The culminating action in the Franco-Prussian War, the siege of Paris led to French defeat and the establishment of the Paris Commune. It was a formative event in the establishment of the German Empire. The Franco-Prussian War was a conflict that arose from Prussian ambitions for German unification and French... More
Following the German encirclement of Sevastopol and the 100,000 Soviet forces defending it, a final assault was launched on 6 June 1942. Prior to the start of the ground attack the Luftwaffe began a massive bombing offensive against defences in the city and any naval targets in the area. The... More
In 1936 Germany began building a series of defensive lines facing the borders of France and the Low countries, which was known as the Westwall to the Germans and later, to the western allies, as the Siegfried Line. It was a series or 16,000 bunkers, tank traps and tunnels some... More
The web of trade routes that came to constitute the Silk Road evolved in piecemeal fashion. The Achaemenid Empire established an efficient road network from the River Indus to the Black Sea and Mediterranean. Alexander’s conquests left Hellenized successor kingdoms as far east as Ferghana, and the Ptolemaic kingdoms in... More
During the Silurian period the giant southern supercontinent arced upwards through a broad peninsula, formed by Antarctica and Australia, which straddled the equator. While there was no major volcanic activity at this time, the smaller landmasses of Laurentia, Baltica and Avalonia, composing what would become North America, steadily converged together.... More
Israel commenced the war against Egypt with a devastating pre-emptive airstrike on the morning of 5 June, successfully destroying the bulk of the Egyptian air force. They further wrongfooted the Egyptians by orienting their main assault on Sinai to the north (in the Suez Crisis of 1956, their main thrust... More
In the 1860s Korea was a Chinese satellite and rich in coal and iron, resources needed by a modernizing Japan. Although Japan, a growing imperial power, was granted trading concessions, it saw Korea as land that could be exploited for expansion. Many young Koreans wanted closer ties to Japan, and... More
The flashpoint of the Dakota Sioux uprising was the murder of five settlers by four Indian braves. Tensions had been rising because of the late payment of annuities (due from the government according to Treaties of 1851 and 1858, by which the Sioux ceded much of their land). As the... More
Following previous Israeli clashes with Syria and Jordan, Egypt amassed troops near the Israeli border and ordered the withdrawal of the United Nations Emergency Forces in the area from 19 May. Following this escalation, the Straits of Tiran, separating the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea, were closed to... More
Although the trans-Atlantic trade was perhaps the dominant element in the slave trade worldwide, slavery was widely practised internally within Africa, and the Ottoman Empire and Asia also represented major markets. In excess of 12 million Africans were shipped from the slave trading West African ports. The European agents rarely... More
Between 1800–60, the slave population grew from 800,000 to nearly 4,000,000; in 1860 almost one-third of southern families owned slaves. Of these, nearly 50 per cent had fewer than five slaves, with a much smaller proportion owning three slaves, or less. The slaveholders who owned 15 slaves or above were... More
Due to inclement weather, General Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Forces on the western front, postponed the first assault on the German front line at the Somme to 1 July 1916. Although preliminary bombardment in June had little impact, the British generals were convinced that a three-pronged assault using... More