The Empire was established over three centuries, and came about because of commercial and political motives. Enemies of colonial empires will disagree; they will shout that the motives…
The Mutiny on the Bounty
Hollywood has attempted, once rather expensively, to tell us what happened on His Majesty’s warship Bounty in 1789. History books have joined Hollywood enthusiastically, making of Captain Bligh…
American assassins
John Wilkes Booth Acting professionally on the stage is not a normal introduction to the art of murder, but Wilkes is the man who killed President Abraham Lincoln…
Cataluña and the Spanish language
The news from Cataluña is electrifying. A pride of politicians at the peak of politics have decided that education in Catalan schools shall be conducted in their regional…
Useful Latin tags
From: John Charity Spring, Fellow of Oriel College, and Captain Harry Paget Flashman Esq, poltroon and coward, aboard the “trader” the Balliol College, as recalled in the…
The British Parliament
Senior legislature in Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the Houses of Parliament comprises the Sovereign (Head of State), and the Lower and Upper Chamber, known as the…
The History of Social Security
Otto von Bismarck first thought of it. . . What is it? A system of financial maintenance organised by a government to protect the population of a country…
Pompey the Great
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus was that rare combination – a general and a politician. Good sense, courage and sense of planning are not always to be found in those…
The Roman Empire (updated)
This phrase signifies the period when the Roman state and those overseas provinces it had formed were under the rule of an emperor. The first ‘Emperor’ was Augustus…
The Weimar Republic
The immediate predecessor of Hitler’s ‘1000-year Reich’ lasted from 1919 to 1933. It was formed in Germany after the end of the First World War, but still had…