Author: The Maestro

Historical Badasses: Jean-Pierre Hallet

The Maestro -
9

Have you ever fought Nazis? No, probably not. What about crocodiles, lions or leopards? Probably not those either. Have you ever blown yourself up with TNT and lived to tell the tale? What about delivering over 500 babies? What about learning 19 different languages? Yup, Jean-Pierre Hallet did all of

Historical Badasses: Saparmurat Niyazov

The Maestro -
20

Modern-day politics doesn't feature many cults of personality anymore (though Lord knows that Supreme Leader Trump is trying his damnedest to make it happen in America...); outside of North Korea, which is probably the best-known example today, there's few countries left that are specifically designed to solely worship their leader

Historical Badasses: Naresuan the Great

The Maestro -
22

Think of the craziest fight you've ever been in. Bare knuckles? Sure. Sticks? Probably as a kid, I guess. Baseball bats? If you're unlucky. Knives and guns? Man, I really hope not. Elephants? Probably not. However, if you're a 16th-century king of Thailand, not only is there an elephant present, but two of

Historical Badasses: Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck

The Maestro -
15

I've done a lot of reading on the First World War as of late; one of the more recent discoveries from my Wikipedia rabbit-holes is that there was, as it turns out, a pretty significant amount of fighting between the Germans and the British in Africa starting in 1914. With

Historical Badasses: Mariya Oktyabrskaya

The Maestro -
13

We're gonna talk about tanks this week. I don't know about you, but for whatever reason, I had the weird thought the other day about how despite having an interest in military history of many stripes for much of my life, I realized I really know next to nothing about

Your “Wait, Ottawa has an NHL team?” Playoff Preview

The Maestro -
4

"What’s that? Ah — Playoffs? Don’t talk about — playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game! Another game." I found myself quoting Jim Mora a lot at the end of last season, when my beloved Ottawa Senators missed the playoffs for the second time in

Historical Badasses: Klondike Joe Boyle

The Maestro -
9

As a Canadian, I spent a lot of time learning about the Gold Rush in middle school history class; as a sports fan, I read about the early days of professional hockey as a young child. Little did I know that one of the men responsible for bringing one of

Historical Badasses: Juana Azurduy

The Maestro -
7

South America is known for a number of things - the Amazon, Simon Bolivar, the Andes mountains, Machu Picchu, and more - but something it doesn't always get enough credit for is its long and rich military history. From inter-tribal indigenous warfare to Spanish conquistadores to cultures rebelling against the shackles