Curated playlist
Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class
- Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWhen French soldiers broke into Goethe's home in 1806, his companion Christiane Vulpius defended it.
- Nicholas IINicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, carried a large dragon tattooed on his right forearm. The artist was Hori Chiyo, and the tattoo was a souvenir of the young heir's visit to Japan. That same journey nearly ended in disaster. At…
- Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of WellingtonWellington's mother called him her "awkward son Arthur." He later defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
- Wilhelm IIWilhelm II, the last German Emperor, spent much of his adult life holding a pair of white gloves in his left hand. The gloves made that arm look longer than it was. He reigned from 1888 to 1918 over a country that had become Europe's…
- Napoleon IIINapoleon III escaped a life sentence by walking out of prison dressed as a laborer.
- Fabian Gottlieb von BellingshausenA historian concluded Bellingshausen reached Antarctica three days before Britain's Edward Bransfield.
- Edward VIIEdward VII was barely a month old on the 8th of December 1841 when he was created Prince of Wales. He would carry that title until the 22nd of January 1901, a span of 59 years and 45 days. No heir in British history had waited so long, and…
- Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and GothaPrince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha never wore a crown, yet the clerk of the Privy Council, Charles Greville, once wrote of him: "He is King to all intents and purposes." Albert was the husband of Queen Victoria, and Greville's line…
- Maximilian I of MexicoFacing a firing squad in 1867, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico handed each executioner a gold coin.
- Alexander III of RussiaAlexander III of Russia answered an Austrian ambassador's threat by twisting a silver fork into a knot.
- Alexander I of RussiaAlexander I of Russia died in 1825, but a legend says he faked it. The story claims he became a Siberian hermit.
- Leopold II of BelgiumLeopold II of Belgium was the second king of the Belgians, and in 1908 he lost the Congo. The entire archive of the Congo Free State was then burned. Leopold told an aide that, although the colony had been taken from him, "they have no…
- Archduke Franz Ferdinand of AustriaArchduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was shot in Sarajevo wearing a coat that his own aides could not open. When they tried to loosen it, they discovered that they needed scissors. The outer lapel had been sewn to the inner front of the…
- Alexander II of RussiaOn the morning a bomb killed him, Alexander II signed a step toward representative government.
- Franz Joseph IOn the evening of the 21st of November 1916, inside Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Emperor Franz Joseph I gave his valet a final instruction. "Tomorrow morning, at half past three." Those were his last words. He was 86 years old. Franz…
- Fyodor RostopchinFyodor Rostopchin left Moscow in 1812 after ordering his own house burned to the ground.
- Gebhard Leberecht von BlücherAt 74, Blücher marched through mud to rescue Wellington at Waterloo. Days earlier, cavalry horses had trampled him.
- Otto von BismarckIn 1889, Otto von Bismarck was recorded on an Edison phonograph, quoting the opening verse of La Marseillaise among other lines. That recording is the only known capture of his voice. One biographer argues that he chose the French song to…
- Michael Andreas Barclay de TollyRussians called Barclay de Tolly a coward and rumored he was Napoleon's agent. His retreat in 1812 was later vindicated.
- Nikolay KaramzinNikolay Karamzin spent years writing a 12-volume history of Russia. He died before finishing it.
- Fyodor TyutchevFyodor Tyutchev called his poems trifles and often lost the scraps of paper they were written on.