Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War Paul Kennedy, Random House, New York, 2013, 438 pp., with maps and Tables, photographs, Notes, Bibliography, and Index. Kenny posits that there were five key tactics to the Allied victory in World War II. How to […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Russian Julian Calendar
Imperial Russia used the “old style” Julian calendar that was seriously out of kilter with the solar seasons and religious holidays—in particular Christmas and Easter. The Russian Orthodox Church had political and religious issues with the Pope in Rome that dated back centuries, and refused to change to Pope Gregory XIII’s Gregorian reform calendar introduced […]
Meet Author, S. Martin Shelton
Thank you to Central Texas Authors for posting my guest blog. What compelled you to pen St. Catherine’s Crown, a historical novel about the Russian Revolution? I chose to write about the Russian Revolution—the overthrow of the monarchy and installation of an atheistic Communist regime—to refresh our minds of its monumental impact on world events for […]
Romanov Jewelry
Fabulous hardly describes the vast treasure of the Romanov jewelry cache. Below are a few samples of this vast collection. For those who have a keener interest I recommend the book titled Jewels of the Romanovs, Stefano Papi, Thames&Hudson, New York, 2010. Join the Czar’s1916 Christmas Ball in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg—formal […]
Catherine the Great
Catherine the Great of Russia, (1729 to 1796). Reigned from 9 July 1762 to 17 November 1796. Catherine became Czarina on the death of her husband, Czar Peter III. Her reign is a study in contrast. Legend has it that she organized a plot to have some of her sycophants murder Peter, and that her […]
Black Orchids
Black orchids with their luxurious beauty symbolize great power and authority. They are a very formal and sophisticated flower, and are the preference of the cognoscente. Some folks associate black orchids with mystery, witchcraft, and terrifying tales and myths. Black Orchids are members of the orchidaceous family. There are two primary types: those that grow […]
Trans-Siberian Railroad
The Trans-Siberian Railroad is the longest railway line in the world connecting Moscow to Vladivostok at 5,753 miles, and has branch lines to Ulan-Bator, Mongolia; Beijing, China, 4,888 miles; and Pyongyang, North Korea, 6,380 miles. This railroad spans seven times zones and takes eight days to complete the Moscow to Vladivostok trip. By the mid […]
What compelled me to pen this historical novel, St. Catherine’s Crown, about the Russian Revolution?
I chose to write about the Russian Revolution—the overthrow of the monarchy and installation of an atheistic Communist regime—to refresh our minds of its monumental impact on world events for seventy years. The Bolshevik’s leaders—Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Felix Dzerzhinsky head of the Soviet secret police, for examples—exercised their unmitigated evil and bilious […]
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Llich Lenin (1870-1924) Lenin was born into a wealthy middle-class family in Simbirsk, Russia—a town on the Volga river about 850 miles east of Moscow. He became a leftist revolutionary after the OHKRANA (the Czar’s secret police) arrested and executed his brother in 1887. He attending the Kazan State University, but he was suspended […]
Beretta 32 Caliber Semi-Automatic Pistol
The Beretta is a magazine-fed, semi-automatic pistol that fires the 32 ACP* caliber bullet. Beretta first introduced this pistol in 1935, and produced approximately 500,000 copies in various models. The Italian armed forced adopted the Beretta 32 ACP as the standard service firearm in 1937. The German Wehrmact used the pistol in 1944 and 1945. […]