A 1980 Oktoberfest bombing killed 13 people

There were dozens of attempts to assassinate Hitler—most famously Operation Valkyrie in July 1944

Across his reign, Hitler survived at least 40 plotted and actual assassination attempts, ranging from lone actors in beer halls to organized military conspiracies. The most notable, Operation Valkyrie on July 20, 1944, led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, planted a bomb at the Wolf’s Lair in an effort to kill Hitler and overthrow the Nazi regime. Though the explosion injured several, Hitler escaped with minor wounds, prompting a brutal purge of conspirators.

Oktoberfest has been canceled 26 times

The first time, in 1813, Bavaria was fighting off Napoleon’s army, which left little time for celebration. Years were also lost to the Austro-Prussian War, a worldwide cholera outbreak, and both World Wars. Most recently, the 2020 and 2021 Oktoberfests were canceled due to COVID-19.

Exploring Kristallnacht

Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, saw Nazi members break into Jewish stores and homes across Germany in retaliation for the assassination of a German diplomat by a Polish Jew. The event—called "Kristallnacht," meaning "night of the broken glass"—was tacitly condoned by the German authorities at the time. This richly produced interactive explores the events of Kristallnacht guided by one of its survivors, Charlotte Knobloch.

The Nazi Party was founded in Germany in 1920 and tried a failed coup in 1923

Founded in Germany in February 1920, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party) attempted its first major power grab in 1923 with the Beer Hall Putsch—a failed coup in Munich that killed about 16 Nazis and four police officers, led to Hitler’s arrest and treason trial, but ultimately elevated his public profile.

Oktoberfest generates over $1B every year

As one of the largest festivals in the world, Oktoberfest is an economic mainstay for Munich. Analysts estimate the annual beer fest contributes at least $1.4B in revenue to the city alone, accounting for roughly 2% of the city's gross domestic product.

Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 launched World War II

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany launched a surprise invasion of Poland using blitzkrieg—coordinated air bombardments and armored assaults—to overwhelm Polish defenses within weeks. This lightning-strike strategy shocked the world and signaled both the start of World War II and a revolutionary shift in modern military tactics.

The Bauhaus artists who became Nazi collaborators

The Nazis deplored the Bauhaus style, until they found a way to use it for themselves. This deep dive explores the connection between the Nazis and three Bauhaus-affiliated designers—Franz Ehrlich, who was sent to Buchenwald and forced to design the camp's gates (seen below), Fritz Ertl, who designed the shower rooms at Auschwitz, and Herbert Bayer, who helped design Third Reich propaganda.

The 1915 sinking of the Lusitania precipitated World War I

In 1915, the British RMS Lusitania sank after being torpedoed by a German submarine. The Germans claimed the ocean liner was transporting munitions. Almost 1,200 civilians were killed in the disaster, which became a symbol of German aggression in the lead-up to World War I.

German Nazi war crimes suspect, 96, who went on the run goes on trial

A 96-year-old German woman who was caught shortly after going on the run ahead of a court hearing last month on charges of committing war crimes during World War Two appeared before a judge on Tuesday in the northern town of Itzehoe.

German expressionism produced some of horror’s earliest classics

After World War I, German filmmakers turned from reality to the surreal, fusing experimental art with the nascent world of film. Some of the movement’s most notable films, like FW Murnau’s “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” and Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” were intent on frightening their audiences.

The 21st Amendment was the only amendment to repeal another

The 1933 constitutional amendment rolled back 1920's 18th Amendment, better known as Prohibition, which outlawed "the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors."

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024

Most of those deaths involved misuse of the explosives and device malfunctions or misfires. That fatality count doesn't include the almost 15,000 people who received treatment in the emergency room due to firework-related injuries. More than a third of all the injuries in 2024 were burns, underscoring the risks of using these explosive devices.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

How many people died in the atomic bombings remains disputed

Nearly 80 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, historians still disagree on the death toll from the atomic bombings. Estimates vary by up to 100,000, reflecting differences in methodology, sources, and the method used to count later radiation-related deaths.

Taliesin’s first fire also involved the tragic murder of seven people

In 1914, while Frank Lloyd Wright was out working in Chicago, one of his servants at Taliesin brutally murdered his mistress, Martha “Mamah” Borthwick Cheney, her two children, and three other people in the home. The massacre left a deep impression on Wright, who spent much of his career restoring the home.

There’s some confusion over who founded the Bavarian Brewery that later became Budweiser

While many traditional histories credit German immigrant George Schneider with founding the Bavarian Brewery in 1852, an investigation from St. Louis Magazine found that it was actually started in 1857 by a fascinating German physician named Dr. Adam Hammer.

The Night Witches

During World War II, one of the most effective Soviet bombing units flew wooden crop dusters that maxed out at 94 mph. They had no radios, no radar, and no parachutes. And the pilots? Young Soviet women, mostly in their teens and early twenties. The Germans called them Nachthexen—Night Witches. Shooting one down earned a Nazi soldier an Iron Cross, one of the highest military honors. However, for decades, most of the world forgot they existed. In this video, we trace how the Night Witches became one of the most feared units of WWII—and why their story nearly disappeared from history.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

Picasso's 'Guernica' protested the bombing of a Basque village

By 1937, Picasso's fame and influence had already made him a legend. Yet an unprovoked war crime in Guernica, Spain that same year—where 25 bombers dropped 100,000 pounds of bombs and explosives on civilians—inspired one of his most moving works.

Who was behind the fatal 1982 Tylenol poisonings?

In 1982, an unknown suspect laced Tylenol packages with potassium cyanide in a Chicago pharmacy. Seven people were killed, and the case led to a nationwide panic, as well as the development of tamper-resistant packaging. No one was ever charged with the deaths, and the lead suspect died in 2023 after serving time in prison for trying to extort $1 million from a manufacturer to "stop the killing."

Martha Graham refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics

Graham turned down an invitation to perform at that year's Summer Games in Berlin, citing the Nazi regime's persecution of artists and implying that Jewish members of her company would not be welcome. "Chronicle," a work about the rise of fascism, debuted in New York the following December.

The Kent State massacre sparked a nationwide student strike

In 1970, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on Kent State University students—peacefully protesting the Vietnam War—and killed four. The tragedy led to more widespread nationwide protests, shutting down more than 200 colleges and universities. The event led to a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of a slain and grieving student.

Krampus is known in Central Europe as Santa's scary counterpart

If you live in Austria or Germany, you've likely heard of the Krampus—a horned, half-goat demon who punishes bad children, sometimes by kidnapping them, sometimes by hitting them with birch switches, and occasionally by bringing them back with him to Hell.

German printer Richard Sellmer revived Advent calendars after World War II

Advent calendar production resumed in 1946, when German printer Richard Sellmer began issuing nostalgic winter-town designs that became classics, later exporting them to the United States. His company still operates today, producing more than 140 varieties.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Searching for a hate crime's unknown victim

In 2004, two federal agents heard a rumor: two white men, one under investigation for an unrelated crime, had gotten away with killing a Black man 15 years earlier as a requirement to join a white supremacist group. One of the men confessed to the crime, though he didn't know who was killed. This series dives into the search for the slain man and the justice he deserved.

The wall separating East and West Berlin was a highly visible symbol of the Cold War

Built in 1961, the Berlin Wall physically separated East and West Berlin for nearly three decades—preventing East Germans from fleeing to the West. Its fall in 1989 signaled the collapse of communist regimes across Eastern Europe.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

Marburg virus, related to Ebola, is also extremely deadly, and has no available vaccine.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Fear or disgust related to clusters of holes and cracks, called trypophobia, may stem from evolutionary processes to help us avoid pathogens.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.