Friday, March 29, 2024

UK/Irish History

Sometime before the start of the first millennium AD, the Celtic people of Western Europe took to boats and settled the two islands later known as Britain and Ireland. Since that time, the history of these two islands has been interconnected. The Irish invaded and created Scotland. The Norman British later returned the favour and launched an invasion that started centuries of fighting that lead to the political division of Ireland today.

Amidst this constant fighting, the two island have produced many of history’s biggest names: King Arthur, St. Patrick, Henry VIII, Shakespeare, Thomas Moore, Duke Wellington, Queen Victoria, Winston Churchill, and so many more.

The Macabre Execution of the Duke of Monmouth

On July 15, 1685 the illegitimate son of King Charles II was beheaded in one of the more gruesome executions ever to take place...

How To Marry An English Lord: The Uniting of British Lords and American Heiresses

Winston Churchill was, among other things, an accomplished historian and writer, writing several books during his lifetime. Four of these: his four-volume A History...

The Boer War (1899-1902): Britain’s Wakeup Call

In 1886, gold was discovered in the Transvaal region of South Africa, an area then populated mostly by Afrikaans speaking Boers, descendents of the...

Lloyd George’s “People’s Budget,” and the Parliamentary Act of 1911, Part 2

As a result, Parliament was dissolved and the General Election was set for January 1910. The Liberals, before the crisis somewhat divided, went to...

A Crusade For Peace: George Lansbury’s Worldwide Trip for Peace, 1936-37

George Lansbury was perhaps the greatest idealist of his generation. He was an absolute pacifist who believed sincerely that war was the greatest evil...

Women in the 19th Century – Life in Regency England, Part 1: Society

Life in high society during the Regency was a glamorous round of balls and parties, governed by strict rules of etiquette. Members of society,...

“A Prophet Before Her Time:” Beatrice Potter Webb, Part 1: Beatrice Webb’s Life Up...

Few political thinkers have influenced British society and politics in the 20th Century as much as Beatrice Potter Webb. She was a prodigious scholar,...

The Exhumation and Posthumous Execution of Oliver Cromwell

After leading republican forces to victory in the English Civil War, Cromwell became Lord Protector. After the Restoration, his body was exhumed and hanged. Oliver...

Lloyd George’s “People’s Budget,” and the Parliamentary Act of 1911, Part 1

In December 1905, James Balfour, the Conservative prime minister (PM), suddenly resigned. (1) King Edward VII called upon Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Leader of...

The Glorious Revolution and the Reign of King William III

The bloodless revolution in England in 1688-1689 led to constitutionalism and greater Parliamentary control over the monarchy. On January 22, 1689, William of Orange convened...