Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons While it is customary to assign specific start and end dates to historical events, the reality is always more complex. The Holocaust is a case in point. Though it is associated with World War II, the ideology and infrastructure of the genocidal program were seeded in the preceding decade. The lead-up to war and genocide during the 1930s was an essential precursor to the the Holocaust and must be understood as its foundation.

History is full of mysteries, partly because the people that gave rise to them failed to account for the insatiable curiosity of future mystery-mongers by leaving adequate evidence behind. Fair enough, but that shouldn’t stop us from mystery-mongering and treasure-hunting to our hearts’ content. For all the Robert Stack-inspired sleuths in the audience, here are your top 10 unsolved historical mysteries. 10. Phaistos Disc (c. 1700 B.C.) Flickr / Dimitris Agelakis A second-millenium artifact covered in hieroglyphics no one can read, the Phaistos Disc contains a magical curse, a geometric proof, a militant call to arms — or perhaps the meaning of the cosmos as understood by the ancient Minoans.

Few ideas get the blood flowing more than that of revolution. Revolution means change, and when change is desperately needed, a revolution can empower us to do more, be more, achieve more. Through revolution, we can overcome adversity and stagnation and rise up to fulfill our potential. And there’s nothing to incite a revolution like a revolutionary man or woman who takes a stand against the established order. Revolutions don’t just happen in politics or war.

Wikipedia/Ricardo Liberato The pyramids of ancient Egypt have rendered observers awestruck from the day the royal tombs first rose from the desert floor. Thousands of years ago, people were just as dumbfounded by their visual impact as we are today, and just as prone to mythologizing their origins. The astonishingly prescient achievement of the pyramids has fueled speculation the geometrical structures must have been made by an alien species or perhaps a race of giants.

**_The Titanic - which sank April 15, 1912 - is remembered as the worst maritime accident in history, not only because the sinking of the ship itself was tragic, but because the hubris of the builders who called the ship “unsinkable” - led them to include only enough lifeboats to salvage about half the passengers._** “Arrival of the ship of sorrow”, published in the Boston Globe May 4, 1912. How many people actually survived the Titanic sinking?

The sinking of the Titanic was one of the great tragedies of the twentieth century. The tale has since evolved into a heady mix of fact and legend, a testimony to the enduring intrigue that surrounds this historic maritime disaster. When the Titanic sank, some 1,500 passengers and crew drowned overnight, mainly because there was a massive shortage of lifeboats on the most luxurious sea voyager ever built. Engraving by Willy Stower: Titanic sinking (Photo credit: Willy Stower) When Did Titanic Sink?

An incredible amount of scholarship has been dedicated to reconstructing the historicity of biblical stories and the course of their composition. Yet, for the ancients, the stories themselves were the important part—not so much its author. Their understandable disregard for modern standards of authorship means that the age of the Bible cannot be deduced from the anthology itself; independent verification is necessary. And for that, we have archaeology. The Psalms scroll, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls dated to between 408 BCE to 318 CE (Photo credit: Library of Congress) So Just How old is the Bible?

The Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in United States history; by the end, some 620,000 Americans lay slain on domestic battlefields. The two-day Battle of Shiloh on the banks of the Tennessee River saw more American casualties than all previous wars combined. By the end of it all, everyone was exhausted and most were ready for the conflict to be over. When did the Civil War end? April 9, 1865 is the official date.