How Napoleon Bonaparte Caused the First World War

If nationalism and militarism were the two main forces that caused WWI as empires broke up, Severan42 argues that French emperor Napoleon, long dead by the time of WWI, helped create the conditions that caused this war in Europe. He sought to unify Europe under French auspices. In response, the ethnicities and small principalities of …

Britain Faces Biggest Humiliation Since the Suez Crisis of 1956

"The 1956 Suez Crisis, when Britain along with France and Israel invaded Egypt to recover control of the Suez Canal, was arguably one of the most significant episodes in post-1945 British history. Its outcome highlighted Britain’s declining status and confirmed it as a ‘second tier’ world power. Domestically it caused a massive political fallout in Britain and …

50 Years After Watergate, What Have We Learned? 2

The British publication History Today asks four historians to assess the afterlife of the June 17th, 1972 break-in at Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel. Click. Younger readers who don't know much about the scandal will find it particularly useful. To sum up, the scandal: led to a permanently adversarial media in relation …

In Russia, Military Losses Always Lead to Big Changes

Vladimir Putin surely knows that “the Russian national tradition is unforgiving of military setbacks,” observed Leon Aron, a Russia expert at the American Enterprise Institute, who is writing a book about Putin’s road to Ukraine. “Virtually every major defeat has resulted in radical change,” added Aron, writing in The Washington Post. “The Crimean War (1853-1856) precipitated …

Thematic or Chronological Teaching of History? A Debate

I've witnessed students extraordinarily bored by the chronological teaching of history -- "just one darn thing after another," they groan. As a teacher, I've argued that chronological teaching of history is necessary to understand CAUSALITY: one thing causes, or partly causes, another thing. But I have to admit that when I was in school, we …

Happy Birthday, Maine! Its’ Proud and Integral Contribution to Slavery’s End

March 15, 1820 was the day that Maine joined the Union as part of the Missouri Compromise engineered by House Speaker Henry Clay of KY. That legislation stopped northern attempts to prohibit slavery's expansion by admitting Missouri as a slave state. But Mainers were upset that their state was used to legalize slavery in any …

Prelude Or Events Leading Up to the American Revolution

"John Green teaches you about the American Revolution. And the Revolutionary War. I know we've labored the point here, but they weren't the same thing. In any case, John will teach you about the major battles of the war, and discuss the strategies on both sides. Everyone is familiar with how this war played out …

What If History Is Not Written By the Winners?

Traditionally, "history is written by the victors," wrote Winston Churchill. Until the late 20th century, mainstream history was presumed to be written by the winners, the conquerors, the dominant factions, from their points of view. Not, for example, indigenous peoples, women, slaves, refugees from the conquerors. Their points of view only emerged from revisionist thinking …

Turning Points from Invention of Printing Press in 1400s to Trump’s MAGA

Causation or Causality. How one thing leads to another. Printing Press, Invented in 1440s -->Challenged Governmental and Religious Authorities Control of Information, Knowledge and Thought --> Peasants Rebelled Against Pray, Pay, Obey, Church Corruption and Indulgences --> Protestant Reformation-->150 years of Religious Warfare -->Struggle against Censorship -->Divine Right of Kings --> Right to Criticize Constructively -->Freedom …

Philosophical Underpinnings For Studying History

Did Cleopatra’s Nose, Henry the VIII’s Libido, Richard III’s Horse and Your Ancestors’ Luck Make Crucial Historical Differences? Exploring Divine Providence, Retribution, Destiny, Predestination, Teleology and Chaos Theory Chaos Theory or Butterfly Effect Has Idea of Progress Disappeared? Why Counterfactuals Are So Popular ‘Inevitable’ Triumph of Democracy, Capitalism Now Very Much in Doubt Golden Age for Dystopian Fiction Power of Counter-Factual …