{"id":8280,"date":"2021-12-23T11:05:03","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T10:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=195565"},"modified":"2021-12-23T11:22:35","modified_gmt":"2021-12-23T10:22:35","slug":"historyextras-most-read-articles-of-2021","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/historyextras-most-read-articles-of-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"HistoryExtra\u2019s most-read articles of 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Kev Lochun\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 23 December 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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1<\/span>

Why do Napoleon\u2019s portraits often show him with one hand inside his shirt?<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""Napoleon\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Napoleon portrait by Jacques-Louis David shows is perhaps the most famous painting of the French emperor with one hand tucked out of sight (Photo by VCG Wilson\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The urban legends surrounding Napoleon<\/a> Bonaparte loom large \u2013 much like the erroneous idea that the Emperor of the French was of particularly short stature<\/a>. But the one question about the namesake of the Napoleonic Wars<\/a> that really grabbed HistoryExtra<\/em> readers in 2021 had nothing at all to do with grand battles and European politics.<\/p>\n

Some of the most famous paintings of Napoleon share a common trait \u2013 they depict the man nicknamed \u2018The Bat<\/a>\u2019 with one hand seemingly tucked inside his shirt. But why? The rumours ranged from a stomach complaint to whispers that he might have lost it in battle\u2026 | Read more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

2<\/span>

The real history of The Serpent<\/em>: the true story of Charles Sobhraj<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""Charles\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Charles Sobhraj (centre) pictured in 2011, while trying to sue the Nepalese government for unlawful imprisonment (Photo credit should read PRAKASH MATHEMA\/AFP via Getty Images)(Photo credit should read PRAKASH MATHEMA\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Currently incarcerated in a Nepalese prison, Charles Sobhraj<\/a> was one of the most wanted serial killers of the 1970s, whose uncanny ability to evade the police earned him the nickname \u2018the Serpent\u2019.<\/p>\n

He stalked his victims along the Hippy Trail<\/a> in Asia, posing variously as a drug dealer and a jewel salesman. It was here he used his good looks and charm to befriend travellers before murdering them \u2013 often in cahoots with a partner, Marie-Andr\u00e9e Leclerc \u2013 and, sometimes, stealing their identities. How he was finally caught is an incredible tale. | <\/strong>Read more <\/strong><\/a><\/p>

3<\/span>

Edith Cavell: how the executed British First World War nurse became a symbol of peace<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""Portrait\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Portrait of First World War nurse Edith Cavell with one of her dogs (Photo by Getty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

A pioneering British nurse, Edith Cavell<\/a> took an egalitarian approach to healthcare in occupied Belgium during WW1 \u2013 she would treat any solider, regardless of which side they fought for. Her desire to save as many lives as possible also drew her into the Belgian underground network, and she helped as many as 200 Allied soldiers escape to the neutral Netherlands before she was caught and executed by German forces.<\/p>\n

Her reputation was already formidable \u2013 she was the matron of Belgium\u2019s first nursing school, and such was Cavell\u2019s status that when the queen of Belgium broke her arm, she demanded a nurse trained by Cavell to treat her. In death, she became something more: an almost saint-like figure. | <\/strong>Read more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

4<\/span>

Historical figures: 100+ of the most famous people through history \u2013 in chronological order<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""Colourful\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Significant historical figures: Winston Churchill, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Thomas Cromwell, Richard III, Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Anne Boleyn, William Marshal, Jane Austen, Hatshepsut, Gandhi and Catherine the Great. (Illustration by Andy Tuohy)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Who are some of the most significant figures in history? We introduce 100+ notable historical figures \u2013 from medieval monarchs you have probably heard quite a lot about<\/a> to an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty, a Renaissance polymath, a Japanese feudal lord, writers, engineers, physicists and beyond | <\/strong>Read more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

5<\/span>

The Illuminati: 13 questions about the clandestine secret society answered<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""The\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The \u2018Eye of Providence\u2019, a symbol linked to the Illuminati, stares out from the reverse side of all US one-dollar bills (Photo by Alamy)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

That our article on the Illuminati<\/a> made our most-read should come as no surprise \u2013 this famous secret society allegedly runs the world after all.<\/p>\n

Here, we pick apart 13 questions about the \u2018world leading\u2019 clandestine group, from its links to the Freemasons<\/a> and the symbolism of the all-seeing eye to the biggest question of all: how do you join? | <\/strong>Read more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

6<\/span>

\u00a0<\/strong>Israel and the Palestinians: a history of conflict <\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""Men\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Men from Bethlehem in Jerusalem in 1894, when the territory identified as Palestine was part of the Ottoman empire. At the start of the 19th century Palestine\u2019s population was mostly Arab, with a small Jewish minority, but from the 1880s waves of settlers rapidly augmented the Jewish population (Culture Club\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Political tensions between Israel and Palestine escalated into the worst violence for several years in May 2021, but the enmity that led to this spell of violence has been fostered over decades.<\/p>\n

In this piece, professor of military history Matthew Hughes considers the key episodes behind the longstanding hostility, from early Jewish settlement in Palestine in the wake of WW1<\/a> to the Six Day War<\/a> of 1967, and onto modern tensions surrounding the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. | Read more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

7<\/span>

Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor in 1941?<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""Crossing\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Crossing the line: Japanese soldiers seize a railway during the invasion of Manchuria in 1931 \u2013\u00a0prompted by a staged bombing near the city of Mukden. (Photo by adoc-photos\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

December 2021 marked the 80th anniversary of the Japanese aerial assault on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor<\/a> on 7 December 1941 \u2013 goading the US to finally declare war on Japan, and ultimately culminating with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki<\/a> in 1945.<\/p>\n

But why did Japan take the fight to the US in the first place? Historian Francis Pike considers the tensions that led up to that fateful day, immortally labelled by US president Franklin D Roosevelt as \u201ca date which will live in infamy<\/a>\u201d. | <\/strong>Read more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

8<\/span>

Haile Selassie, last emperor of Ethiopia and architect of modern Africa<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""Haile\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia (Photo by Keystone-France\/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Haile Selassie was born in a mud-and-wattle hut in 1892 as Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, circumstances that belied his genealogy and pedigree. Taking a new name when he became emperor of Ethiopia in 1930, he was a member of the Solomonic dynasty descended from King Solomon of Israel. He would introduce Ethiopia\u2019s first written constitution, was forced into exile by Benito Mussolini<\/a>, and became the inspiration for a new religion \u2013 Rastafarianism. This is the story of his incredible life. | <\/strong>Read more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

9<\/span>

\u201cHis flesh had rotted, and his bed was full of worms\u201d: 5 of history\u2019s most eccentric hermits<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""American\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
American billionaire Howard Hughes (shown here in a car in 1947) went from a visionary filmmaker to a germ-obsessed recluse, dying in 1976. (Photo by Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

In a world of coronavirus-induced restrictions and intermittent lockdowns (not a new state of affairs<\/a> by any means), solitude is something many of us have experienced more than we might have liked. But throughout history there have been those who have sought isolation intentionally \u2013 even going so far as to becoming hermits.<\/p>\n

Here are five famous examples from the past, from the \u2018hermit fo hire\u2019 who was employed to add a certain je ne sais quoi<\/em> in one Georgian-era property, to the Welsh holy man who died of shock when subjected to a bath. | <\/strong>Read more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

10<\/span>

The secrets of the Viking Great Army<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""Ivar\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
This illuminated manuscript (c1130) depicts the arrival of Ivar the Boneless and the Great Heathen Army in England (Photo by Alamy)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The Viking Great Army \u2013 sometimes called the Great Heathen Army<\/a> \u2013 caused chaos and confusion as it cleaved through the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England in the latter half of the 9th century, presaging the creation of the Danelaw<\/a> and famously forcing Alfred the Great<\/a> to hide in the Somerset Levels (where he, equally famously, \u2018burned the cakes\u2019).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also steeped in myth, tied to the legends of famous Vikings such as Ivar the Boneless<\/a> and embellished by shows such as The Last Kingdom<\/a><\/em> and Michael Hirst\u2019s Vikings<\/em><\/a>. What do we know for certain? Professor Julian Richards of the University of York investigates why the Great Army was unlike any previously known Viking force, why it was not an \u2018army\u2019 in the modern sense, and why it was probably much bigger than is commonly believed. | <\/strong>Read more<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

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