It is difficult not to feel sympathy for Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria/Hungary. A dashing European prince of eighteen, he succeeded to the throne abdicated…
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.
Knights Hospitaller & Knights Templar: the difference
The difference is simple, and not very subtle; the Templars ceased to exist, and the Hospitallers certainly exist right now, working for the sick. Originally the latter were…
King George’s War & King William’s War
The War of the Austrian Succession in Europe actually saw a component part in North America, the first time such a thing should happen. Up until 1744…
What really happened to William II (Rufus) in 1100?
William the ‘Red-faced’ was the second son of William, Duke of Normandy and William I of England, a.k.a. the Conquerer (q.v.). He was bad-tempered, wily and…
Gunboat diplomacy
It might well have been Lord Palmerston (twice Prime Minister of Britain, 1855- 58, 1859- 65, q.v.) who concreted this term, though gunboat diplomacy in its various…
Louis-Philippe, last King of France (see footnote)
This not very fortunate man was born in 1773, some sixteen years before the beginnings of the French Revolution. He was a descendent of Louis…
The ‘Glorious Revolution’ in England and Scotland
In most of the recorded history of the British Isles there have only been three ‘civil wars’: the first, known as the ‘Wars of the Roses’…
The SECOND Reich
We assume our studious blogwatchers know all that is to be known about the Third Reich, because it was notorious, racist, and the direct cause of half a…
The Bourbon Dynasty
This is essential reading for any serious student of world history; the Bourbon family and its influences have been popping in and out of recorded history…
The Cherokee
In the story of the Cherokee nation can be found the finest and saddest elements of the early history of the United States of America….