Historians are not sure of the date of birth of Hamilcar Barca, general from Carthage, and father of Hannibal and Hasdrubal. We know that he commanded the Carthaginian armies in the ultimate part of the First Punic Wars, and that it was Hamilcar Barca who negotiated the peace of 241 B.C. (more…)
Paul I of Russia
Paul was born in 1754, as son and successor to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. Almost from birth he was seen by courtiers as mentally unstable (the modern, distilled version of that last word is ‘challenged’). Nevertheless, Paul became the Tsar in 1796 at the age of forty-two.
He was soon involved in foreign affairs: Russia entered the War of the Second Coalition for one year only (1798-9), before Paul I insisted on Russia’s changing sides to join the French (1800). However mad Paul was, he managed to become responsible for the first clear Russian law of succession to the throne of Russia, which had to come, now, through the male line only. Historians with a bent towards psychology will no doubt trace this draconian move to a dislike for his mother the Empress. (more…)
Views over Central Park, Manhattan, New York / worldbeautifulplaces.blogspot.com
This extraordinary town has been, and still is, called a number of different things. For some it was Albany, while for others it was New Amsterdam. For a hundred years or so it has borne the odd nickname of the Big Apple. There is a State, and a City. The state borders Canada in the north-eastern section of the United States, and the city is mainly built on an island called Manhattan. (more…)
Marat dead in his bath after Corday’s visit. From the painting by David.
Two of the more interesting minor players in the French Revolution were Jean-Paul Marat (1743 – 93) and Charlotte Corday D’Armont (1768 – 93). Marat , rather strangely for a French revolutionary leader, was a qualified doctor who practised medicine in London. It was in the British capital that he published his revolutionary tract Philosophical Essay on Man. Marat was thirty when the pamphlet was distributed in English, causing him considerable fame among the English chattering classes. In it Marat contradicted the view of Helvétius which was that science was irrelevant for a philosopher. (more…)
The campaign: a low blow from the CIS
With nearly 4 months to go before the general election, the two major parties are beavering away in the political river. The PSOE is building a dam designed to prevent a positive tsunami of revelations concerning their negative governance since 2004. The PP is making every effort to knock down this dam, so that those Spaniards who wish to look and listen might at last know the truth about what really happened (a) at Atocha, Madrid on the 11 March, 2004; (b) in the Bar Faisan in 2009; © in the Constitutional Court (2011) which permitted ETA’s representatives to occupy government offices in the Basque Country and Navarra; and (e) in Andalucia during the last few decades of massive local corruption etc. etc. (more…)
Norway, a small rich country of some six million inhabitants, was among the worst sufferers of Nazi invasion and subsequent occupation during the Second World War. Larger, more populous northern states like Finland, Sweden and Denmark are, or were, more newsworthy because the Norwegians simply got on with their lives, worked and played hard, enjoyed their capital city (a brilliant gem set among other brilliants called Oslo), enjoyed a mild Protestantism, and minded their own business. (more…)
‘Politics’ is an English plural noun, which can correctly be used with a singular or plural verb, though in the Noughties it has mostly been accompanied by a singular verb. It is the science or art (or manipulation) of government. It is the expression of political views, appropriate discussion of current affairs, the search after Truth through question and answer. In most developed countries political philosophy is a subject for study and examination at University level.
A ‘politician’ is a person taking part in politics, originally out of strong or even genuinely patriotic interest in the subject. The 20th century saw the phenomenon of persons involved in politics being paid a salary with expenses. This introduced motives of personal gain, either in wealth or power. From that moment on politicians ceased to be people interested in government alone. They were and are interested in what government (ie. politics) can bring them. It is an acknowledged fact that countries which pay their politicians well run less risk of corruption, and the opposite is, unfortunately true as well. (more…)
Henry Scrope discusses a point with Lord Chief Justice Gascoigne / commons.wikimedia.org
English history is packed with characters rather like a sardine can is stuffed with sardines. Many of these suffocating persons wore a mitre, which meant they had been made a Bishop, usually by a King, and almost always for political reasons. Some bishops went to war in armour; others (rather a lot) suffered death or torture (sometimes both) ‘for their Faith’. In the medieval centuries becoming a bishop led inevitably to vast riches and power. These men were not simple priests; some were not even properly ordained. The bishops detailed below came a cropper for the same political reasons that got them promoted within the Church in the first place. (more…)
Just about the last ‘reform’ ordered by Mr. Pérez R. as Minister of the Interior was the return of the maximum speed limit on Spanish main roads and autoways to 120 kmh. The limit had been reduced to 110 kmh. for only four months. Having orchestrated this spectacular reform, Mr. P. resigned all his cabinet appointments to become official candidate with the PSOE in the next general election (this September? November? Next March? When?). Naturally Candidate Pérez could not combine being Interior Minister and First Vice-President with an electoral campaign which promises to be every bit as scurrilous as his previous ones. (more…)
