Category Archives: History

Book Review: Menachem Kaiser ~ Plunder: A memoir of family property and stolen Nazi treasure (2021)

This quirky book instantly attracted me. The story is straight-forwardly about property in Poland. Jewish Holocaust survivors made it to the USA. Two generations later a grandson tried to prove ownership rights over a house plundered by Nazis. Kaiser’s book … Continue reading

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That’s My Girl!

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Britain’s Fantasy Economics 1530-2016: a short history

British governments from Henry VIII to David Cameron funded unaffordable aspirations by using other people’s money. This tactic is increasingly difficult to achieve as time passes. British politicians, nonetheless, are addicted to sources of revenue which are unconventional. They believe … Continue reading

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Let’s move on and not dwell on the past

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The Suffragettes knew how to protest

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Seventy years of decline: Two Conservative Prime Ministers

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The Importance of the Battle of Warsaw, 1920

Tsarist Russia was engulfed in a revolutionary civil war, which led to a Bolshevik government in1917. The leader of the Red Army, Leon Trotsky, wanted to end capitalism in Europe. He believed Germany was the key to this. If the … Continue reading

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Joseph Heller* on War

“What is a country? A country is a piece of land surrounded on all sides by boundaries, usually unnatural. Englishmen are dying for England, Americans are dying for America, Germans are dying for Germany, Russians are dying for Russia. There … Continue reading

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Black History Month, 2022: Lyrics of ‘I wish’

I wish I knew howIt would feel to be freeI wish I could breakAll the chains holding meI wish I could sayAll the things that I should saySay ’em loud say ’em clearFor the whole round world to hear I … Continue reading

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The Purchase of Commissions in the British Army, 1683-1871

The 17th century was transformative. It began with the attempted assassination of James I and ended with a successful invasion and three quasi-legitimate monarchs. The century included three civil wars, the execution of a king, a warrior class seizing power, … Continue reading

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