When the Austrian General Raddik descended on Berlin in 1757 he is said to have demanded not only a large sum of money, but also, two dozen gloves for Maria Theresa (1717-1780). However, when the gift arrived in Vienna, it was discovered that the Berliners had taken their revenge by providing only left-handed gloves. This, […]
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Is Robert E. Lee overrated as a military leader?
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 […]
The availability of citrus in the ancient world
I came across an article about the lemons and other citrus fruits in the ancient Roman world. According to research done by an Israeli archaeobotanist, the citron was the first citrus fruit to make it to the western Mediterranean around the third or second century B.C. (probably through Persia). The lemon? That had to wait […]
The Spanish Gold of Vigo Bay
1702 The French enthroned in Spain meant that French ambitions seriously threatened British trade with the Levant. Accordingly, a powerful fleet was assembled which under command of the Duke of Ormonde and Admiral Sir George Rooke set sail to attack the Spanish port of Cadiz. Lacking the nerve to attack the harbor directly, troops were […]
Thoughts on Sir Christopher Wren
The name of Christopher Wren came up in some readings and so then I read a bit more specifically about his life from the Wikipedia entry. According to the article, he was a cross-disciplinary expert in areas such as astronomy and architecture during the latter half of seventeenth-century England. His most memorable work may have […]
The fall of Athens
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. […]
The fusion of Greek and Roman culture
The more I read about him, the more I’m convinced that it was Hadrian who fused Greek and Roman culture and made it the cornerstone of Greco-Roman/Western civilization. I’m reading (casually) a book called “Monumentality and the Roman Empire: Architecture in the Antonine Age,” by Edmund Thomas, and he claims Hadrian built or rebuilt a […]
Local Government in Anglo-Saxon England
Originating in eighth century Wessex, the Anglo-Saxon shire system would replace the Roman Provinces as the British standard of local government. Throughout the eighth and ninth centuries the system gradually expanded to cover the whole of England. A Shire which usually took its name from its principle city was governed by an Eldorman, a noble […]
Would slavery have ended even without the Civil War?
To answer to my question – I think that the answer is “yes”. The bigger question is when it would have ended, and how this would have come about. I believe that slavery was being phased out in European countries even before the Civil War began, and as this sentiment swept the West it would […]
