The French statesman was born in 1754 with a club-foot, a piece of bad luck he shared with Kaiser Wilhelm II and Lord Byron. None of the three…
Category: French History
Caustic Congresses III: the Peace of Utrecht (1713)
Of all the peace conferences that turned caustic almost at the moment of signing, the Peace of Utrecht which ‘ended’ the War of the Spanish Succession (q.v.)…
Caustic Congresses II: the Treaty of Versailles
This treaty has been blamed by many historians as a more than indirect cause of the Second World War. It was supposed to be a treaty made between…
Caustic Conferences
Wars are expensive, brutal and finally useless, as long as human beings will kill others in an argument over territory or sovereignty. The longer they last the worse,…
The campaign in North-West Europe (September 1944 – May 1945)
This campaign was the advance of the Allies through France following the successful invasion of D-Day. It is important because it contains the blindest and most incomprehensible…
The Malayan Campaign and Emergency
The campaign was a military action in South-East Asia between December 1941 and August, 1945 during the Second World War. General Tomoyuki secured free passage…
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…