Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was born in Spain in 1828. He was Prime Minister (Presidente del Gobierno) thrice, in the periods 1875-81, I884-85 and 1895-7. It was a difficult and dangerous time to be in politics in Spain; revolutionaries & violent dissidents had sprung up everywhere,; there were uprisings; the highways were infested by murderous robbers; the famous Guardia Civil in their tricorne hats were having a hard time. (more…)
Please note the spelling. This site has many, many clever and bright bloggers, and the reaction to our first three mystery identities has been praiseworthy.
Quis One: Pablo Picasso, in a pic taken when the artist was well under twenty.
Quis Two: Prince Felix Youssoupoff, one of the two Russian aristos who assassinated Rasputin.
Quis Three: (good spelling is essential!) Nietzsche, philosopher and owner of one of the biggest moustaches on record.
This preamble to the United Nations has vanished without trace. It was one of the oddest disasters waiting to happen the world has ever seen. It appeared after the Treaty of Versailles (1918 – 25) had sealed the fate of this planet. Indeed its creation was the last and most important of President Woodrow Wilson of the United States’ famous ‘Fourteen Points’. Wilson insisted that it should appear in each one of the peace treaties, covering the Covenent or Constitution of the League. But then the United States itself refused to join. (more…)
Varus losing his legions / en.wikipedia.org
Varus was a Roman general and consul commanding a Roman army in Germany in 13 AD, during the long reign of Augustus Caesar (q.v.). He and his three legions fell into a trap laid by the cleverest of the Teutonic commanders, Arminius, in the middle of an almost boundless wood called the Teutoburg (near what is now Bielefeld) (more…)
‘Bring out your dead!’ / scienceclarified .com
The most atrocious epidemic of bubonic and pneumonic plague recorded, the Black Death started circa 1347 in Europe. The Tartar army, just arrived at the port of Caffa after campaigns in the Crimea, were shipped in boats swarming with rats carrying infectious fleas. In this way the plague was spread into Southern Europe. (more…)
The third in our popular quiz for friendly bloggers: Tell us who this man is, or rather was. Use the Comment section for your answer.
Clues:
He had a lot of facial hair, rather uncontrolled.
The title of one of his essays was used as a title by a well-known composer of music.
Be careful with the spelling.
Who indeed. Following great success in our first ‘Quis?’, here is the second personality from the past. If you know who he is, let us know through the Comment section on this website. The clues:- 
He was a noble,
He had a noble accomplice,
He committed a generally popular murder.
So, who was he?
Getulio Vargas / elreports.com.uy
Vargas was born in 1883. A small, chubby and discreet man, he grew to become a rich cattle man in Brazil, and in 1928 became the Governor of his state –Rio Grande do Sul. In 1930 he was propelled into the Presidency of his country by the army, which claimed that too much of the country’s wealth was being invested in the coffee trade, in effect propping it up, which it needed due to bad management. The second of many things the army disliked was that too much money was going in the direction of one state of Brazil –Sao Paulo.
Having Vargas in the presidency did not amuse the coffee barons, and they (and the rest of this enormous country) came to dislike even more Vargas’s methods of governing, which he did by decree. He replaced state governors at will, and constructed a patronage network in individual states. Historians agree that he appeared not to recommend any particular political stance, Right or the Left for instance. He was, however, a master of political opportunism, changing policies according to circumstances, and coinciding with the mood in general of the nation. (more…)
Here you see an ancient photograph of a very 20th century man who was actually born in the 19th. Can you figure out who he is? Let us know in the Comments section. This is (I hope) the first of a series. (more…)
Olivier plays Crassus in the film Spartacus / morphsplace.com
Crassus was not the first man to combine business with politics and, through lack of foresight, or because he was too proud to think, come a terrible cropper. He was born around 115 BC, both parents patrician. Naturally he went into the Roman army.
Still a young and inexperienced officer, he supported Lucius Cornelius Sulla during a civil war between Sulla and Gaius Marius. When the latter seized the city of Rome in 87 BC, Crassus vanished as fast as he could, but came back to help Sulla take power in 82. Historians agree that the origin of Crassus’ hatred of Pompey lie in the latter’s clear preference for Sulla. (more…)