Battles
How Many Soldiers Died at Little Bighorn? 268 on the Army Side
NPS chronology: 268 Seventh Cavalry soldiers, civilians and Indian scouts killed on 25-26 June 1876, plus an estimated 60-100 Lakota and Cheyenne dead.
Updated 2026-10-21
Battles
How Many Black Soldiers Died in the Civil War? About 40,000
National Archives: nearly 40,000 Black Union soldiers died, about 30,000 from disease. NPS lists 178,975 African American enlistments, not deaths.
Updated 2026-10-22 · Read the dispatch →
In this edition · Interactive
Enigma Machine Simulator
A working 3-rotor Wehrmacht Enigma I / M3 — historically wired rotors, reflectors, and plugboard. Type a message and watch it encrypt.
In this edition · Quiz
Myth or Documented Fact?
Guess whether a famous quote or battlefield detail is real, then read the sourced verdict and the full story behind it.
Latest dispatches
Weapons & Technology
How Many Horses Died in WW2? About 3.5 Million Equines
Brooke's working estimate is 3.5 million horses, donkeys and mules dead in WWII. German and Soviet armies drove most of the toll; Britain used far fewer.
Updated 2026-10-21
Weapons & Technology
How Many B-17s Were Lost in WWII? 4,754 Written Off
Smithsonian figures put B-17 losses at 4,754 of 12,731 built (37%). Combat losses, production totals, and why the count is higher than combat-only tallies.
Updated 2026-10-21
Battles
Battle of the Crater (1864): The Mine, the Blast, the Toll
On July 30, 1864, Union miners blew a hole in the Confederate line at Petersburg, then lost the fight that followed. Timeline, figures and why it failed.
Updated 2026-10-20
Naval History
How Many Soldiers Were Rescued From Dunkirk? 338,226
Operation Dynamo landed 338,226 Allied troops in England from 27 May to 4 June 1940. A day-by-day count, the British and French split, and who was left behind.
Updated 2026-10-20
Battles
How Did the Fourth Crusade End? Not in Jerusalem
The Fourth Crusade never reached Jerusalem. It ended in stages: Constantinople sacked in April 1204, a Latin emperor crowned, then defeat at Adrianople in 1205.
Updated 2026-10-20
Weapons & Technology
U-Boat vs Submarine: Same Vessel, Different Label
A U-boat is not a separate ship type. Duden defines U-Boot as short for Unterseeboot; in English the word usually means a German (or Austro-Hungarian) navy submarine.
Updated 2026-10-19
Weapons & Technology
Hurricane vs Spitfire: Which Shot Down More in 1940
IWM figures for the Battle of Britain: Hurricanes claimed 656 German aircraft to the Spitfire's 529, while Spitfires were faster and usually tasked against fighter escorts.
Updated 2026-10-19
Battles
How Many Ships Are Still Sunk at Pearl Harbor?
Two hulls from 7 December 1941 still lie in Pearl Harbor as wrecks: USS Arizona and USS Utah. USS Oklahoma was raised in 1944 and is not still sunk there.
Updated 2026-10-19
Military Orders
Teutonic Knights vs Templars: Which Still Exists
Three large military orders came out of the crusades. Only one was ever formally abolished, and it is not the order most comparisons stop at. Two of the three still operate today.
Updated 2026-10-16
Historical Figures
How Did Henry V Die? Not on the Battlefield
Henry V died of dysentery at Vincennes on 31 August 1422, months after the siege of Meaux. The chroniclers name the illness differently, and his birth date is disputed too.
Updated 2026-10-12
Weapons & Technology
F6F Hellcat vs F4U Corsair: Reading the Tests
Compare F6F-5 flight tests with F4U-1D estimates. Aircraft weight, power setting and altitude explain why headline speeds need qualification.
Updated 2026-10-09
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