Henry VIII’s daughter takes her mother’s side!
It all happened because a daughter was unhappy because her dad left her mum! The Acts of Supremacy On the 3rd November 1534 the First Act of Supremacy was passed. It was meant to be the only one, but it wasn’t. It was followed in 1537 when the Irish Act of Supremacy was passed by […]
How dangerous was Henry VIII court
It is estimated that 57,000 could have been executed during the reign of Henry VIII. I understand that this was over his 37 years on the throne, however, we must remember this is difficult to prove, but I do think it shows that being part of his court was dangerous. What happened after the Break […]
Singapore, another failure we need to learn about!
Singapore, today is an independent city state, but in 1942 was a jewel in the British Empire, and as shown in the map above, was in a strategically important position. This is because the Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world. It was, and still is, the main […]
The unknown Battle of Gravelines
Have you ever heard of the Battle of Gravelines, to explain, it was a battle between the English an the Spanish ,which was part of the Spanish Armada, in fact it led to our victory. It took place on July 29th 1558 when the Spanish were routed at the Battle of Gravelines, it led to […]
How old is the shield wall the police use today?
Today when a demonstration that goes nasty, we see the police build a shield wall to defend themselves and then slowly move it forward, but when checking our musical 1066 – The Battle of Hastings I realised that the shield wall as been a policy used by armies for hundreds of years. Harold used it […]
The Combat of the Thirty
The Combat of the Thirty took place in France on 26th March 1351, during the Breton War of Succession. It even took place in front of a crowd, who were supplied with refreshments and the combatants even took a half time break! Why did it happen? To explain, there was a struggle between the House […]
The Calcutta Light horse and Operation Creek
If you think that the Home Guard, we now know as Dad’s Army were only in England then you need to learn of Operation Creek by the Calcutta Light Horse in Goa in 1943. The Calcutta Light Horse was formed in 1872 as a part of the Cavalry Reserve of the British Indian Army. By 1943 it […]
In the middle of a war the opposing sides climb out of their trenches and play football!
World War I or “The Great War”, as it became known, began in August 1914. On the Western Front both sides quickly reached a stalemate. Young soldiers from both Britain and Germany huddled in freezing, muddy trenches, shells and bullets exploding around them, caught in one of the most futile and bloody conflicts of the […]
Boudica – A woman scorned!
Boudica was a reluctant soldier who, until the Romans invaded England, was happily married to King Prasutagus, ruler of the Celtic tribe Iceni. Then to keep the peace, King Prasutagus agreed with the Romans that on his death half his lands and estates would go to his wife and daughters, with the other half going […]
The Austrian Army wiped itself out!
Legend has it that at the Battle of Karánsebes in 1788, which took place during in the Austro–Turkish War of 1787 – 91, the Austrian army fought itself and killed over 10,000 of their own soldiers, before the opposition arrived! How could this happen? Well, this was a campaign during the Austrian war with Turkey, […]