William the Conqueror died in France not England!
On September 7th 1087 William the Conqueror died in Rouen, but why Rouen? Even though he had conquered England, he was also Duke of Normandy and he had to spend more time in France protecting his kingdom in Normandy than he did here. In fact, it’s reported that at one point he spent five years […]
The Triple Entente failed to stop WWI
At the beginning of the 20th century the major nations of Europe formed two grand alliances, in which they pledged to support each other in the event of one of them being attacked. There was one between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, called the Triple Alliance, and the other was the Triple Entente between France, Russia […]
Who was the Lady of the Mercians?
You will have heard of the Warrior Queen Boadicea but have you ever heard of Aethelflaed? She led her troops in the Battle of Tettenhall. You probably haven’t heard of that Battle, have you? Well, she was described as the Lady of the Mercians, who was the oldest daughter of Alfred the Great, and […]
On December 5th 1456 a bigger earthquake hit Naples
We’ve all heard about the explosion of Vesuvius on 24th August AD79 that wiped out Pompeii, which is just by Naples. Did you know that an even bigger earthquake hit Naples, just next to Pompeii, on 5th December 1456 killing 35,000 people? It does make you wonder when the next big one will hit southern […]
Have the Danes ever successfully invaded England?
Yes, throughout the 9th and 10th centuries BC. Despite the dangers, between 20,000 and 35,000 Danish Vikings chose to uproot and migrate to England between the 9th and 10th century. They started as raiding parties seeing what they could take, but as their raids continued, more and more of them decided to stay, they liked […]
Was 1066 the last invasion of England?
No, it wasn’t! The Dutch tried it twice, unsuccessfully in 1667 then, yes, successfully 1688, however, we modified history to say it wasn’t invasion. However, the most interesting invasion was by the French unsuccessfully in February 1797. The Dutch invasion of England 1667 “And, the truth is, I do fear so much that the whole kingdom […]
The Battle of Copenhagen
The Battle of Copenhagen went down in history because Horatio Nelson pulled off one of the boldest and most iconic acts of disobedience in naval history. In the battle with the chaos of war raging around him, Nelson, ever the maverick, put his telescope to his blind eye and quipped, “I see no signal.” This […]
Who were the Anglo Saxons?
They were in England for 600 years from 410AD to 1066AD, a long time! There were three aggressive tribes: Saxons, Jutes and Angles, farmer warriors from North-West Europe. When the Romans left after giving England nearly three hundred years of relative peace and prosperity, there was a period of uncertainty and disorder. The way of […]
The Mise of Lewis
This was another time of war between the King and his Barons. Again, it was because the King, this time Henry III, was in a power struggle with his Barons, this time led by Simon de Montford. The Barons didn’t like the foreign influence in court, but, to be really honest it was, as always, […]
Tulip Mania discussed
In the 17th century Holland had the highest per capita income in the world. This was because the Dutch Republic’s economic and financial system was at the time the most advanced and sophisticated ever seen in history. It is called the Dutch Golden Age. However, their sophistication in financial matters had its downside, it led […]