Charles XII Wittelsbach was the last king of Sweden to continue the tradition of conquests initiated by his ancestors. Endowed with immense military talent, he was called the “Viking King” because of his appearance and courage displayed on the battlefields. His life and reign were short, and his death ended Swedish supremacy in northern Europe.
The biggest naval battle of the Great Russian-Japanese War, which ended with a total, devastating defeat of the Russian squadron, going towards friendly forces in the Pacific. Tsushima caused Russia to lose its position as a maritime power and the beginning of Japanese domination in East Asia. At the same time, it is one of the most interesting and important sea battles of all time – among other things, because the Russians sailed for 9 months in half of the world only to lose almost all the ships in less than 2 days.
On September 14, 1954, one of the deadliest military exercises in history took place. During the maneuvers codenamed “Snezhok” (Russian: Snowball) the Soviet Union dropped a nuclear bomb on the Totskoye proving ground, and a few hours later, thousands of soldiers were ordered to enter the blast zone. Both military personnel and the surrounding civilian population subsequently became victims of terrible radiation sickness without any chance of help from the communist authorities.