Did you know…when an asteroid collides with a planet, it’s called an Impact Event?

Kerbogha of Mosul

Qiwam al-Dawla Kerbogha besieged the city of Antioch during the First Crusade in 1098. While on his way to Antioch, his army made a quick stop at Edessa, where they attempted to regain the city from the Franks for three weeks.

Sadly, if they hadn’t stopped off on their way to Antioch, there was the possibility that the Crusade would have ended. As it was, the city was already taken by the time they arrived.

Did you know…over 90% of the World’s Trade is transported via boat?

Vlad III the Impaler

Thought to have been the origin of the Dracula Legend, Vlad was the second son of Vlad Dracul, who ruled Wallachia in 1436. In order to ensure his father’s loyalty, Vlad and his younger brother Radu were held hostage by the Ottoman Empire for a time.

A few years later, both his father and older brother were murdered by John Hunyadi (the regent-governor of Hungary) when he invaded their territory in 1447. As a result of this, Vlad’s second cousin Vladislav was put in charge, starting a fight between the second cousins for control.

False Dimitri

The story of the False Dimitri’s starts with the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible (Dmitry Ivanovich), who died aged 8 due to an assassination attempt. The exact number of imposters are unknown, as some people say Fourth and Third are the same person, due to bad record-keeping.

What is known, is that the imposters each claimed to have survived the assassination attempt, and took the Russian throne, reigning between them from 1602 to 1612. Further assassination attempts were tried against the first two imposters, which were then claimed by later imposters to have also failed.

Operation Neptune

The Normandy Landings took place on the 6th of June, 1944, and marked the beginning of the liberation of France, laying the foundations for the Allied victory on the Western Front.

The planning required began in 1943, which included Operation Bodyguard, a large military deception aiming to mislead the Germans. In fact, D-Day almost didn’t happen in June, as the weather and moon phase had certain requirements.

A good film about the events is ‘The Longest Day’, which details both sides of the Operation.

Did you know…cheese has been made for centuries? The earliest cheese production began in 8000 BC, when sheep were first domesticated!