Sacking of Rome

Sacking of Rome

On the 27th of August, 410CE, the sacking of Rome by the visigoths ended after three days. I have written about the sacking of Rome by the Vandals in 455 CE, so let us consider the first sacking of Rome. By the beginning of the fifth century, the Western Roman Empire...
Battle of Crécy

Battle of Crécy

The Battle of Crécy was fought on the 26th of August 1346, and the English defeated a French army twice its size.It marked a turning point in medieval warfare, demonstrating that disciplined infantry and missile troops could defeat a much larger force of heavily...
Honourable Artillary Company

Honourable Artillary Company

On the 25th of August, 1537, the Honourable Artillary Company was formed. It is the oldest surviving regiment of the British Army and the second most senior after the Life Guards. My father was in the Rifle Brigade in World War II, and my third great-grandfather,...
Mainz

Mainz

On the 24th of August, 1349, six thousand Jews were murdered in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.The massacre of the Jews of Mainz in 1349 was one of the most devastating episodes in the long history of anti-Jewish persecution in medieval Europe. It...
Donald Trump – Historical Comparisons

Donald Trump – Historical Comparisons

History is useful if we learn from it, which sadly we so often don’t. Are there historical figures we can compare to Trump? Let’s start with Andrew Jackson, president from 1829 to 1837. Both men presented themselves as outsiders fighting a corrupt political...
Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre was one of the darkest episodes in European history and a defining moment in the French Wars of Religion. Beginning in Paris on the night of 23rd – 24th of August 1572, the feast day of Saint Bartholomew, thousands of French...