A young boy adjusts his friend's Adolf Hitler mask during a game on a street in King's Cross, London. (Photo by William Vanderson/Getty Images). 1938

Brittnai of El Paso, Texas, USA, performs in the Professional Division Competition during the 5th Annual US Pole Dance Championship on April 1, 2017 at the Symphony Space Theater in New York City. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

The eruption of Cordon Caulle began on June 4, 2011, located in the Region of Los Rios in Chile. For about 12 months, people and animals became accustomed to living with the daily fall of ash, which also caused problems in the air traffic in South America. The explosions and lightning during first days of the eruption could be seen from hundreds of miles around. This photograph was taken on the second night of eruption from the town of Lago Ranco. (Photo and caption by Francisco Negroni/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

A two-week-old hoglet finds an unusual spot to sit at the Happy Hedgehogs rescue centre in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire in the second decade of September 2023. (Photo by James Glossop/The Times)

Alluvial Fan, China. A vast alluvial fan blossoms across the desolate landscape between the Kunlun and Altun mountain ranges that form the southern border of the Taklimakan Desert in China’s XinJiang Province. Image taken by the ASTER instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite on May 2nd, 2002. (Photo by NASA/GSFC/USGS EROS Data Center)

The legs of camel and sheep for the “Living Nativity” scene, and Rockettes, of the “Radio City Christmas Special”, are juxtaposed as they pose for photos outside New York's Radio City Music Hall, Tuesday, October 28, 2014. The show is scheduled to open Friday, November 7, 2014 and continue through Wednesday, December 31, 2014. The “Living Nativity” has been part of the Christmas Spectacular since its inception in 1933. (Photo by Richard Drew/AP Photo)

Germany's Wolfgang Kimmig-Liebe, who has been volunteering as Santa Claus for years, is searched by a Carabiniere paramilitary police officer before entering in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to attend Pope Francis general audience, Wednesday, December 2, 2015. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/AP Photo)