I am greatly indebted to Dr. M, an acquaintance, for using his eagle eye to spot a superfluous ‘of’’ in a line occurring in one of my posts….
What happened to Napoleon’s Marshals?
To reach the rank of Marshal in the French army before the Revolution (q.v.) was the highest achievement for a soldier. After the Revolution however, the rank was…
The Normandy Landings & the Invasion
Until Mr Spielberg thought about a soldier with 3 dead brothers called Ryan there had been a number of films made about the Allied invasion through France which…
What was the ‘Roman Question’?
It is something studious people have been asking for centuries: what relation does the city of Rome (for one thousand four hundred years in the ‘temporal’ possession of…
Two sad, unlucky men: Alfonso XIII & the Duc d’Enghien
Alfonso was born in 1896 and was King of Spain from that day, until 1933. His father, XII of that name, had died before the son was…
The truth about Mayerling?
Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria/Hungary must have had tremendous self-discipline: his brother Maximilian was invited to become King of Mexico, accepted, and was later shot as a traitor (to…
Two World War II soldiers: Alexander & Montgomery
Many generals co-operate or fight against each other, not always on opposing sides. Almost all the Second War generals and field marshals on both the Axis side or…
Two (du Plessis) Richelieus
Cardinal Richelieu has not been treated kindly by journalists, novelists or movie-makers. I suppose it is an honour to have been played on the screen by, in alphabetical…
Andorra & Luxembourg
The first is a co-Principality, and the second a Grand Duchy. Both are tiny, but significant in questions of tourism and politics. Andorra lies between France and Spain,…
Two important Hungarians – Horthy & Károlyi
Miklós Horthy de Nagybanya was born in 1868. He was destined to become an Admiral, and Regent while King Charles of Hungary was in exile. He was a…