Category Archive: HISTORY
General Relativity
In 1915, Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity. I have no idea what it means. Something to do with nothing being straight, the universe being finite, and rather than having a fence, it closes on itself. So space and time are relative and can only be measured by magic rulers and Dali clocks. The universe has no universals. But at least the General Theory didn’t lead to a bomb – merely the event horizon. I don’t know what I’m talking about. My random words don’t satisfy the theory of descriptions (linguistics’ homage to relativity). Einstein knew what he was talking…
Continue Reading →Life of Herod
Massacre of the Innocents (1565/7 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder)
(By Josephus) (c. 79-93AD) A Jewish scholar who fell in with the Romans was well-placed to write an account of the fairly wicked and opportunistic King of Judea (37-4BC). Herod was a survivor in every sense, swinging between supplicant and psycho, and he knew how to pick a winner. Most of the losers, meanwhile, comprised members of his extended family, leading to the saying that it was ‘better to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son’. This intriguing work has the nuance and factual matrix absent from the biblical references, suggesting that the Massacre of the Innocents was really an inspired…
Continue Reading →Coup D’etat
(by Edward Luttwak) (1968) The only good thing about the film Casino Royale (1967) is the moment when David Niven recalls Lenin as a ‘first-class organiser…second rate mind.’ This cool, matter-of-fact, revolutionary, cookbook for a coup is rather the reverse of that characterisation. It’s a impressive assembly of material, from necessary pre-conditions, to the strategic and tactical aspects of coups d’état, sprinkled with apt historical instances. A masterpiece of concision, yet where the book meets it margins, we see what Luttwak recognises as the “difficulty of predicting human behaviour.” So whilst the book is a worthy Machiavellian guide to the overthrow of…
Continue Reading →Agincourt
"These wounds I had on Crispin's Day" (Image from Chroniques d’Enguerrand de Monstrelet)
(Fought 25 October 1415) (Play by William Shakespeare, 1599) (Dir. Laurence Olivier, 1944) (Dir. Kenneth Branagh, 1989) On St Crispin’s Day, King Henry V of England gained a brilliant, against-all-odds and in ultimate strategic terms, futile victory. Henry and his army were pinned near the castle Agincourt, far from the coast and outnumbered at least 3 to 1. Henry made offers of concessions, but the enemy insisted he renounce the French Crown and get out of town. A combination of weather, topography and the English long-bow turned the tide in what proved to be a very nasty battle, a fight to the finish…
Continue Reading →The Peninsular War
Further undermining Wellington's faith in the Spanish - Battle of Castalla (by Jean-Charles Langlois)
(by Charles Esdale) We can be thankful that Napoleon, like that chap Hitler, ridiculously over-extended himself. Exhibit ‘A’ is the seven year war on the Iberian Peninsula, which ruined Spain (and Portugal) for decades and created a schism there that lingers today. It also, fortunately, hived off necessary men, arms and resources that weakened the French Emperor’s efforts to subjugate the continent. This comprehensive book, based on old as well as up-to-date and diverse sources, offers a complete overview of the bloody campaign, the struggles of the various Fields Marshal and in particular the intricate politics. It is dense but…
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