NATO’s 75th Anniversary: It Has Helped Stabilize Europe. Clifton Truman Daniel Recalls His Grandfather’s Momentous Act

If NATO existed in 1914 and 1939, European nations, Britain, and the U.S. abided by a collective security treaty -- that an attack on one of them would be treated as an attack on them all -- World War I and World War II would have been prevented, President Harry Truman contended. Indeed, since NATO …

How WWI Created the Middle East Conflicts

The Great War: "The modern Middle East is a region troubled by war, terrorism, weak and failed states, and civil unrest. But how did it get this way? The map of today’s Middle East was mostly drawn after the First World War, and the war that planted many of the seeds of conflict that still …

Veterans Day Sparks Concern About Military Recruitment

Around Armistice Day, aka Veterans Day in the US, and Remembrance Day in the British Commonwealth, there is concern that the US military isn't recruiting enough volunteers. Americans Don't Want to Fight for Their Country Anymore, Newsweek reports. It could mainly be because unemployment is low and military salaries (not including all the benefits) are …

How The Austro-Hungarian Empire Destroyed Itself – The Fall Of The Habsburgs – History Documentary

I LOVE DOCS: The Habsburg Dynasty had ruled large parts of Europe and the world for 650 years. During World War I, however, the mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire sowed the seeds of its own demise. When Charles I (1887-1922) inherited Franz Joseph's throne in November 1916, he embarked on a single-handed mission to make peace. He …

How Britain Started the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Free History Documentaries: "The bitter struggle between Arab and Jew for control of the Holy Land has caused untold suffering in the Middle East for generations. It is often claimed that the crisis originated with Jewish emigration to Palestine and the foundation of the state of Israel. Yet the roots of the conflict are to …

Great Senate Debates: League of Nations, 1919

After World War I concluded, President Woodrow Wilson was idealistically determined to make it "the war to end all wars." He campaigned tirelessly for an international peace-keeping organization called the League of Nations. Its goal was to maintain world peace, but the question was whether it interfered with the autonomy of nations. Many US senators …

The Reason Gallipoli Failed for Allies Against the Turks in 1916

Imperial War Museums: "On the 9th of January 1916, the last remaining Allied troops on the Gallipoli peninsula were evacuated. Despite catastrophic predictions, the withdrawal went off without a hitch and the entire force escaped with only a few casualties. It was the only bright spark in a campaign marked by failure. After naval attempts …

10 Questions A Baby Boomer Never Thought Anyone Would Ask

I know fame is fleeting, but one doesn't understand how fleeting it is until one teaches social studies. Public memory is exceedingly short. Pop culture to one generation is entirely different from popular culture to another generation. People who are extraordinarily famous to one generation aren't even known to another generation.  Teenagers ask me questions …

Charles De Gaulle, Hero Who Helped Free France from Nazis

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle "was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 in order to restore democracy in France." Wikipedia. A 2021 movie dramatized his life. It is available for streaming. …

What If Britain Stayed Out of WWI?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsYxaHX3Czw The Central Powers -- Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria -- would have won WWI if Britain and the U.S. minded their own business. France would have gone into economic decline in the 1920s. It could have produced its own version of Hitler, an aggressive tyrant eager to restore France to its former …