European History

Ferdinand Magellan set sail in 1519 to find a westward route to the Spice Islands and instead launched the first voyage around the world. Battling storms, mutiny, and starvation, his crew crossed the Pacific and proved the planet could be circled. Magellan himself never made it home—he was killed in the Philippines—but his daring plan reshaped global trade and forever changed how people saw the Earth.

During the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror (1793–1794) plunged France into chaos as fear, suspicion, and political purges ruled the nation. Thousands were executed by guillotine, including Marie Antoinette, while Robespierre’s grip on power tightened — until he, too, met the blade. A dark reminder of how revolutionary ideals can spiral into bloodshed.

Edward I was born on June 17, 1239, the eldest son of King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. His early years were marked by the turbulence of a kingdom still wrestling with the legacy of Magna Carta. Unlike his bookish father, Edward developed a love for war and governance, training as a knight and learning to lead men from a young age. These lessons in power and conflict would define his reign as one of England’s most formidable kings.

Elizabeth Báthory, known as the “Blood Countess,” was a Hungarian noblewoman accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls in the 1600s. Legends claim she bathed in their blood to stay young—but was she truly history’s most prolific female killer, or the victim of a conspiracy? Her chilling story blurs the line between fact and myth, leaving behind a legacy of horror and intrigue.

Nicholas Owen, a Jesuit martyr, built secret priest holes to hide clergy in Tudor England—his genius saved lives, but cost him his own.

Dido Elizabeth Belle, born in 1761 to an enslaved African woman and a British naval officer, was raised in aristocratic England by her great-uncle, Lord Mansfield. Her life challenged 18th-century norms of race and class, and she may have influenced key legal decisions against slavery. Despite the barriers she faced, Dido lived as a free, educated woman—her story a rare and powerful testament to resilience in Georgian Britain.