Dictatorships

Photographs of “disappeared” Argentines inside a courtoom in September 2024, during one of 17 ongoing trials of former junta officials.

Four Decades After the Fall of Argentina’s Dictatorship, a Fight Over the Country’s Darkest Chapter Is Reopening Grievous Wounds

Inside the fight to memorialize victims of the military junta that ruled over the South American nation in the 1970s and '80s

Located nearly 20 feet underground, this unfinished bunker is protected by 13-foot-thick concrete walls.

You Can Now Visit Mussolini's Underground Bunker in Rome

The dictator constructed the shelters below his family's residence after Italy entered World War II

Hitler stands with co-conspirators Alfred Rosenberg and Friedrich Weber during the Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923.

Before He Rose to Power, Adolf Hitler Staged a Coup and Went to Prison

The Beer Hall Putsch was a spectacular failure. It also set the stage for Nazi Germany

A walkway for visitors to tour the newly opened site

You Can Now Visit the Site Where Julius Caesar Was Stabbed

Rediscovered in the 1920s, the Roman square is now welcoming visitors for the first time

Julius and Leni Löwin, a Jewish couple who met in Oberstdorf, with World War I hero Ernst Jünger

How the Nazi Regime Upended the Lives of These Bavarian Villagers

A new book draws on long-overlooked sources to chronicle how Oberstdorf's residents navigated the rise—and dictatorship—of Adolf Hitler

Sophie Scholl (center) bids farewell to her brother Hans (left) and friend Christoph Probst (right) before their departure for the Eastern Front in July 1942.

Hans and Sophie Scholl Were Once Hitler Youth Leaders. Why Did They Decide to Stand Up to the Nazis?

Archival evidence offers clues on the radicalization of the German siblings, who led a resistance movement known as the White Rose

David Byrne, Ganda Suthivarakom and Joan Almedilla performing songs from Here Lies Love at Carnegie Hall in 2007

David Byrne’s Disco Musical About Imelda Marcos Comes to Broadway

'Here Lies Love' is an immersive stage production about the Philippines’ former first lady

Twenty-eight stumbling stones in Salzburg, Austria, commemorate victims of the Nazis.

Spain's Oft-Forgotten Nazi Ties

A new law recognizes the thousands of Spaniards killed by the Germans during World War II

Symbols on the ancient coin, which is about the size of a U.S. quarter, are an argument for the triumphant overthrow of a brutal dictatorship.

A Roman Coin Minted as a Salute to Julius Caesar's Assassination Is Up for Auction

The 2,000-year-old gold piece, perhaps worn by one of the murderers, could sell for $2 million

Last Call at the Hotel Imperial centers on journalists Dorothy Thompson, John Gunther, H.R. Knickerbocker and Jimmy Vincent Sheean.

A Century Ago, American Reporters Foresaw the Rise of Authoritarianism in Europe

A new book tells the stories of four interwar writers who laid the groundwork for modern journalism

Violet Gibson, a 50-year-old Irish woman, attempted to assassinate Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1926.

The Little-Known Story of Violet Gibson, the Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini

A free radio documentary tells the tale of the long-overlooked individual who nearly killed the Italian dictator in 1926

These Cambodian cultural heritage artifacts, once held in the collection of controversial collector Douglas Latchford, will soon be returned to their home country. From left to right: Ardhanarishvara, a half-male, half-female deity from the Angkor period, 10th century; a bronze boat prow from the late 12th century; and a bronze male deity from the 11th-century Angkor period

Collection of Antiquities Dealer Accused of Looting Will Return to Cambodia

The $50 million trove represents one of the most significant repositories of Cambodian cultural heritage outside of the country

L to R: Leonor Villa, Melania Lasilla and Julia Claveras, three of the ten women executed by a fascist firing squad in August 1936

Remembering the Oft-Overlooked Women Victims of the Spanish Civil War

Archaeologists in northeastern Spain recently unearthed the remains of ten individuals kidnapped and executed in 1936

The stolen items' owner estimates their value at around $645 million.

A Stolen Mao Zedong Scroll Was Found Cut in Half

Prior to the defacement, the nine-foot-long calligraphy work was valued at an estimated $300 million

This week's titles include Death By Shakespeare, Empires of the Sky and How to Feed a Dictator.

Shakespearean Stabbings, How to Feed a Dictator and Other New Books to Read

The sixth installment in our weekly series spotlights titles that may have been lost in the news amid the COVID-19 crisis

The Battle Over the Memory of the Spanish Civil War

How Spain chooses to memorialize Francisco Franco and the victims of his authoritarian regime is tearing the nation apart

President Amin at Buvuma Island, October 1971

Thousands of Newly Unearthed Photographs Document Ugandans’ Life Under Idi Amin

Around 150 of the images are now on view at the Uganda Museum in Kampala

The Valley of the Fallen

Spain's Push to Remove Franco's Remains From the Valley of the Fallen

Congress approved the government decree to move the fascist dictator from his spot in the civil war mausoleum, but obstacles remain

A skull with other bones of a victim's body is classified by anthropologists following an exhumation of a mass grave at the cemetery of Paterna, near Valencia, Spain,

Archaeologists Open One of Many Mass Graves From the Spanish Civil War

The excavation comes amid a push to deal more openly with a difficult chapter of Spain’s history

Nuclear material in drums in a storage area of Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center in 1991.

How Saddam and ISIS Killed Iraqi Science

Within decades the country’s scientific infrastructure went from world-class to shambles. What happened?

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