Allied bomber pilots in World War I had little to fear from German rifle fire but that changed with the development of the Fliegerabwehrkanone, an anti-bomber canon. The pilots couldn’t pronounce the German word and referred to it by the abbreviation F.L.A.K. Flak also became a metaphor for criticism fired at prominent people, becoming especially [...]

The shortest war on record took place in 1896 when Zanzibar surrendered to Britain after only 38 minutes. The longest was the so-called 100-years war between Britain and France. It actually lasted 116 years, ending in 1453. It was this war that introduced the direct taxation of income, a British invention designed to finance the [...]