Shell, which is the replica of the biggest detonated Soviet nuclear bomb AN-602 (Tsar-Bomb), is on display in Moscow, Russia, August 31, 2015. The shell is part of an exhibition organized by the state nuclear corporation Rosatom. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

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 portrait of French WWI soldier Edouard Marius Ivaldi is displayed on a tablet, in this illustration picture, alongside his battlefield grave memorial, a wooden cross with a battlefield helmet in Champagne, eastern France, November 3, 2015. (Photo by Charles Platiau/Reuters)

Japan's delegation gather to sign the formal surrender document on the U.S. Navy battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay in a September 2, 1945 file photo. (Photo by Reuters/US Navy)

View of a Spitfire from the cockpit of an He111,somewhere over Southern England 1941 – 2014. (Photo by Adam Surrey)

A German Air Force Officer sits astride a dead boar outside a house where he is stationed near the Western Front, in this 1918 handout picture. This picture is part of a previously unpublished set of World War One (WWI) images from a private collection. The pictures offer an unusual view of varied and contrasting aspects of the conflict, from high tech artillery to mobile pigeon lofts, and from officers partying in their headquarters to the grim reality of life and death in the trenches. The year 2014 marks the centenary of the start of the war. (Photo by Reuters/Archive of Modern Conflict London)

These black-and-white photos are taken from the new book “Armoured Warfare in the First World War 1916 – 1918” by Anthony Tucker-Jones and published by Pen & Sword Military. Here: British troops hitch a ride on a Mark IV after the massed tank fleet spearheading attack at Cambrai on November 20, 1917. (Photo by Anthony Tucker-Jones/Mediadrumworld.com)

An American Marine readies to land on Guadalcanal during the five-month struggle for the island between late 1942 and early 1943. Three thousand miles south of Tokyo, Guadalcanal was a major shipping point for military supplies. The Allied victory there in February, 1943, marked a major turning point in the war after a string of Japanese victories in the Pacific. (Photo by Joe Scherschel/Time & Life Pictures)