Dean Swift

Great War Commanders: Horatio Nelson

Horation Lord Nelson

Like so many other men of small stature throughout history, Nelson was not only a successful seaman and admiral, he was popular with his officers and men. Given that naval authority in the 18^th/19^th century was backed by more than ample application of the lash, this popularity is excessively rare. Indeed, when Nelson was shot down dead during the battle of Trafalgar (1805 q.v.) half the crew of his ship Victory were in tears. You had to be really bad to be flogged in any ship under Nelson’s command. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-09-06T10:22:37+00:00 September 6th, 2012|British History, English History, French History, History of Egypt, Italian History, Spanish History, World History|0 Comments

Great War Generals: Erich Ludendorff

This dynamic and very physical soldier was born in 1865. Obviously destined for the Army, he did singularly well as a cadet, passed through the junior ranks at panther’s speed, and by the timeEuropewas (not) ready for World War I he was already on the German General Staff.

First off he led his troops with verve and bravery to capture the Belgian fortress at Liège. Promoted instantly to general, he became Chief-of-Staff of the 8^th Army under Hindenberg (q.v.) who was busy at the time dealing with the Russian invasion of East Prussia.

Ludendorff rapidly became known as a master of strategy, the most important quality in a fighting general. Using this talent he smashed two Russian armies at Tannenberg and theMasurianLakes, and keptGermanysupreme on the Eastern Front until September, 1916. Falkenhayn (q.v.) was dismissed and replaced by Hindenberg as Supreme Commander. Erich became his most senior Quartermaster-General, a vital post. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-09-05T10:51:25+00:00 September 5th, 2012|English History, French History, German History, Russian history, US History, World History|0 Comments

A message from Dean Swift

General-History.com has recently suffered an assault from a mentally-challenged spamist. You all you know what that means. We can only apologise for the illegal and immoral entry into our serious history website, and I personally hope that the impertinence will not encourage any loss of interest in the website. Best wishes to all from Dean Swift.

By Dean Swift| 2012-09-03T13:07:32+00:00 September 3rd, 2012|World History|0 Comments

Great War Leaders: Erich von Manstein

Erich von Manstein / amantesdelahistoriabelica.blogspot.com

The future field marshal was born in 1887, destined for the Army because of his Junker background. When World War II started Manstein was Chief of Staff to General von Rundstedt, and it was he who drew up plans for the invasion of France. Hitler accepted them, the armies set out, and the invasion was successful from the start. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-09-02T16:30:17+00:00 September 2nd, 2012|British History, English History, German History, World History|0 Comments

These sports: where do they come from?

Spectator sports they are called, presumably because they are designed for watching by spectators. Soccer, cricket, boxing, tennis, rugby and athletics were nursed, improved and nurtured in hundreds of independent (public) schools in Victorian Britain. Some, like boxing and athletics, had existed in the time of the original Greek Olympics, but they would have become forgotten relics of the past if it had not been for ‘sportin’ instincts’ of young people from the British Isles. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-08-30T11:49:15+00:00 August 30th, 2012|British History, English History, French History, History of Afghanistan, History of India, History of New Zealand, Italian History, Romanian History, Scottish history, Spanish History, Today, US History|0 Comments

Great War Commanders: Joffre, a Victorian Frenchman

Marshal Joffre / reformation.org

Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre was born in 1852, at the beginning of the Victorian epoch in Britain. He eventually became a Marshal of France, but first came to France’s notice when he took part as a very junior officer in the (weak) defence of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). Having survived Bismarch’s onslaught he went on to serve in the French colonial service. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-08-29T11:34:54+00:00 August 29th, 2012|British History, French History, German History, World History|0 Comments

Great War Leaders: Kitchener needs YOU!

Horatio Herbert Kitchener was born in 1850. At school in Switzerland he learned perfect French, and later went to Palestine where he picked up near-perfect Arabic. After military college and commissioning he got to Egypt (where his knowledge of languages was useful for a junior officer).

The British were occupying Egypt in 1882, but this was the time of the Mahdi, an almost mythical religious and military leader who caused consternation in Britain by the brilliance of his strategy, and the blind faith in him showed by his followers. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2023-12-21T15:04:13+00:00 August 28th, 2012|African History, Austrian history, British History, Dutch History, French History, German History, History in The Balkans, History of Egypt, History of India, The Arab races, World History|0 Comments

Great War Commanders: Falkenhayn the honest Junker

Erich von Falkenhayn / wereldoorlog.be

Eric von Falkenhayn was born in 1861, scion of a typical ‘Junker’ family, which means ‘powerful, noble, landowning, and, not infrequently, bullying and proud as well’. At school he showed intelligence, honesty, self-reliance and bravery, qualities that did not desert him either at military college or later when he was commissioned. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-08-27T09:32:18+00:00 August 27th, 2012|A History of Poland, Austrian history, British History, French History, German History, History in The Balkans, Romanian History, Russian history, World History|0 Comments

Let us above be politically correct . . .

Some years ago one of those correct persons who infest modern life pointed out to a bottling company that the label on one of their jams was politically incorrect. The label included an illustration of a ‘dark-skinned’ puppet popular for more than a century called a ‘Gollywog’. The lobbies moved in, the righteous demonstrated, normally sleepy MPs awoke to the horror of it all and made clanging speeches. The Robertson Company had to remove the offensive Gollywog from labels and advertising. Political correctitude had won again. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-08-25T12:32:47+00:00 August 25th, 2012|English Language, History of haute cuisine, Humour, Philosophy, Today, US History|0 Comments

Seven (magnificent) Westerns

The Magnificent Seven: all these actors are dead except Horst Buckholtz / blogofmanly.com

The genre started right at the beginning of movie making with The Great Train Robbery, a silent Western. These mostly imaginary films had a great run right through the Thirties, Forties and Fifties, earning cowboy actors vast sums. One of them made it in both films and television, though it is mostly his horse and his wife who are remembered. I refer to Roy Rogers, Trigger and Dale. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-08-24T07:56:33+00:00 August 24th, 2012|History of the Cinema, US History|0 Comments

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