By 1828 three competing customs unions had been established, comprising, collectively, the bulk of the states of the German Confederation, the most notable exception being the territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although theoretically equivalent, the Prussian-controlled northern union clearly dominated, and when it formed a commercial alliance with the southern... More
Florence (Firenze) became the capital and main cultural centre of Italy’s Tuscany region in the 11th century, and grew into an internationally important commercial hub. In 1252 it introduced its own gold coins, ‘fiorini d’oro’ or ‘florins’, which spread throughout western Europe as the principal trading currency. Control of the... More
The Second Punic War (218–201 BCE) had decisively tilted the balance of power in the Mediterranean from Carthage to Rome. Carthage was forced to pay an annual indemnity for 50 years, and to cede Hispania, Sicily and Sardinia to Rome. In 151 CE, the Carthaginians retaliated against an attack by... More
Britain’s first ‘Thousand Bomber Raid’ was launched on the night of 30 May 1942 as a display of the Royal Air Force’s strength. It would additionally serve as a testing run for a number of new deployment tactics, most notably the ‘bomber stream’ which, following the introduction of the GEE... More
Following the demise of the Han dynasty, a period called the Three Kingdoms followed, during which three warring states eventually fell to the Jin dynasty. In 220 CE, the last Dong Han emperor ceded his throne to Cao Pi, the son of his regional leader Cao Cao and a new... More
The ruins of Tiahuanaco were happened upon by the Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de Leon as he searched for the southern capital of the Incas. By the time of his arrival (1549), the natives of the area were as mystified as to their origins as he was. Modern archaeology suggests... More
The early colonists of Virginia diced with extinction. The ‘Great Starvation’ accounted for 80 per cent of their number; the desperate survivors were evacuating the colony, before being intercepted by the incoming governor, Thomas West, and forced to return. West installed a more muscular regime, waging a four-year war with... More
The American fleet started shelling Tinian Island’s defences on 16 July, but sustained serious losses at the hands of the Japanese 50th Infantry Division, commanded by Colonel Kiyochi Ogata. The landings by the US 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions, begun on 24 July, were more successful. A decoy assault on... More
A milestone discovered at Tintagel in Cornwall refers to the Emperor Licinius (r. 308–324) suggesting that it was occupied during the Roman era; there are also traces of earlier Bronze Age/Iron Age habitation. Archaeological remains from the 5th and 6th centuries, including pottery sourced from the Mediterranean, suggest a high-status... More
By 1918, the Selective Service Act, the conscription of young men into the US army, meant that the relatively small standing army swelled to 4,000,000. General Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), insisted troops receive full combat training before arriving in France, so their direct impact on... More
The battle of Tours saw Charles Martel’s Frankish army confront the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate under Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, the Andalusian Muslims. The Umayyad army had made easy progress from Spain through southern Gaul, defeating Duke Odo’s forces in Bordeaux. Al Ghafiqi did not anticipate heavy resistance as... More
By c. 1750, immigration, high birth rates and abundant natural resources had turned the thirteen colonies into a major consumer and exporter of goods. Most of colonial America’s exports were agricultural, with the Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia exporting raw and processed feed grains, including wheat, Indian corn, rice and tobacco.... More