Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in 1890, of Dutch-American stock. He became a general and the 34th President of the United States. He saw war in a quite…
Author: Dean Swift
‘Dean Swift’ is a pen name: the author has been a soldier; he has worked in sales, TV, the making of films, as a teacher of English and history and a journalist. He is married with three grown-up children. They live in Spain.
Gustav V of Sweden
Gustav V of Sweden lived from 1858 to 1950, and reigned from 1907, which makes him the longest reigning king in Swedish history. He was a shy man,…
Who were the Green Mountain Boys?
This wonderful and typically American appellative refers to a prosperous group of ranchers, landowners and speculators whose intention it was to create the US state of Vermont, arising…
The battle of Jutland (Norway)
This sea battle of the Great War is interesting for two reasons: the first is that Jutland was the first challenge to British naval superiority since Trafalgar in…
The Republic of Texas & ‘Manifest Destiny’
Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, the same year as Perú. Plenty of Mexicans had already settled in parts of northern Texas, but not enough to work…
The battle of the Marne (September 1914)
The river Marne is a tributary of the Seine, leaving it at a point east of Paris. It was also famed for being the site of the furthest…
The Kadets
In 1905 during the first Russian revolution, Young revolutionaries founded the Kadets, a political party with the official name of ‘Constitutional Democrats’. Mostly young middle-class, they formed the…
Alexander Kerensky (supplementary notes)
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES: February Revolution: On February 23, 1917 women in the streets of St. Petersburg filled the streets demanding bread, calling on factory workers to join them. Bolshevik,…
Alexander Kerensky
Kerensky was born into the Russian educated class in 1881. He became a lawyer specialising in ‘cases for the people’s good’, and became a revolutionary. When St. Petersburg…