The Double Negative – Articulate or Annoying?
The double negative is a peculiarly English device very much used in what might be called ‘literary’ English. It is designed to give more emphasis to a phrase. For example, the writer of a novel [...]
Right, Left or Centre?
In the course of publishing nearly two hundred short histories for General-History.com we have received many comments. They are a mixed bag indeed; some commentators have difficulty with elucidating their opinion of an article; some [...]
The Crusades in brief
Probably the best known of all the crusaders – Richard I ‘Lionheart’ / masonicsourcebook.com They were a series of military expeditions ranging from the 11th to the 14th centuries, meant to secure Christian [...]
Figures in a Revolution: Joseph Fouché – survivor
Joseph Fouché – survivor / commons.wikimedia.org The French politician was born at Nantes in 1759. As a very young man he was an ardent admirer of Robespierre (q.v.), touring the provinces in 1792/93 [...]
De Gaulle, a great Frenchman
/ balearoculta.blogspot.com Charles A.J.M. de Gaulle was born in Lille in 1890. An average schoolboy (apart from his great height), he graduated from the Military Academy at St. Cyr in 1909, and was [...]
Conscription may not be a relic of the past
Conscription means compulsory enlisting for military service. With several countries engaged in sabe-rattling at the moment, compulsory enlistment may be revived in the present. China, India and Russia are probably right when they claim that [...]
The Communist Parties
The word itself – ‘Communist’ – was certainly first heard as long ago as the 1840s. Both Karl Marx (q.v.) and his promoter Engels used the word, but it was not until after the Russian [...]
The Battenbergs and Mountbattens
Prince Louis of Battenberg / papermag.com With Prince Philip heading for his century, the Battenberg/Mountbatten dynasty is well worth examining. Who were they? Why were they related to everybody? How did a penniless, [...]
The Ausgleich or Compromise of 1867
Essential knowledge for students of European history, this was the agreement between the Austrian government in Vienna, led by Beust, and two moderate Hungarian politicians, Deák and Andrassy, leading to the transformation of what was [...]
Vlad V, Voivode of Wollachia, known as ‘Vlad the Impaler’
Contemporary etching showing Vlad enjoying his breakfast aming impaled prisoners / johnnyscreepshow.blogspot.com It seems more than likely that Bram Stoker was inspired to write Dracula by this fifteenth century ruler in Transvylvania, whose [...]
Elisabeth Báthory, ‘The Blood Countess’
The Countess, innocence personified / maraswic.blogs.uv.es In a recent post on this blog, Gilles de Retz or Rais was discussed. France has its Gilles de Retz, and Hungary has its Elisabeth Báthory. The [...]
A message from Dean Swift
I apologise to this website’s watchers for the fact that I have not posted anything for a couple of days. I and my family have been struck down by Madame Grippe, a tenacious and painful [...]
The US Senate & the House of Lords
The Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress. The first, or lower is called the House of Representatives; both represent all States of the Union. Senators first met officially in 1789, by [...]
Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 – 1618): a life of frustration
Sir Walter, not a lucky man / biography.com He was an explorer, courtier, navigator, cartographer and part-time corsair. Young Walter took part in privateering expeditions to the West Indies, an increasingly important staging [...]
James I and VI, a survivor 1567 – 1625 (updated)
This King of England was also King of Scotland. He had a French wife, seven children, a mother who was beheaded, a father murdered, a son executed and several favourites, all male and famous for [...]
British barons & the Barons’ Wars
A ‘Baron’ indicates the lowest rank in the British peerage*, though the title itself is one of the oldest. A Barony meant land that went with the title. Barons were originally the military tenants-in-chief of [...]
The English Civil War 1642 – 1649 (updated)
Cavalier (left) and roundhead / talonsanthony.edublogs.org The history of Britain includes only one genuine civil war. The Wars of the Roses (q.v.) do not come into this category because they were a private [...]
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