Participants of the “Lady in red“ procession, marking the day of the Summer Solstice, walk on a promenade of the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on June 22, 2019. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

British Waters Wide Angle category runner-up. Grass snake swimming along a garden pond by Jack Perks (UK)in Nottinghamshire, UK. “I’m always on the lookout for unusual freshwater subjects and grass snakes are a species I’ve been after for years. I was told about a pond where the odd grass snake hangs around the lilly pads for frogs. I put my drysuit on and got into the water and could see one slithering along the surface. Slowly making my way towards it with my head only just poking above I got the spilt shot”. (Photo by Jack Perks/Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019)

A female soldier from the honour guards prepares for a welcoming ceremony for Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, October 18, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

All the drugery of dishwashing in this three-times -a day task, which comes to the house wife who does her own house work, has been eliminated by the new dish washer shown in the photograph on April 25, 1921. It is the invention of a Cincinnati school teacher, who sought to make things a bit more pleasant for his wife. Incedently, his idea was worth 12,00 to him, for a manufacturing concern thought so much of the “dish-washer” they purchased the rights and will seek to add a little joy to thousands of other housewives. With the aid of only hot water, dishes placed in a wire rack and set into the drum are made clean and spotless in two minutes. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

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 spotless GWR (Great Western Railway) locomotive, the “Royal Sovereign” waiting to carry Queen Victoria's coffin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 28th January 1901

Members of the “Exit Point” amateur rope-jumping group stage a performance as they jump from a 44-metre high (144-ft) waterpipe bridge in the Siberian Taiga area outside Krasnoyarsk, November 3, 2013. Fans of rope-jumping, a kind of extreme sport involving a jump from a high point using an advanced leverage system combining mountaineering and rope safety equipment, marked the end of the group's jumping season and recent Halloween festivities. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)