The wide variety of languages and regional dialects spoken in the ‘Low’ or ‘Benelux’ countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg) fall into two main groups: Germanic, Low Saxon languages and their variants, and French-based ‘langue d’oïl’ Romance languages and their variants. The prevalent language in the former group is Dutch, spoken... More
Before the arrival of the Romans in Iberia a number of languages were spoken, and some writing systems had evolved, frequently borrowing from Greek and Phoenicians, who had established trading colonies on the peninsula. Aquitanian, or Proto-Basque, was an ancestor of modern Basque, and was spoken in the in the... More
The language map of Switzerland reflects the independence and self-governance of its 26 cantons, which have not been subjected to a centralized government or the imposition of a nationwide “official” language. Language distribution within Switzerland is influenced by proximity to other nations. The most common language in Switzerland, spoken by... More
The German Zeppelins were long cylindrical rigid airship with a fabric-covered frame. They were large, unwieldy and powered by highly combustible hydrogen gas. They often missed their targets, but inspired intense fear in the civilian population. Reaching altitudes of up to 10,000 feet they were silent before they dropped their... More
By the late Cretaceous, the continents were beginning to assume their broad modern alignment. The Americas were drifting westwards, causing the Atlantic Ocean to widen. India was still in the early stages of its northward migration, berthed alongside Madagascar. Australia was still attached to the Antarctic residue of the ancient... More
A survey conducted in 2018 amongst young people in 12 European countries showed very large proportions who denied having any faith at all: the Czech Republic was the least religious country with 91% of 16–29-year-olds claiming no religious affiliation. Only in Poland, Portugal and Ireland did more than 10% of... More
Following the envelopment of the Falaise pocket, the Germans were rapidly pushed east across France as they tried to regroup. General Eisenhower was not prepared to tie up his precious resources in a battle for Paris when Hitler had made it clear that the Germans would employ a scorched earth... More
General William T. Sherman rarely purveyed the milk of human kindness. He was infamous for ‘scorched earth’ tactics against the Confederate South in the Civil War. Graduating to Indian warfare, he advocated pursuit of the Sioux with ‘vindictive eagerness…even to their extermination, men, women and children’. But this flinty-hearted warrior... More
In the Lower Carboniferous, high sea levels meant that the northern hemisphere was almost devoid of land. The island of Angaraland was the only significant landmass north of the equatorial zone. Laurentia, comprising what would become North America and northern Europe, was still separated by straits from the main landmass... More
In the Lower Devonian, a secondary supercontinent to Gondwanaland was formed by the collision of Laurentia and Baltica; amongst its repercussions were the raising of the Appalachian and Caledonian Mountains. The two early supercontinents were encircled by subduction zones that would lead, eventually, to the creation of the supercontinent of... More
Between 1880 and 1924, some 2.5 million Ashkenazi Jews arrived in America from eastern Europe, with New York’s Lower East Side their foremost destination. The Jewish migrants were the primary single component (rivalled only by the Italians) in a flood of incomers from south and eastern Europe over this period,... More
The Ludlow Amendment proposed ‘Except in the event of an invasion of the United States…authority of Congress to declare war shall not become effective until confirmed in a Nationwide Referendum’. President Roosevelt was adamantly opposed, maintaining it would ‘cripple any president in his conduct of foreign affairs’. In 1930s America,... More