What was the ‘Wild West’?
William Bonney / the bluegrassspecial-com It was a term used, mainly by Americans, to describe frontier society in the second half of the nineteenth century. Before the eighteen fifties the huge area between [...]
Nicolas I of Russia
/ en.wikipedia.org This younger brother of Alexander I was born in 1796, and became Tsar in 1825 at nearly thirty years old. Any chance that there might have been to make him a [...]
The English Pope
Pope Adrian at a crowning ceremony / telegraph.co.uk Strictly speaking, our title should be ‘The only English Pope’, since that is the case. There were several other leaders of the Roman Catholic church [...]
War at sea (part III)
The sinking of HMS Sheffield / theatlantic.com The sail and massive oars had been the chief propelling medium for centuries when during the middle part of the nineteenth century, steam power first used [...]
War at sea: (part II)
Cape St. Vincent by Donald Macleod / sellsell.blogspot.com Spain's royal champion don Juan of Austria was commander of the Christian fleet at the Battle of Lepanto (1571). This was a battle of galleys, [...]
War at sea:part I
Carthage v. Rome /newinternationaloutlook.com Historians are convinced that navies, squadrons of fighting ships, were first developed by the ancient Greeks and they are probably right. In the seventh century B.C. The Greeks had [...]
Sir Robert Peel, ‘Peelites’ and ‘Peelers’
/ en.wikipedia.org He was a Lancashireman, son of a rich industrialist. Born in the eighteenth century (1778) he got into Parliament as a Tory at twenty-one years of age. By 1812 he was [...]
The Campaign in Normandy, June & August, 1944
British and Commonwealth soldiers in Caen, 1944 /iwm.org.uk This was the real turning point in the Second World War, although it came much later than it should have done, due mainly to inappropriate [...]
Oregon: boundary dispute & the Trail
Women drivers guarding their wagon on the Oregon Trail, a contemporary photograph / my americanodyssey.com Between 1843 and 1846 the vast Oregon territory in the United States of America became a subject for [...]
Grabbing Africa
Cecil Rhodes / it.wikipedia.org Though some may not believe it, in 1879 little of the vast continent of Africa was in European hands. Colonial administration ruled in the Gold Coast and Senegal in [...]
The Reparations in Germany
J.M. Keynes said the reparations could not be paid / theguardian.com Even if the end of the Great War was, or at least to many people seemed to be, unsatisfactory, the victors still [...]
The Occupation of the Rhur
The 10 million mark note / pjmedia.com The valley of the Rhur, which would become famous enough for a major film to be made of the bombing of its dams during the Second [...]
Russia versus Turkey (1787, 1806, 1828, 1853, 1877 etc.)
Modern Odessa / bbc.com The only major European power to make war on Turkey in the nineteenth century was Russia – at least five times. Russia intended to increase her territory around the [...]
The Freemasons
Masons hard at work / lessons-from-history.com Even today, in predominantly Roman Catholic countries the word Mason, or Francmason or Masonería is taboo in polite society. Spanish people assure you that Masons are only [...]
The Lordship of Ireland
Diarmid, King of Leinster, from a contemporary drawing A large part of the island of Ireland, mainly Leinster and Munster was under English rule from the twelfth century for three centuries.The Gaelic King [...]
The United States Constitution (in brief)
/ myfoxphilly.com Among other things, mainly physical or medical, a Constitution embodies the fundamental principles on which a state is governed, especially when considering the rights of its subjects. Therefore the Unites States [...]
The Charter of the (Russian) nobility
Catherine the Great ( gogmsite.net Catherine II, known as the Great, had few illusions about the Russian nobility, but, unlike other rulers supported or hated by the aristocracy, she chose to be chummy, [...]
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