Popular Myths and the Conspiracy Theory: ‘the stab in the back’ 1918
Friedrich Ebert did not believe in the Allies’ victory / en.wikipedia.org Learnéd, and sometime not so learnéd people have started myths right down through the centuries almost since the human race was [...]
The Ottoman Empire
Kemel Ataturk / es.wikipedia.org Time and again the Ottoman Empire has been mentioned in general-history.com but an in-depth article has so far no been attempted. We will try to remedy that: [...]
Metternich
Prince Metternich painted by Laurence / en.wikipedia.org Of all the great statesmen and diplomats whose many different names have managed to confuse so many history students in the last century or two, this [...]
The battle of Blood River ( Natal, 1838)
The battle at Blood River / sahistory.org.za The ‘Great Trek’ was the massed movement of Boer (Dutch/Africans) farmers to the north out of the Cape Colony into the Orange Free State, Natal [...]
The Kaiser (Wilhelm II of Germany)
All in the family; Wilhelm II with, among other, George V and Alfonso XIII. All pictured here are cousins and descendents of Queen Victoria The future King of Prussia and German Emperor [...]
The second Spanish Republic
Manuel Azaña / biografiasyvidas.com Political philosophies in the Latin country of Spain are so aggressive that journalists who have an opinion, or dare to have an opinion about politics that affect [...]
A brief history of spectator sports
Le Mans 1955: Pierre Levegh lies near his crashed car that killed over 80 spectators /documentingreality.com Most (but not all) of the sports which are super-popular with the public today were invented, [...]
The Seven Years War
Most of the eighteenth century featured wars in Europe, as rulers came and went and tried to dominate other rulers. Nearly always the same countries were involved, and the Seven Years War was [...]
John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt – Duke of Lancaster The man who would be king – though not of England John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster was a son of an English king. He was [...]
Gascony
Most well-read people, even in these depressingly sub-educated days, know from their reading that the hero of Alexandre Dumas’s musketeer books was a man from Gascony called D’Artagnan. This ‘fourth’ musketeer actually lived, as [...]
The time when there were THREE Popes
At this very moment the cardinals gathered in the Vatican are arguing about who shall be the next Pope, following Benedict XVI’s resignation on grounds of health. While the octogenarian Ratzinger rests ( and [...]
The curse of the ‘Devil’s Horsemen’
Ghengis, the dreaded Khan / taringa.net It is said that in the early part of the thirteenth century, English fish dealers working on the long eastern coast at places like Grimsby and Yarmouth [...]
Edward I: devious, eloquent, wily, courageous, untrustworthy – great
Edward I of England, known as ‘Longshanks’ / shakespeareandhistory.com A contemporary historian who knew him said Edward I of England was very tall, with long neck, arms and legs, and gave him [...]
Frederick II (‘Stupor Mundi’)
To avoid confusion, one remembers that there were two Frederick IIs, Frederick ‘The Great’, an eighteenth century monarch, and our subject in this article, Frederick ‘Stupor Mundi’ a title given him by his courtiers, meaning [...]
The first European Community (failed)
Edward III / fanpop.cpm The EEC as we know it today bears no resemblance to this first attempt, but at least enough initiative was shown by its inventors to make it last for [...]
Saturday Spoofs; early April Fool’s Day biographies
Pilloch, N.G., Baron Pilloch of Bedwetty was born one day during the Second World War. He became a Socialist after losing his temper with a nanny who possesed patrician accents. This lady was fired by [...]
The Viking Longship
A typical Viking longship / dailygalaxy.com The Vikings (q.v.) were seafarers, leaving the majestic beauty of their fjords to navigate the freezing waters of the North Sea to assault the northern coasts of [...]
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