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...
Operation Ajax
Operation Ajax was the code name for the covert Anglo-American operation that overthrew the government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in August 1953. Planned jointly by the Central Intelligence Agency and Britain’s MI6, it remains one of the most...
The Hardest Day
Sunday the 18th of August, 1940, is known as The Hardest Day of the Battle of Britain. Although Sunday the 15th of September is celebrated as Battle of Britain day, and the climax of the battle, the combined losses of allied and German aircraft on the 18th of August...
Azores
On the 17th of August, 1597, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores. With Essex was Sir Anthony Standen, the elder brother of my 10th great-grandfather. The voyage is an episode in The Spy who Sank the Armada,...
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...
Operation Ajax
Operation Ajax was the code name for the covert Anglo-American operation that overthrew the government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in August 1953. Planned jointly by the Central Intelligence Agency and Britain’s MI6, it remains one of the most...
The Hardest Day
Sunday the 18th of August, 1940, is known as The Hardest Day of the Battle of Britain. Although Sunday the 15th of September is celebrated as Battle of Britain day, and the climax of the battle, the combined losses of allied and German aircraft on the 18th of August...
Azores
On the 17th of August, 1597, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores. With Essex was Sir Anthony Standen, the elder brother of my 10th great-grandfather. The voyage is an episode in The Spy who Sank the Armada,...