German History – Page 16 – General History

A tangled skein: the War of the Spanish Succession

A battle in the War of the Spanish Succession / historyfiles.co.uk

Not even Frodo trying desperately to cut his way out of Shelob the Spider’s thick cobwebs is like my trying to explain the War of the Spanish Succession. Let us go at it in stages, keep a clear mind and watch out for the snags:

Charles II (Carlos Segundo) died childless in Spain in 1700. A sister had married Louis XIV (the Sun King of France). Another sister had married the Holy Roman Emperor (q.v.) Leopold I. Consequently, both the French Bourbons and the Austrian Habsburgs (q.v.) claimed the right to rule Spain itself and the Spanish Empire. The latter included the southern part of the Netherlands, Milan, Naples, and almost all of Central and South America. There was a lot at stake. (more…)

The House of Habsburg

The Habsburg family tree drawn by Ed Stephen / paradocplace.com

I know that many people who should know better write the above name as Hapsburg. I am not among them, perhaps because I am a retired journalist, not a working one, and it is mostly journalists in Sunday Supplements who make this cardinal error. If you wish to avoid using either ‘b’ or ‘p’ you could call them The House of Austria . . . but that does not prevent them from being the most prominent, some would say enduring royal dynasty in history.

Habsburgs were royally installed on thrones from the 15^th to the 20^th centuries. The name itself comes from Habichtsburg (Hawk’s Castle) which actually is in Switzerland, not Austria, and has been since 1020. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-15T10:26:11+00:00 June 15th, 2012|Austrian history, German History, History of the Low Countries, Italian History, Spanish History, World History|0 Comments

History of the Commonwealth of Nations

Mistakes made by leaders of powerful countries have been legion throughout history. Enormous losses in the human and animal races have been the result. It is arguable that had George V of England and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany not disliked each other, and had had more control over the ambitions of their respective political leaders, there would not have been a First World War. Again, if Blair, Aznar and Barroso had exhibited more guts on that island in the Azores, they might have persuaded George Bush Jun. to stop telling himself and them what he (and they) knew to be a lie – that Saddam was storing massively dangerous secret weapons in Iraq – and better methods than medieval ones could have been used to depose a dictator. And 100,000 Iraquies would not have died, nor nearly 4000 young servicemen and women from the USA. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-09T10:31:18+00:00 June 9th, 2012|African History, Asian History, English History, German History, History of New Zealand, History of the Low Countries, Russian history, Today, US History, World History|0 Comments

Romanticism

From the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century there was an almost radical revolt against simple reasoning, the sciences, all authority and most traditions, against order and discipline, which overcame (and to a certain extent subdued) Western civilisation. This was the sweeping movement of Romanticism.

It meant social, political and moral reform, yes, but manifested itself above all in the arts; one could claim that the two major extremes of art are Classicism and Romanticism. Subsequent movements are generally regarded as being associated with one or the other. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-20T16:05:07+00:00 May 20th, 2012|Czech History, English History, English Language, French History, German History, Philosophy, Russian history, Spanish History, Today, World History|1 Comment

The ‘Indignants’ and Anarchy: what it is all about

We see on the daily news programmes that ‘Los Indignados’ have returned to the Puerta del Sol and the Plaza de Cataluña in Spain, and various other municipal hot points in Europe, to celebrate an anniversary. It was in May last year that European city-dwellers learned to put up with their plazas and places filled to saturation with the young and the old, of every sex, of every class, of every profession, setting up camp, breaking out the same tired old political cant on badly spelled, cheaply printed placards. These are the ‘Indignants’. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-14T08:02:36+00:00 May 14th, 2012|English History, French History, German History, Philosophy, Russian history, Spanish History, Today|0 Comments

Ian Fleming & the Count’s Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang

The good Count Z. in the original Chitty / commons.wikimedia.org

The suave inventor of James Bond had already suffered a heart attack at the age of 52 when he began writing about a magic motor car with rather a long name. His son Caspar was 8, and dearly loved tales about myth, pretence and mechanical objects. Fleming went to a seaside hotel to recover and write for his son. He remembered a certain Count Sborowski who used to race an auto with an impossibly long bonnet called ‘Chitty’ at Brooklands. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-11T12:41:19+00:00 May 11th, 2012|English History, English Language, German History, Today, World History|0 Comments

Holocaust – the comments

Hundreds of comments have been posted on General-History following publication last year of the article on The Holocaust. Some comments are learnéd, some are not. Many are openly anti-Semitic. A few show sympathy with the victims. Some question the figures quoted. Anyone can find out the figures for themselves simply by making enquiries in any office of records in any of the countries I am about to list, or simply asking for statistics in Tel Aviv. For those commentarists who claim the Holocaust did not actually happen one feels sorry for those who must endure life near them. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-04-30T18:39:13+00:00 April 30th, 2012|Czech History, Dutch History, Estonia, A History, French History, German History, Greek History, History of the Low Countries, Italian History, Jewish History, Romanian History, Russian history, World History|2 Comments

Fabled motorcars: a personal reminiscence

Now in 2012, they would be called ‘jalopies’, or ‘old crocks’, but in their epoch, some of the motorcars I have met driven were notoriously expensive, fast and comfortable. Some of the companies that made these treasures have gone bankrupt; two were swallowed by German groups which have maintained name and quality and even added some. BMW and Mercedes-Benz have full order books. Jaguar went through a shaky period owned by the Ford Motor Company, but has recovered its Englishness. The order book is full there too.

My first fabulous car was a Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn (1952) owned by Kenneth Horne, a member of the governing board at my school. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-04-26T10:17:36+00:00 April 26th, 2012|English History, French History, German History, Today, World History|0 Comments

Two US generals from World War II

Continuing our series on important military leaders from the 1939-1945 war, we briefly examine the careers of two very well-known names from North America – Marshall and Patton. Actors played them both in many Hollywood films. General Marshall appears in an opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan (q.v.), and George C. Scott memorably portrayed Patton in the film of that name (1970).

George C. Marshal / history.com

George Catlett Marshall was born in 1880. He managed to become not only a distinguished soldier, but combined his military experience with that of a statesman, by no means an easy task. He had no career other than a soldier’s, rising rapidly through the ranks after West Point to become US Chief of Staff in 1939. In fact he stayed in that post until 1945. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-04-16T17:11:15+00:00 April 16th, 2012|German History, Russian history, US History, World History|0 Comments

Appeasers and Opposers

Before the Second War a number of leading politicians and prominent people in society in Europe might have been suspicious of Hitler’s intentions, but preferred to come to terms with him, if they could. These were the Appeasers. They include Britain’s Prime Minister at the time, Neville Chamberlain, and his French colleague Edouard Daladier. But in Britain there were also Opposers, those who actively opposed the idea of going to war with Hitler at all.

The German Chancellor’s demands, made principally between 1936 and 1939, were exorbitant, and fuelled by his need for revenge against the Powers which had sentenced Germany to pay for the First World War, bringing about massive inflation and loss of national pride. The Appeasers seemed willing to accede to Hitler’s demands, much to the fury of Winston Churchill, a leading opponent of appeasement. For this stance he was (and still is), accused of warmongering. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-04-13T11:03:57+00:00 April 13th, 2012|Czech History, English History, French History, German History, Italian History, US History, World History|0 Comments