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
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
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
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
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
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...
Bartolomé Carranza
On the 22nd of August 1558, Bartolomé Carranza was arrested and taken to Valladolid. Bartolomé Carranza was one of the most brilliant, influential, and tragic churchmen of sixteenth-century Spain. A Dominican friar, scholar, diplomat, and eventually Archbishop of...
Hawaii
On the 21st of August, 1959, US President Dwight D Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii as the 50th state of the union. The first settlers of Hawaii were Polynesians, probably arriving between the fourth and eighth centuries AD, though exact dates...
Prague Spring
On the 20th of August, 1968, Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia and crushed the Prague Spring. The Prague Spring was one of the defining political crises of the Cold War: a bold attempt to create “socialism with a human face” inside the Soviet bloc, followed by...
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
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
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
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
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
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...
Bartolomé Carranza
On the 22nd of August 1558, Bartolomé Carranza was arrested and taken to Valladolid. Bartolomé Carranza was one of the most brilliant, influential, and tragic churchmen of sixteenth-century Spain. A Dominican friar, scholar, diplomat, and eventually Archbishop of...
Hawaii
On the 21st of August, 1959, US President Dwight D Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii as the 50th state of the union. The first settlers of Hawaii were Polynesians, probably arriving between the fourth and eighth centuries AD, though exact dates...
Prague Spring
On the 20th of August, 1968, Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia and crushed the Prague Spring. The Prague Spring was one of the defining political crises of the Cold War: a bold attempt to create “socialism with a human face” inside the Soviet bloc, followed by...