting moldy bread on wounds. This means that although the Egyptians knew nothing about bacteria, they had already discovered a way to fight infections and understood the basic principle of penicillin.
10. Cleopatra was not an Egyptian.
She was born in Alexandria, and her ancestry can be traced back to the Greco-Macedonian lieutenant Ptolemy I, one of Alexander the Great's most confidantes. His descendants ruled Egypt from 323 to 30 BC. and managed to preserve their Greek identity and culture largely.
11. The economy of Ancient Egypt was largely dependent on the Nile River - it affected every aspect of life.
Surrounded by desert, the Nile was a vital artery not only for transporting building materials and moving people but also for irrigating agricultural land, obtaining food resources, and more.
12. Cleopatra's first husband, Ptolemy XIII, expelled her from Egypt when she tried to get rid of him as a ruler and concentrate all power in her hands.
Cleopatra found an ally in Julius Caesar and defeated Ptolemy, becoming queen of Egypt. Ptolemy drowned in the Nile.
13. The age of the Sphinx is a mystery.
The most common and generally accepted theory dates the construction of the Great Sphinx to the era of Pharaoh Khafre (c. 2603-2578 BC), but this is just a theory. Some scholars suggest that the statue is much older. They base their guess on erosion patterns found in the figure and other archaeological evidence.
14. Most ancient healers treated anything from fevers to wounds received in battle.
However, there is evidence that some Egyptian physicians concentrated on one aspect of human health. The Greek historian and traveler Herodotus first mentions this practice in his notes dating back to 450 BC. He wrote: "Each doctor is a healer of one disease and no more ... eyes, teeth, belly." The Egyptians even gave specific names to doctors who specialized in only one area.
15. Many of us have heard of Egyptian deities such as Isis, Ra, Osiris, Anubis, or Horus.
But the fact is that the Egyptian pantheon included more than 2,000 gods and goddesses. Those who were more popular became national deities, celebrated throughout the country. Others, less well-known, were either associated with a specific region or a specific ritual or role. One such deity was the goddess Kebhet, who offered cool water to the souls of the dead awaiting judgment in the afterlife. Another example is Seshat, the goddess of written words and concrete dimensions.
16. Some modern European countries may be considered the best beer producers, but did you know that beer was an integral part of the menu in ancient Egypt?
Being high in calories, beer was considered an excellent source of nutrition for adults of both sexes and children. It was also quite common to use beer as compensation for labor. For example, builders on the Giza Plateau received beer three times daily as payment for their work.
17. Board games were very popular with the ancient Egyptians.
Some of the games that have come down to us were "Mehen" and "Dogs and Jackals," but it seems that the game known as "Senet" was the most popular. It involved throwing dice or sticks and moving figures around a board with withdrawn squares. Although historians are still trying to determine the exact rules of the game, they are pretty sure that it dates back to 3500 BC. and was famous not only among ordinary people but also among the pharaohs.
18. With thousands of years of history and being one of the greatest ancient civilizations, it's no surprise that modern Egypt is home to as many as seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites:
Abu Mena, Ancient Thebes with a necropolis, historic Cairo, Memphis and its necropolis - Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur, Nubian monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae, St. Catherine's area and Wadi al-Khitan (Whale Valley).
19. Winding up a mummy may seem straightforward, but it requires a lot of time and materials.
The process could last from one to two weeks, and the winding took about 372 square meters of linen. The deceased's family had to prepare everything necessary while his body dried in the desert. Later, the embalmers cut the clothes brought by the relatives of the dead into little rags like bandages and wrapped them around the mummies. Wealthy families got expensive materials and sometimes even clothes from sacred statues, while members of the lower class collected old clothes and other household linens.
20. Servants sometimes had to coat their bodies with honey to keep flies from the pharaohs.
Sources speak of Pharaoh Pepi II, who was especially notable for making strange demands. One day, he ordered his servants to catch a dancing pygmy because he thought having one in his palace would be funny. He also made his servants smear themselves with honey to rid themselves of annoying flies.
21. Each deceased in ancient Egypt was buried with four canopic canopies.
These jugs were used to store and preserve the deceased's internal organs during the mummification of the body. Each canopic vessel contained one vital organ: the lungs, liver, intestines, and stomach. The embalmers did not remove the heart, as it was considered the home of a person's soul.
22. Everyone knows the Egyptians loved their cats, associated with the goddess Bastet.
But, of course, they were not the only animals the Egyptians kept as pets. Hawks, ibises, dogs, lions, and baboons were also highly respected and had a special status in Egyptian families. Often, after death, animals were mummified and buried with their owners. The ancient Egyptians also trained animals to help them with their work. For example, the Egyptian police had special dogs and sometimes monkeys to accompany them on patrol.
23. In ancient Egypt, science was very respected and well-developed.
Of course, they did not have all the knowledge we have today, but the Egyptians did boast some great mathematicians and scientists. In particular, the mathematical concepts they understood and put into practice included geometry, such as determining the surface area and volume of three-dimensional shapes useful for architectural design, and algebra, such as the false position method and quadratic equations.
24. What do writing, ink, cosmetics, toothpaste, a plow, advances in medicine, a door lock, a calendar, a police concept, and a bowling alley have in common?
All of them were invented by the ancient Egyptians. And this is a partial list of things from Egypt that we use today.
25. Jewelry in Ancient Egypt was less of a pretty accessory than a way to please the gods (and thus help and protect you).
The more jewelry you wear, the more attention you will receive from the gods. That is why both men and women wore necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, pendants, and unique buttons. On special occasions, they wore the glamorous headdresses often seen in old drawings. Of course, the wealthier a person was, the more jewelry he put on daily.
26. When your diet includes a lot of beer, wine, bread, and honey, it's only a matter of time before you start putting on extra pounds.
Combined with the lack of manual labor, this led to obesity and poor health for many pharaohs. One of the most striking examples is Queen Hatshepsut, who lived in the 15th century BC. Her sarcophagus depicted her as slender (because who would dare say otherwise), but historians have reason to believe that she was obese and was losing her hair.
27. Striembalming process of embalming in ancient Egypt was not to remove the heart from the body while other organs were removed.
Imagine how shocked the archaeologists were when they discovered that this rule was violated by none other than Tutankhamun. The reason could be a chest injury that the young king received before his death. Some Egyptologists believe that the wound that decapitated his chest resulted from a behemoth bite. Archaeological evidence shows that the Egyptians hunted animals for fun, and several statues in Tutankhamun's tomb depict him throwing a harpoon. So it is quite possible that he died during the hunt.
28. Surely you have heard about the Ten Commandments and the story of Moses, who received them from God. Describing this event, the Bible mentions Mount Sinai, where it all happened.
However, in the Book of Deuteronomy, this place is called Horeb. Scholars believe that both of these names refer to the same place.
29. If you imagine King Tutankhamun as an adult, wiser person, then this is an erroneous idea.
The great pharaoh was eight and nine when he ascended the throne, choosing Nebkheperure. His reign lasted approximately nine years before he died.
30. Do you think rock musicians invented tattoos?
Or pirates? Look further. When scientists used infrared imaging and radiocarbon dating of two of Gebelein's mummies, they discovered what they believe are the earliest figurative tattoos. They still need to figure out what purpose or meaning tattoos had in ancient Egypt. The two mummies that were found to have tattoos date from 3351 to 3017 BC.
31. Egyptian pharaohs played a dual role in the country.
As kings, they led the state, made laws, collected taxes, waged wars, and controlled the entire territory. According to the law, all the land in the country belonged to the pharaoh. Another role was to guide his people as a religious leader. This involved maintaining religious harmony and participating in ceremonies. As a spiritual leader, pharaohs were seen as divine mediators between gods and humans.
32. Every second tourist who comes to Egypt goes to look at the pyramids on the Giza plateau.
These three immense structures, which served as the last harbor for the pharaohs of Keops, Khafre, and Menkaura, although becoming more and more famous, are not the only pyramids that Egypt can boast of. There are a total of 118 pyramids in the country.
33. You probably know about the "curse of the mummy," which implies that anyone who approaches the pharaoh's tomb or - God forbid! - open it, die a terrible death.
The world first heard about the "curse" in 1922, when archaeologists discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. It was believed that the hieroglyphs on the wall of the royal tomb imposed a deadly curse on everyone around.
34. Geographically, Egypt occupies a very advantageous position.
Situated between the Mediterranean and Red Seas, Egypt has played a strategic role in trade and communications for centuries since ancient times. The Suez Canal was built in the second half of the 19th century to connect both seas and allow ships to move quickly between Asia and Europe.
35. How the Egyptians bathed depended on their social class.
The Egyptians bathed daily; however, their methods varied according to social class. The rich had a particular room where they could wash in their homes. Their servants carried water from the Nile River for this purpose. Some upper-class houses also had foot-washing areas made of wood, stone, or ceramic and were used for rinsing and washing feet, as most people did not wear shoes.
The Egyptians used a natural mineral called natron (sodium carbonate decahydrate, commonly crystalline soda) as soap and applied moisturizers to soften skin after bathing.
The lower classes, who made up most of Egyptian society, bathed in the Nile.
36. The ancient Egyptians developed the 12-month calendar we use today.
It was a solar calendar with 365 days a year. The division was slightly different from the modern calendar. There were only three seasons, 120 days each. Each season was divided into four months of 30 days. In addition, there was an intervening month of five epagomenal days, which was seen as falling outside the prior year. Months were initially numbered within a season but were often named after their significant holidays. The months were also divided into three decades, a period of 10 days.
37. even though King Tutankhamun was very young when he died, he still gave birth to two daughters.
Both died in infancy, and their names were not mentioned on the coffins, so they went down in history as mummies 317a and 317b, the names that Howard Carter gave them during his excavations. Studies have shown that 317b had Sprengel's deformity (where one shoulder blade on the back is higher than the other) and spina bifida. Mummy 317a was born prematurely at 5-6 months of pregnancy. There is no record of their mother, but it is believed that she was Ankhesenamun, the only known wife of King Tutankhamun.
38. What you don’t expect from a pharaoh is a revolution, but this is precisely what King Akhenaten did.
His reign, characterized by social, political, and religious upheavals, is still considered one of the most controversial in the history of ancient Egypt. In just under two decades on the throne, Akhenaten attempted a religious revolution as he introduced new spiritual aspects, tried to erase the names and images of some of Egypt's traditional gods, introduced a new form of architecture, revised his royal artistic style, and moved Egypt's capital to a previously unoccupied area.
39. When you look at ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, they seem very beautiful but, at the same time, incredibly complex.
And they are pretty complex. The ancient Egyptian writing system includes about 1000 characters, combining logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic elements. If that wasn't enough, they also had cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood. Many modern scripts were based on the Egyptian hieroglyphic script; some of the better known include Latin, Cyrillic (via Greek), and Arabic. It is also possible that the Brahmic script family was based on hieroglyphs.
40. In addition to the well-known hieroglyphs, the Egyptians had another form of writing called hieratic.
Some historians believe that the concept of the written word was brought to Egypt from Mesopotamia, where it was developed. Though entirely of Egyptian origin, the hieroglyphs were quite laborious to write. Therefore, another faster option was set. Hieratic writing consisted of simplified versions of hieroglyphs; its name is translated as "sacred writing."
Mankind is developing exponentially, and time, as well as the ever-increasing number of people, gives us a chance for development, accumulation of experience, and evolutionary development.
However, not all people in history leave behind the eternal, the good; some do not want a bright future at all, and on the contrary, they drag many generations back.
People who have not changed the world in the best way
Perhaps all of us living on planet Earth could be much more advanced if it weren’t for these 20 guys who didn’t change the world in the best way or at least influenced the world. Here are a few famous names that slowed down our common evolution.
1. Thomas Midgley Jr.
American chemist and mechanical engineer who invented tetraethyl lead to be added to gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons for use in refrigerators and deodorants. Author of over 100 patents.
The production of Midgley's inventions had a devastating effect on the ozone layer. According to historian John McNeill, the inventor "had the greatest impact on the atmosphere than any other living organism in the history of the Earth."
2. Robert Maxwell - the creator of the meme "British scientists"
This man commercialized research articles in British journals. Before him, articles were published in free scientific journals and were available to schools and universities. Robert Maxwell also proposed the practice of paid subscription, and for each individual article. As a result, many educational institutions could not afford expensive information, and the level of education in foggy Albion decreased.
But Maxwell got even richer. However, he was already a media mogul and a lord.
3. Guy de Chauliac
An outstanding French surgeon of the 14th century, who, despite his many merits and in fact the official title of "father of surgery" among modern surgeons, has one unpleasant incident that pushed the development of antiseptics back centuries.
He was the most famous surgeon of the 1300s and part-time a fierce opponent of the work of another surgeon, Theodoric Borgognoni. Theodoric was a surgeon who wrote about his theories of proper wound care and believed that the best thing to do with a wound was to keep it clean.
Guy de Chauliac literally hated what Theodoric wrote, because it directly contradicted the teachings of Galen, the ancient Roman surgeon, who believed that pus is the body's desire for self-healing.
The teachings of the medieval Aesculapius were widely accepted, and it is believed that his delusion set back the development of antiseptics in surgery by about 600 years.
4. The Mongols, the army of the Mongol ruler and commander Hulagu
When they destroyed the libraries in Baghdad that contained much of the past knowledge that set humanity back hundreds of years.
5. Tiberius Caesar, who ordered the execution of the inventor of flexible (vitrum flexile) glass
As a result, the secret of flexible (non-breakable) glass was lost forever. And the story was like this.
The glazier, whose name has not been preserved by history, came to the reception of Emperor Julius Caesar. The craftsman presented a unique bowl - seemingly made of glass, but which, as he claimed, could not be broken.
The emperor tried to do this, but to no avail. Instead of being shattered, the bowl only dented as if it were made of bronze, and the glazier simply took out a hammer and straightened the dent.
Then Tiberius asked if anyone else knew how to produce this type of glass, the inventor replied that he was the only one in the whole world. It was a sentence - by order of Caesar, the inventor was executed.
Why did the emperor act so cruelly and unjustly? He was simply afraid that such an amazing material could devalue gold and silver in the future.
6. Andrew Wakefield
Our contemporary, a former British doctor who made a name for himself after a rigged 1998 study that falsely claimed a link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism, and for his subsequent anti-vaccine activity.
To a certain extent, his “work” is directly responsible for what happened around the world with the advent of COVID-19 – distrust of vaccines, a decrease in vaccination rates (especially in the West). Opponents believe that he is directly responsible for thousands, tens of thousands of deaths.
Wakefield is believed to have intentionally rigged the results to fit his hypothesis. What for? For money! To sell "safe" vaccines and diagnostic kits.
7. Sultan Selim the Terrible
It was believed, for example, that the Holy Quran could only be copied by hand. Printing was declared blasphemy, and in 1517, during the era of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Selim the Terrible, on pain of death, banned printing presses in the territory of the empire. The ban lasted 300 years.
The development of printing in the East stopped, but at the same time, the development of calligraphy was at a great height in the Islamic world!
8. Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty in China ordered the burning of Zheng He's fleet
The largest trading and exploratory fleet of the time during his reign in the early 1400s fell under the onslaught of flames. This was the beginning of an era of isolation of Chinese imperial lands that would eventually lead to the collapse of imperial China.
In addition, the wealth of the world as a whole has decreased as a result of reduced trade with China, and if China had continued exploration, it is possible that they, and not the Europeans, would have colonized North America (instead of discovering it and then simply not telling anyone about this)…
9. Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji
In the 12th century, India had the largest university in the world called Nalanda, where intellectuals from all over the world studied. Then the Turks invaded India. They destroyed almost all the intelligentsia and destroyed the university. They burned the library. According to witnesses, the library continued to burn for 3 MONTHS. This must be the biggest loss for humanity.
10. Sir Mark Sykes
During the First World War, he was considered the greatest British specialist in the Middle East. Known for the fact that, together with the French diplomat Francois Picot, he signed the Sykes-Picot Agreement, according to which the eastern territories of the Ottoman Empire were divided mainly into British and French spheres of influence.
The problem is that the division of borders has passed along religious and tribal unions and formations. Differing cultures, languages, everything mixed up then, inevitably pushing nations into disputes and wars, the echoes of which we still hear.
Imagine the progress, level of education and cooperation that could become a reality if the Middle East were allowed to flourish unhindered, without divisions, naturally?
11. Edward Bernays
He created modern PR, which determined how to control the masses through deceit.
He made a significant contribution to the creation of the modern science of mass persuasion, based not on reason, but on the manipulation of subconscious feelings and impulses.
Bernays combined the ideas on crowd psychology of Gustave Le Bon and Wilfred Trotter with the psychoanalytic ideas of his uncle Sigmund Freud.
12. Cyril of Alexandria
He organized bands of assassins who went around Alexandria and killed everyone who was not a convinced Christian. This included almost all the great minds of that era. Among them, in particular, was Hypatia of Alexandria, one of the greatest minds in history.
13. The one who gave the order to burn the Library of Alexandria
14. Exxon scientists (one of the largest oil companies in the world) who first learned about man-made climate change in the late 70s and decided to hide this fact
15. The top should be Diego de Landa, who burned all the books of the Maya in the name of Christianity on July 12, 1561
16. Ea-Nasir, copper merchant
Our first written texts could have been amazing stories about what life was like at that time. Instead, the records contain people's complaints from the Bronze Age.
17. Queen Victoria is responsible for the deaths of about 60 million people in Brazil, China, India and Ireland
In all these cases, the British crown was involved in the removal of goods from starving areas and led campaigns to spread and aggravate poverty.
18. The one who took possession of all the chests and papers of Nikola Tesla after his death
19. In terms of sheer devastation, perhaps Genghis Khan… is estimated to have killed about 11% of the world's population in a very short period of time.
It's like killing 800 million people in modern times!
20. Charles Babbage - English mathematician, inventor of the first analytical computer
It is unlikely that he did this maliciously, but experts say he was the initiator of hindering the progress of computers for almost 100 years.
In the 1800s (Industrial Revolution), Babbage developed a working prototype of the computer, the Universal Digital Computing Machine. He had interested buyers, but no entrepreneurial spirit.
And what did he end up doing with all this? Nothing! The end product was not produced or sold, and the first prototypes of computers did not appear until the second half of the 1900s. Imagine what would be around us today if we were developing computers for another 100 years?