Category Archives: MODERN HISTORY
The Indians of American Northwest Coast
The Northwest coast offers a mild climate with a wide array of food resources. Several distinctive cultures developed on the Northwest Coast from the Columbia River through coastal British Columbia to the top of the Alaskan panhandle. The cultures are very similar in some ways and remarkably diverse in others. People from all regions developed a rich ceremonial and spiritual life. They invested tremendous creative energy in artistic expressions, including songs, dances, legends and spectacular, philosophically powerful art work.
Victorian ladies and gentlemen: The art of etiquette
It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate. He is mainly occupied in merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him; and he concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself.
William III Orange: The day when he was born
The future William III of England was born on his mother’s nineteenth birthday in an atmosphere of profound funereal gloom. The baby’s father had died of smallpox only eight days before and the room in the Binnenhof, the inner court of the family’s house at The Hague, was draped in black. The young widow and her attendants were all in deep mourning and the bed and even the cradle were swathed in black.
Prussia in 18th century
In the 18th century Prussia became a real military camp where everyone works for the army. The peasants were soldiers in the army and supported the army by their products, manufacturers provided the army with clothing and arms and nobles who were at Military Academy in Berlin led them as officers. The taxes for peasants and citizens were high, so army has constantly funded. Also, the peasants were forcibly recruited. They were not keen to left they fields and farms and go to the military campaigns.
British bombarment of Copenhagen 1802
The British had shelled the Danish capital before, in 1801, but the second onslaught was even more devastating. The Danes had repaired their city and their fleet in the meantime, but late in July 1807 the new British Foreign Secretary, George Canning, received intelligence that the Franco-Russian alliance signed at Tilsit had included a secret agreement to force Denmark and Sweden into Napoleon’s continental blockade of British trade.