This is a listing of various historical references found in the games Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant, for those unfamiliar with some of the events of the time.

China & the Japanese army: From 1840 onward, China was slowly partitioned by European nations seeking influence & special trading rights. As Japan matured and Westernized, they eventually started doing the same, defeating China in 1895 and gaining Manchuria & Formosa (modern day Taiwan). Japan eventually had to fight Russia in the Russo-Japanese war of 1905 over who would control Manchuria & the Liaotung Peninsula, with Japan coming out the victor. Fengtian, also known as Mukden or Shenyang, was the most important city of the Japanese-controlled Manchuria, and hence why it is the "base" seen in the game. (The Railroad seen at the very beginning was, ironically enough, most likely built by the Russians themselves before the Japanese re-conquered the area).

Margarete Gertrude Zelle: This is the real name of famous spy & double agent Mata Hari.

Roger Bacon: In history, he was a 13th century scientist and alchemist who went to both Oxford University and the University of Paris. He was born into a wealthy English family.

Bistritz : Bistritz is the capital of a county in the section of Romania known to the rest of the world as Transylvania. The relationship between Transylvania & vampires in fiction & mythology is fairly well-known.

Apoina Tower: Nicolai claims that it is also known as "The Tower of Atonement." In Greek, Apoina means "ransom," perhaps referring to the ransom of the souls trapped within.

Domremy: Domremy was the birthplace of Joan of Arc... known in French as Jeanne d'Arc. Yuri's friend Jeanne is almost certainly in reference to this. Also, to be technical, the town's full name was changed to Domremy la Pucelle in Joan's honor (la Pucelle roughly equals "the maid" or "the servant"), as that was one of her titles. As a short name, though, Domremy was surely still in use at the time.

Mistletoe: Mistletoe has had mystical associations before- notably, Loki killed Baldur, God of Light, in Aesir mythology using a dart made of Mistletoe and his talent for trickery. (Baldur was invulenerable to everything else, so the gods would throw darts at him for fun. Loki switched in a mistletoe dart to spice things up, and also insure that it wasn't his hands directly that did the deed.)

Rasputin: There's been quite a bit written on Rasputin- I recommend checking out more fully fleshed out links. The "real" Rasputin was a peasant monk who preached a rather strange blend of theology- roughly, the more you sin, the more you can be forgiven. Thus, Rasputin soon acquired a reputation for hedonism & massive promiscuity. Some thought him a saint sent down by God, and others hated him as a demon; there was rather little middle ground. However, his reputation as a mystic eventually drew the attention of the Empress, desperate for some cure to Alexi's hemophilia. Somehow (the power of suggestion? a lucky remission at the right time? prayer, as Rasputin claimed?), Rasputin blunted the progress of Alexi's illness, or at least convinced the Empress that he had. Soon, Rasputin was an extremely important figure at court, second only to the royal family itself. Rumors abounded that Rasputin and the Empress were also indulging in private sessions that involved more than simple prayer. These accusations were false, since Rasputin was always carefuly to portray his "saintly" side to the Empress. She never believed the stories of his sexual aggression. However, the rumours about them did enormous damage to the popularity of the Russian monarchy.

These rumors, Rasputin's rapid rise to power, and his unapologetically hostile stance towards most aristocrats at court he'd displaced quickly gained Rasputin even more enemies than he had before. Eventually, a plot was organized to kill Rasputin by Prince Yusupov (who did, indeed, help you against him in the game): Rasputin was to be invited over, and fed poison in his food. After cheerfully consuming lethal amounts of poison with seemingly no effect, it seemed that Plan B was in order, and he was shot and stabbed repeatedly. He still didn't seem to die and was still struggling against his captors as he was tossed into the river Neva, where he finally drowned. Rasputin's mystical talents & seeming invulnerability has lent itself well to fiction.

The Russian royal family: Tsar Nicholas II was, as the game indicates, a kind-hearted man, but an ineffectual ruler. The government beneath him tended to be incompetent, cruel, or both. The Emperess Alexandra caused her own problems. When Tsar Nicholas was at the front, she was the figurehead of the regime. Unfortunately, she had a rather condescending attitude for the Russian nobles not in her very small inner circle. Even worse, she was German, the very country Russia was fighting. Lastly, her reliance on Rasputin, a peasant, managed to convince most of the Russian aristocracy in Petrograd that the Tsars had to go. While Alexandra was also not a bad person by most judges of character, she proved a poor ruler. Alexi, tsarevitch and heir, was afflicted from birth by hemophilia, and that fact ruled most of his short life. The actual Anastasia was relatively intelligent, but historians state that the most intelligent of the Tsar's children was Anastasia's eldest sister Olga. Most of Anastasia's fame comes from speculation on her possible escape from the execution of the rest of the Romanovs. Eventually, the Russian Revolution removed the Romanovs from power. Kerensky's Provisional Government, democratic but not wanting challengers, merely put the Romanovs under house arrest, although they eventually transported them to Siberia. After Lenin & the Bolsheviks came to power and the Russian Civil War began, the Reds decided that the Romanovs would prove too strong a rallying point for the Whites should they lose control of them- and thus they were executed in July, 1918. Ironically enough, the jewels & gems that the Romanovs had snuck away from the Palace proved to be more harm than good. They had taken them to sell abroad because the Empress didn't want to live on the charity of her relaties. The Romanovs had hidden their jewels behind their shirts & throughout their clothing, so when the execution time came by soldiers with machine guns, rather than a quick death, they seemingly survived full clips being emptied into their chests. The extremely hard gems had acted as a sort of bulletproof vest. As a result, they probably died of blood loss, or perhaps suffocation after being buried alive. Great care was taken to hide the bodies, and they were moved at least once, and even today, it seems that one (or possibly two) bodies are missing. Much speculation has gone on that Anastasia (or one of the other sisters) might have somehow escaped, and that the Romanovs lived on. This speculation was fueled by (at least) two people who claimed to be Anastasia; however, thanks to DNA, it has been discovered that both of these possible-Anastasias were mistaken. For the best personal biography of the Romanovs see Robert K. Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra" or John Klier and Helen Mingay's "The Quest for Anastasia: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Romanovs."

The Lusitania: Rasputin is correct when he talks about how the Lusitania was carrying a weapons shipment for Britain, and how its sinking helped rally the United States to war. However, it was not a quick thing, for those interested. The Lusitania was sunk in 1915, but the United States didn't go to war until 1917. The arms shipment that the Luistania was carrying wasn't as large as Germany stated; and it was a coal dust explosion caused by the torpedo's impact which caused the luxury liner to sink so quickly - not a munitions explosion in her cargo hold.

Goreme Valley: The Goreme Valley was indeed a home to early Christian groups in Turkey. The caves are still able to be visited today. It should be noted that the Ottoman Empire's government at the time, nervous of foreign influence, was not particularly open-minded in its policies- the first major genocide of the 20th century began against the Armenian Christians. This continued even after the war was over and international outrage was expressed. The chaos of the Russian revolution even allowed Turkish forces to invade the Caucuses and massacre Armenians who weren't even inside Turkish borders. Roughly a million and a half Armenians were killed as a result of this policy.

Thomas Edward Lawrence: Lawrence wasn't actually a spy, and was simply part of the military to our knowledge. Also, his orders weren't quite as explicit as what he offers in a conversation towards the end of the game ("High Command wants me to go lead a revolt among the Bedouin against Turkey"); Lawrence was sent more as an observer & aide, and the British were rather surprised that he ended up taking such a critical part in the revolt.

World War I, the Eastern Front: Rasputin claims that Karin's hometown was burnt. It's hard to say exactly where Karin's hometown is- we know that her grandparents were nobility in Munich, but where you're nobility isn't neccessarily where you live, or your children. However, Munich was pretty safe throughout the war. It is true that Russia invaded Germany in the early days of the war (most of the German troops went west when the war started to deal with the more pressing threat of France). So, if Karin grew up in Prussia or Silesia, the easternmost parts of Germany that were invaded, perhaps Rasputin could easily have ordered her hometown burned. This seems somewhat unlikely though, as those areas are fairly far from Munich, and the Russians didn't get too far in before absolutely having their armies smashed by the Germans- part of the reason for the Tsar's fall was their atrocious performance, and a smaller German force pursuing and defeating their remenants right into modern day Poland.

World War I, Japan: Japan's involvement in WWI was somewhat strange. Theoretically both Japan and China were on the same side. However, most of Japan's offensive operations were inside China. The "Open Door" policy had made it so that while sections of China wasn't directly annexed by other countries, there were "spheres of influence" which amounted to almost the same thing. The Japanese army simply attacked the German spheres of influence in China (This is part of the reason why it wouldn't exactly be wise for Karin to be travelling abroad with her real name). Many of the Pacific islands that the Japanese attacked the United States from in WWII (the Marianas, and so on) were taken from the Germans in WWI.

As for Russia, during the Russian revolution, chaos reigned in Russia. The Japanese took advantage of this by sending in their army to interfere with what little Russian operations were left in Manchuria, and smash around the eastern side of the country. They didn't support the Whites or the Reds particularly, as it was mostly an attempted land grab, fighting any Russians who opposed them. Once the Reds finally came into power, and some modicum of order was restored, were the Japanese eventually pressured to leave.

The term "Space-Time": Albert Einstein published his theories on relativity in 1905 & 1910, so it might make sense that a well-read sage such as Roger Bacon would know about them. Of course, relativity was not confirmed until 1919, which would be in the future, but considering that Roger has built devices that can teleport to the moon, it'd seem that Bacon probably has his own independent confirmation of the work.

Susano-O: Susano-O is the vaguely Loki-like brother of Amaterasu. Considering that the Platform calls upon the energy of the Japanese gods, this is an appropriate choice to summon. He was neither entirely good nor entirely evil, and would alternate between beneficial deeds & harmful ones. Notable among his achievements include slaying the Yamato-no-Orochi, a gigantic 8-headed snake large enough to coil around a mountaintop.

The Kusanagi Sword, Yata Mirror, & Yakasanki Gem are collectively known as the Imperial Regalia, given by Amaterasu to her descendents, the royal line of Japan. The Kusanagi Sword, in fact, was either used by Susano-O to defeat the orochi, or possibly found by Susano-O in the orochi's dead body before being given to Amaterasu.