The #Battle of Smolensk in August to September 1943 was the second time the #SovietUnion and the #ThirdReich fought over the city on the Dnieper during the Second World War (1939-45). By the #summer of 1943, the plan by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) to permanently occupy the USSR was in tatters. The Soviet Red #Army was relentlessly pushing back and recapturing lost cities. Smolensk was to be next in a prolonged three-phase battle that ended any hopes Hitler might have had of winning the German-Soviet #War. Despite logistical #challenges, the Red Army's sheer numbers and #artillery #power allowed them to prevail.

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The ancient historian #Josephus, in his account of Herod the Great's Harbor at the #CaesareaMaritima, mentions three colossi on the left and three on the right of the entrance. (Wars, 1.21.6) Likely bronze images of #Caesar, #Juno, and #Neptune, their towering height was meant to impress all those entering, conveying the power of #Rome.

The image of the three colossi you see is part of the collaborative creation of Lithodomos and Patrick Scott Smith. Using archaeological reports by Avner Raban, John Oleson, Robert Hohlfelder (and others), along with comparative analysis of known #AncientRoman construction techniques, Josephus' eyewitness descriptions, and Herodian fortification work at #Jerusalem and #Masada, the image captures what it would have been like to gaze up at the statues when visiting the city. #AncientHistory #AncientWorld #WorldHistory #RomanEmpire

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⛵The navy in ancient #India carried out three roles: it was used to transport troops to distant battlefields, participate in actual warfare, and was primarily meant for protecting the kingdom's trade on sea and navigable rivers and the maritime trade routes. The lucrative and highly developed trade with #Egypt, #WestAsia, #Greece, and #Rome led to the growth of navies along India's west coast facing the #ArabianSea, and many dynasties ruling in various parts of India also maintained navies to protect the trade being conducted through huge rivers such as the #Ganga.

On the east coast facing the Bay of #Bengal maritime activities led to colonizing expeditions to #SoutheastAsia. The navies of the South Indian powers were geared towards launching invasions in #SriLanka, separated from India by the Palk Straits. The warships were used in battles which, compared to land battles, remained low in proportion.

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#Dogs were highly valued in ancient #Rome, as they were in other cultures, and the #Roman dog served many of the same purposes as it did in, say, #Egypt and #Persia - as hunters, guardians, and companions - but with a significant difference in focus.

Dogs and their wolf-ancestors have a long history with the Romans, all the way back to the founders #Romulus and #Remus who were said to be raised by wolves. Other figures from #myth, like Diana and Trivia, had dogs associated with them in the tales of writers like #Ovid. 
#AncientHistory

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👑 On this day in 1918: The Russian Imperial family are executed by Bolshevik Chekists at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia.  

🔴 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (1868 - 1918) 
🔴 Alexandra Fyodorovna of Russia (1872 - 1918) 
🔴 Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (1895 - 1918) 
🔴 Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (1897 - 1918) 
🔴 Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (1899 - 1918) 
🔴 Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (1901 - 1918) 
🔴 Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia (1904 - 1918) 

The brutal murder of the entire Romanov family was the culmination of deep discontent across the Russian Empire with the persistently autocratic rule of Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917).

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The Eastern Front (1941-5), called the Western Front or Great Patriotic #War by the Soviets, was by far the bloodiest of the #SecondWorldWar (1939-45). There was also another enemy to be wary of: the extremely harsh #winters of the region. First hand accounts from #soldiers and #civilians from both from the German and Soviet side give us an insight into this most terrible #theatre of war.

✏️: Full article by Mark Cartwright
📷: A December 1941 photograph showing two German soldiers overlooking Sevastopol during the Siege of Sevastopol in 1941-2 in the Second World War (1939-45). (Polish National Digital Archives)

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