For over 300 years, Barbary pirates enslaved 1 million Europeans and Americans.
They raided ships, burned villages, and sold captives into brutal servitude.
Until 8 U.S. Marines took on a pirate empire and ended the white slave trade forever.
Here's the untold story:
From the 16th to 19th centuries, the Barbary corsairs operated from the North African coast, targeting European and American ships.
These pirates, hailing from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, plundered cargo and enslaved crews.
Coastal towns from Ireland to Iceland weren’t safe either.
The corsairs raided villages, kidnapping women, children, and the elderly to sell in bustling slave markets in Algiers and Tripoli.
In 1631, corsairs abducted nearly the entire population of Baltimore, Ireland.
White captives were forced into grueling labor, sold as concubines, or converted into soldiers within the Ottoman military.
The Barbary States demanded tribute from nations to spare their ships.
By the late 18th century, even the newly independent United States was paying these ransoms.
But one U.S. president refused to accept this extortion.
In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson, an ardent opponent of paying tribute, took office.
The Barbary States, led by Tripoli’s Pasha Yusuf Qaramanli, demanded more payments and declared war when Jefferson refused.
The U.S., under Jefferson’s command, sent its fledgling Navy and Marines into action—the first overseas military deployment in American history.
In 1805, a daring plan emerged to strike the heart of the Barbary States.
William Eaton, a former U.S. consul, and Lt. Presley O’Bannon, along with just eight U.S. Marines and 500 mercenaries, marched 600 miles across the Libyan desert to capture the coastal city of Derna.
On April 27, 1805, Eaton and O’Bannon launched their assault.
The Marines and mercenaries, despite being outnumbered 4:1, stormed the city under heavy fire.
O’Bannon personally led the charge, inspiring his men to secure the fort and raise the first American flag on foreign soil.
The battle freed American hostages and crushed the Barbary pirates’ operations.
This victory forced Yusuf Qaramanli to negotiate peace.
The treaty signed aboard the USS Constitution guaranteed:
1. Free passage for American ships in the Mediterranean.
2. An end to tribute payments.
3. The cessation of active white slavery in the Barbary States.
This marked a turning point in the fight against piracy, as European powers also began bolstering their navies and rejecting tribute demands.
Lt. O’Bannon’s bravery earned him a ceremonial Mameluke sword, now a symbol of Marine Corps tradition.
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They believed Freemasons hid ancient secrets of power and mysticism.
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Here's the untold story of the Nazis vs. the Freemasons."
From their founding in the 18th century, Freemasons were shrouded in mystery, with their secretive rituals, symbols, and influence over Enlightenment-era politics.
By the time Hitler rose to power in 1933, Freemasonry was deeply entwined with the liberal democratic ideals the Nazis despised.
To the Nazis, Freemasons were a cornerstone of a "Judeo-Masonic conspiracy" that supported liberal democracy, communism, and resistance to their vision of a new European order.
Dmitri Polyakov wasn’t just a Soviet general—he was America’s greatest Cold War spy.
For 25 years, he fed the CIA secrets that shaped history, until two American traitors sealed his fate.
This is the story of the man who betrayed the Soviet Union to save it:
Born in 1921, Dmitri Polyakov was a decorated Soviet officer who served with distinction during World War II.
A loyal member of the GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence), his career took him to the United States in the 1950s as part of a diplomatic posting to the United Nations.
At first glance, Polyakov was a model Soviet officer.
However, beneath the surface, he harbored deep discontent with the Communist Party.
He despised the corruption and moral decay he witnessed within the system.