A very good book for any aspiring student of Roman warfare. The explanations of Rome’s military structure are laid out very clearly. A lot of the battles are described in good detail and many were accompanied by diagrams. Goldsworthy describes the reasons for defeat and victory and he is exceptional when explaining the reasons for […]
In 407 B.C. and again in 405 B.C.. the Spartans in alliance with their old enemies, the Persians, destroyed two Athenian Fleets. Although Athens had suffered defeats before, notably in Sicily in 415 B.C., they had always managed to rally and beat back the Spartans. This time, however, Athens could not make up the losses. […]
What struck me was, had this been followed, WWII could possibly have been averted (IMHO). What also struck me was how it would have been impossible to follow it (which it wasn’t) and how naive Wilson was to think it had even a chance of being accepted. France and Great Britain could have cared less […]
Freedom of will. A crucial point for Erasmus. In his De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio (1524), he lampoons the Lutheran view on free will. He lays down both sides of the argument impartially. In response, Luther wrote his De servo arbitrio (On the Bondage of the Will) (1525), which attacks the “Diatribe” and Erasmus […]
The pilgrimage site of Croagh Patrick lies on a mountain some 2500-feet high in County Mayo, which is on the northwest coast of Ireland. The site serves as the modern pilgrimage destination for those who wish to take the penitential journey to and vigil at the summit at the end of each July. The terrain […]
I was looking for reaction to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol from his contemporaries when I came upon a collection of the author’s other Christmas works. The work, Household Words: Christmas Stories, 1851-1858, was a compilation of short stories and reflections that Dickens had authored over the years. Among them are stories such as “What […]
Some time ago I began to understand and appreciate the impact that Victorian culture has had on certain holiday traditions. The Victorians instilled an idea of familial happiness that was created through playing of quaint games and creating traditions that could be enjoyed in the middle and upper classes. These turned out to be so […]
There was a program on the History Channel program about the origins of Frankenstein and the inspiration for Mary Shelley, who was only in her teens at the time she wrote her famous book in 1815 (published 1818). Frankenstein presented a timeless classic of a doctor who creates a person with sewn-together body parts and […]
No one denies that Lee was courageous, resourceful, and daring, both as a junior officer in Mexico and commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. And no one denies that his string of victories is impressive with the Seven Days, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. But one must also look at his opponents. Seven Days […]
