検索キーワード： 著者 "Charles River" すべてのカテゴリー

In Britain, state broadcasting began at 18:00 on November 22, 1922 when Arthur Burrows, the Director of Programmes at the newly formed British Broadcasting Company, announced, “This is 2LO, Marconi House, London calling”. “London calling” became a key phrase used in broadcasts by the BBC. When the service began, most listeners were hobbyists who had their own radio receivers. In 1922, around 30,000 people in the UK had radio receiver licenses.

During the period after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the establishment of medieval Europe, which was once commonly referred to as the Dark Ages, many different tribes migrated across Europe, feeding on what was left of Rome and attempting to establish new kingdoms in the vacuum. Most of these tribes were Germanic in ethnicity and language and shared the same goals of either entering Roman territory to become Roman citizens or tearing down Rome completely.

Throughout history, warfare has played an important role in the development of many cultures around the world, and Mesoamerica is no exception. As J.M. Francis and T.M. Leonard noted, “The history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica was one of violence, though no more so than that of any other region of the ancient world. It was a universe of shifting alliances and mutual antagonisms, in which increasingly strong political entities forged themselves and then broke apart". In fact, warfare played an essential role in the formation of Mesoamerica as a cultural area.

To most observers, it seemed clear that Japan and Russia were destined to come into conflict in Korea and Manchuria. However, Russia’s vastly larger population, army, and navy seemed to make it inevitable that Japan would lose if the conflict escalated into war. Few could have foreseen that when war came, it would reveal that Russian power was largely an illusion. That would be underscored by one of the war’s most famous events, a bizarre battle that involved a makeshift Russian fleet under the command of an irascible and unstable admiral sailing around the world to meet its fate.

The Dodecanese Campaign was a British attempt to seize islands in the Aegean during the fall and winter of 1943. The campaign brought Anglo-American relations to their lowest point during the war. The Dodecanese Campaign was the tragic outcome of the fundamental differences of opinion and approach between allies who otherwise worked closely and in harmony, and though nobody knew it at the time, it marked one of the last major victories for German forces who had been forced to retreat in every other theater of operations.

In Rome, on February 24, 1530, Pope Clement VII placed the ancient crown of the Holy Roman Empire on the head of the 29-year-old Charles V of Habsburg. Born in Flanders, he became Duke of Burgundy and Lord of the Netherlands at the age of six, King of Castile and Aragon at 15, Archduke of Austria at 17, and, finally, King of the Romans three months after that. The last title belonged to the ruler of Germany before he was solemnly crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope.

The Hawaiian kingdom existed for about a century, from the early 1790s to 1893, starting when King Kamehameha finally united the islands and lasting until American planters and businessmen staged a coup and forced Queen Lili’uokulani to abdicate. During the century of its existence, the kingdom offered its native peoples considerable protection. For example, in the later 1800s, several thousands of Pacific islanders were, in effect, kidnapped and forced to serve as indentured laborers in places like the Guano Islands in Peru and plantations in Queensland.

Bombs have been around for centuries, and terrorism in the United States has a longer history than many people realize, going back to the Revolutionary era. Listen to the stories of many lesser-known attacks in this intriguing history of a troubling topic.

As the Eastern Roman Empire and Sasanian Empire began to expand in the region through a combination of warfare, trade, and diplomacy, a number of Arab tribes caught in the middle coalesced to form their own powerful dynasties and states, one of which was the Lakhmid Dynasty. The Lakhmid Dynasty lasted for more than 300 years, which is an incredible span of time, considering how few states at the time came close to that. The Lakhmid Dynasty was able to survive and thrive for so long by being an effective middleman and power broker in the ever-changing geopolitical landscape.

Although it ended over 550 years ago, the Hundred Years’ War still looms large in the historical consciousness of England and France, even if the name of the famous war is a misnomer. The war was transformative in many respects, and the impact it had on the geopolitical situation of Europe cannot be overstated. While some might think of the war as being a continuation of the feudal tradition of knights and peasants, the Hundred Years’ War revolutionized Western European warfare, and it truly helped to usher in the concept of nationalism on the continent.

The early first millennium BCE was a time of great change and turmoil in the Near East and Eastern Europe. Many of the Bronze Age empires had collapsed, but in their place came new ones in Assyria, Persia, and Babylon, as well as a rejuvenated Egypt. Other peoples also began to enter the historical record and assert themselves. In the wake of the Sea Peoples destruction in Anatolia, the Lydians and Phrygians established powerful kingdoms, and by the 8th century BCE the Greek city-states had formed and the Greeks began establishing colonies along the western coast of Anatolia.

Germany's North African defeat opened up the possibility of taking the war in the West to the European continent for the first time since France's lightning conquest by the Wehrmacht in 1940. The British and Americans debated the merits of landing in France directly in 1943, but they ultimately opted against it. The Soviets railed at the Westerners as “bastards of allies”; but a 1943 “D-Day”-style landing in France might have proven a strategic and logistical impossibility.

Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War, marveling at the size of the battles, the leadership of the generals, and the courage of the soldiers. Given the extent of Irish immigration in the 19th century, it should come as no surprise that the Irish played important roles in the Civil War. The Irish joined for many reasons, including wanting regular wages and enlistment bonus money, defending the Union, and even hoping that veteran Irish soldiers could help free Ireland from British rule.

The fighting in North Africa during World War II is commonly overlooked, aside from the famous battle at El Alamein that pitted the British under General Bernard Montgomery against the legendary “Desert Fox”, Erwin Rommel. But while the Second Battle of El Alamein would be the pivotal action in North Africa, the conflict in North Africa began all the way back in the summer of 1940 when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared Italy’s entrance into the war. From his perspective, the fact that the British and French had their hands full with the Germans created an opportunity.

The need to eat and drink is a biological necessity for everyone, but along with that, food and drink are often at the very center of social life. This was no different in ancient Greece, but if anything, the social importance placed on food and wine in the Greek world was even more pronounced and had profound consequences for the rest of the world. It was through the ability to create a food surplus that the ancient Greeks were able to establish their poleis and, from these, go on to develop the political and social structures that built the backbone of Western civilization.

Despite all the accomplishments, widespread victories, and conquests that the ancient Romans accrued over the centuries, one of their most critical failures was the inability to subjugate Germany. Indeed, historians have singled out this one failure as central to the ultimate downfall of Rome, as the constant wars against the Germanic tribes and the need to defend the frontier on the Rhine helped bring the Roman Empire to its knees. There are elements of truth in such a conclusion, but the reality was far more fluid than is often realized.

Somewhat ironically, the one aspect of the Middle Ages that has been romanticized is medieval warfare. What is generally forgotten is that medieval warfare was constantly adapting to the times as leaders adopted new techniques and technology, and common infantry became increasingly important throughout the period. The changes became most evident at the beginning of the 14th century, when the French army fought rebellious forces from Flanders in the Battle of the Golden Spurs on July 11, 1302.

Indulgence is at the heart of modern perceptions of eating and drinking for the ancient Romans. Of course, the history of eating and drinking for the wider population within the more than 1,000-year span of the empire was somewhat different. These feasts depicted in the images of Roman dining were relevant to only the very elite and ignore the fact that Roman society was rigidly hierarchical. What the richest ate was markedly different from the fare on offer to their slaves, and between these two extremes, there were numerous socioeconomic groups whose habits varied.

Soon after dawn on July 1, 1916, British and Commonwealth troops climbed out of damp, muddy trenches in the Somme valley and began to advance across no-man’s land toward German positions. The British commander, Field Marshal Douglas Haig, was certain that this battle would lead to a decisive victory. However, by the time that night fell on that day, 57,000 British troops had become casualties, including more than 19,000 killed, the highest number of British casualties in a single day of combat.

As labor unions and movements began to form and coalesce in the 19th century, the tensions between workers and companies led to demonstrations, encounters, and even conflicts that descended into violence. Among those, none were larger than the colloquially known Battle of Blair Mountain, which pitted West Virginian miners against authorities in 1921. It represented the largest labor uprising in American history and the largest armed uprising in the country since the Civil War, and it would have lasting ramifications on unions and labor moving forward.