French History – Page 9 – General History

Alfred von Tirpitz

/ globalsecurity.org

German admiral, Secretary of State for the Navy, philosopher, organiser and devoted enemy of Britain, Alfred was born in 1849 and lived to the age of eighty. All his adult life he was a supporter of Weltpolitik, which depended on the acquisition of colonies, and the construction of a navy big enough and strong enough to protect them. Disliking the size of the British Navy, he proposed huge fleets precisely to prevent Britain from blocking Germany’s entry into world markets. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-08-19T09:26:44+00:00 August 19th, 2013|British History, French History, German History, Russian history, World History|0 Comments

Who were the ‘Recusants’?

A genuine Priest’s Hole / friendswithinchrist.blogspot.com

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By Dean Swift| 2013-08-16T17:02:19+00:00 August 16th, 2013|British History, Church history, French History, German History, Today, World History|0 Comments

French ‘salons’ in the 17th century

Madame de Rambouillet / en.wikipedia.org

Aristocratic French ladies presided over salons invariably held in their extensive drawing rooms in the capital or at Versailles. Though all these ladies shared homes(with their husbands and children) in the countryside, they would never have dreamed of conjuring up such fashionable centres of cultured discourse in the rustic torpor of those dreamy chateaux. It was Paris, or Fontainebleau or Versailles for them. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-08-14T09:11:57+00:00 August 14th, 2013|French History|1 Comment

The Thirty Years War

The death in battle of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden / lookandlearn.com

The British were involved in this nasty episode, though only on the margins. All wars are horribly wasting, but this one could be taken as the best example. It was about religion, which hardly comes as a surprise. It is amazing that most human conflict since the death of Christ has come about because of differences of opinion and dogma, when Christ taught that all men should love each other. How humans have reacted during the centuries after His death is hardly His fault. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-08-12T09:03:04+00:00 August 12th, 2013|Austrian history, Church history, Czech History, Dutch History, English History, French History, German History, History of Czechoslovakia, History of the Low Countries, Spanish History, World History|0 Comments

Reflections on Bosworth Field

Richard killing Tudor’s standard bearer at Bosworth

Five hundred and twenty-eight years ago, almost to the day, the Wars of the Roses came to an end in beautiful countryside near the town of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire. A man called Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond won a great battle there, ending 331 years of rule by Plantagenets. The date of this post is Sunday, 11 August. The date of this great battle was 22 August, 1485. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-08-11T18:02:39+00:00 August 11th, 2013|English History, French History, World History|0 Comments

Reginald Cardinal Pole

Reginald Pole / bbc.co.uk

Pole is one of those ancient English surnames that appear in various forms throughout the history of the British Isles. Reginald, born 1500 rose rapidly from being an ordained priest to Cardinal, and then Archbishop of Canterbury.

He could have been archbishop and/or King, as he had a strong Yorkist claim to the monarchy through his mother, who was Countess of Salisbury. It is very easy, by the way, to confuse de la Pole with Pole, as a close blood relationship exists between these two distinguished Plantagenet families. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-08-09T09:54:14+00:00 August 9th, 2013|British History, Church history, English History, French History, History of Rome, Spanish History|0 Comments

The Treaties of Paris (May 1814 & November 1815)

Treaty 1814 / ebay.com

Just eighteen months separate two important agreements reached in the city of Paris. After the Allies (Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia) had at last defeated Napoleon, a pact was made with France which, considering the awful damage done to most of Europe, was perhaps over-generous. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-08-08T11:20:50+00:00 August 8th, 2013|A History of North America, Austrian history, British History, French History, German History, Russian history, US History, World History|0 Comments

The ‘White’ Terror

General Hoche, mostly responsible for putting down the White Terror /nndb.com

In my fifty years in education I have found little evidence of this historical peculiarity being taught in schools and universities. Teachers have even put on a blank expression when I mention The White Terror, or worse, demand to know if I am inventing things. That ordinary French people should feel the need for revenge after years of ill treatment and worse from the French Revolutionaries and especially the Jacobins has proved too much for many educators. They spend hours and days explaining every detail about the first serious socialist revolution in History, but are not interested in an inevitable reaction, perhaps because it has nothing to do with Socialism but a great deal to do with Realism. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-08-03T10:55:55+00:00 August 3rd, 2013|French History, World History|1 Comment

Count Cavour

Count Camilo Cavour / nndb.com

Camilo Benso Cavour was born in 1810, a Piedmontese aristocrat whose name and mother language were French. It is interesting to note that both Cavour and Garibaldi (q.v.) spoke incorrect Italian. Trained in journalism, Cavour was editor of the newspaper Il Risorgimento by the time he was thirty-seven. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-07-31T09:06:38+00:00 July 31st, 2013|Austrian history, British History, French History, History of Rome, Italian History, World History|0 Comments

‘The most terrible of all my battles’ Napoleon Bonaparte

/ datavizblog.com

Perhaps one of the least documented pitched battles of the Napoleonic Wars was fought on 7^th September 1812. It was called Borodino and took place in Russia, some 70 miles west of Moscow.

The Russian general involved was Kutusov, commanding 120,000 troops in defensive positions on high ground near the village of that name – Borodino. The town was important because it stood directly on the Moscow – Smolensk highway. Napoleon took no notice of the advice of his Marshal Davout, who had suggested a southerly outflanking movement. The Emperor said he had not enough soldiers for a manoeuvre of that kind. Typically, he chose a frontal assault. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2013-07-28T15:55:36+00:00 July 28th, 2013|French History, Russian history, World History|0 Comments