Due to a recent trip and some Covid-19 related difficulties I decided to take a week off my usual posting schedule (two posts a week). Normal postings should resume next week. I haven’t been idle with my downtime thought. A huge amount of reading was necessary to release my first entry in The Bloody Isle.… Continue reading The Bloody Isle
Category: One Minute History
Marie: A Village for the Queen.
Marie Antoinette is a key figure in French history. She has served as an over laboured source of satire for decades, propping up the careers of middling comedians and historians alike. Her apparent disconnect from the suffering and profound poverty of the people of France has made her an easy target. But is her reputation… Continue reading Marie: A Village for the Queen.
Connla: A night on the pull.
This is without a doubt one of the most vanilla folk tales I have read and I am told it is far more stirring as an opera. Given it is Celtic with origins dated to at least 3 AD I am confident operatic variations are a modern innovation. Connla of the Firey Hair was the… Continue reading Connla: A night on the pull.
Jean Baptiste Denys: The blood of the calf.
I am the first to recognise that a great deal of scientific advancement has developed from accidents, mistakes or radical misconceptions. I also believe that in science even a negative result is a good thing. Advancement in any direction is still advancement. However rarely in history when a scientist starts with a profound misunderstanding about… Continue reading Jean Baptiste Denys: The blood of the calf.
War on Nature
Humans are driven towards conflict. We as a species are like Mick, the drunk Glaswegian staggering around the streets on a friday night, picking fights with lamp posts. However there are times we get bored fighting other humans as we declare open war on the animal kingdom with mixed success. Side Note: Mick, you know… Continue reading War on Nature
Alexander The Great: A night on the town
I was going through some files a couple of weeks ago and found an essay I wrote for A-Level Classical Civilisations. I half-arsed the living crap out of this thing. It was about Alexander the Great and what factors I felt led to his success in expanding an empire. Honestly I think I wrote it… Continue reading Alexander The Great: A night on the town
Boudica: Sing O Goddess…
Looking at the last few posts and the realisations I have come to through the research I had undertaken to write them, it has become increasingly clear that even in a free western society we are taught to look at our national past through a very specific and forgiving lens. Even when approaching cases like… Continue reading Boudica: Sing O Goddess…
Lithuanian Immigration to Scotland
This post is intended to support the Biographica Incognita article on Johnny Ramensky. In researching the social and political landscape in which Johnny found himself, a large story started to unfold which I couldn’t fit into the article and was so much bigger and separate to the man himself. Some of the details from the… Continue reading Lithuanian Immigration to Scotland
Saragarhi: Bole So Niha
Towards the end of the nineteenth century the British had been trying to solidify their imperial borders in what is today Pakistan. Despite the enormous wealth India had brought the empire it also provided its share of problems. Arguably more so than any other region under British control. The tried and tested method of arming… Continue reading Saragarhi: Bole So Niha
OMH: Would World War Two Have Happened Without Hitler?
Would World War Two have happened without Adolf Hitler? There are few that would dispute that Adolf Hitler was one of the darkest figures in human history. The atrocities he visited upon millions of people are beyond imagining. Often in hypothetical discussions about time travel, the first thought visited is, “I would kill Hitler”. However,… Continue reading OMH: Would World War Two Have Happened Without Hitler?