Not everybody realises that in the First World War Italy fought on the Allied side. In the second ‘war to end all wars’ Italians were persuaded by Mussolini…
Category: French History
Another figure from the French Revolution: Danton
Georges-Jacques Danton was another of those middle-class Frenchmen, trained as a lawyer like Robespierre, who flourished in what we are supposed to believe was a rising of the…
The Empress Matilda a.k.a. Maud
Even the best examinees in the History papers can become mixed up because of Empress Matilda. She was the English princess, daughter of Henry I, his only legitimate…
The Middle Ages
Historians disagree about exact dates, but I believe it is generally accepted that the phrase ‘Middle Ages’ denotes the period in Europe from around 700 A.D. to around…
The German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
In a recent post I put the word ‘democratic’ in this title between inverted commas, and a student has asked me why. Did I doubt, I was asked,…
Berlin: City, Congress, Airlift & Wall
Berlin was the capital of Germany from 1871, though it was also the capital of Prussia. When the capital moved from Bonn after the Second War, Berlin became…
A Hohenzollern for Spain?
Isabel II was the daughter of Fernando VII, possibly the worst monarch Spain ever had; her reign contained two unpopular regencies and the Carlist Wars (q.v.). There were…
Missing or misdirected: $13,000 million for Haiti
Only two years after the catastrophic earthquake that almost destroyed the island of Haiti, killing many (200,000 is one estimate) and leaving more homeless, it would not…
Monarchist Republics (or Republican Monarchies)
At first sight our title might seem a misnomer, rather like ‘Benevolent Dictator’ or ‘Historical Novel’. But one was set up and lasted for eight years in…
The Terror in France (1792 – 4)
A crucial moment arrived in France when the much-sought revolution seemed to be petering out. Those who had staked everything on it, their fortune, their families, properties…