History

On February 1, 1968, Saigon, South Vietnam, was in the opening throes of the Tet Offensive. North Vietnamese commanders called it “The General Offensive and Uprising of Tet Mau Than 1968.” Two days prior more than 80,000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops had attacked more than 100 towns including 36 of 44 provincial South Vietnamese capitals.

Muammar Mohammed Abu Minyar Gaddafi was born in either 1942 or 1943 to illiterate Bedouin parents who maintained no birth records. Rising from unimaginable poverty Gaddafi eventually amassed enough wealth to become the eighth richest person in human history. The sordid state in which he both entered and left the world stands in stark relief against the opulent splendor of his time in the sun.

The medical term is erotomania. This is a rare condition wherein a mentally ill person becomes fixated on another, typically someone of a higher or untouchable social or economic state. This fascinating bit of psychopathology can drive those so afflicted to some most remarkable lengths.

President Jackson was notorious for settling his differences with his fellows via gunfire. Estimates hold Jackson as having participated in between five and one hundred duels over his long and craggly life.

Anwar Sadat served as the third President of Egypt. His story is a cautionary tale about the risks associated bringing peace to the Middle East.

In this installment of our ongoing review of infamous assassination weapons, we probe the very depths of darkness and hate. The victim was a shock radio host, the assassins were dedicated white supremacists, and the weapon was an illegally converted full auto MAC10.

Benazir Bhutto was both the 11th and 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan. Her professional life was enigmatic, dangerous, chaotic, and inspirational. Accused of corruption and officially ousted from her post twice, she yet remained the first democratically elected female leader of a Muslim-majority nation. Imprisoned, exiled, persecuted, and ultimately murdered, Benazir Bhutto came to represent both the best and the worst of her part of the world.

Sometimes men commit premeditated mass murder based upon pure unfiltered greed. This is the sort of killing we’re investigating today.

Lieutenant Blowers carried nothing more than his six-shot Webley revolver as a personal defense weapon. Crawling through fetid German trenches stacked deep with corpses both fresh and otherwise, Blowers and his crew picked their way across the most dangerous terrain on earth.