Germany
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An Introductory Overview of the Habsburg Dynasty
An Introductory Overview of the Habsburg DynastyPlease note that this is not meant to be a biography of any one person but a brief overview of the dynasty to show the impact that the House of Habsburg had for many centuries in Europe.It all began with a castle. Just past the banks of the River Aar, set high on a hill, Count Radbot built what would later be known as Habsburg (thought to be translated to 'Hawks Castle'). The castle was built in 1020 in the Empire of the Romans and can [...]
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International Holocaust Remembrance Day – The Nazi T4 Program
This post is dedicated to all those who lost their lives during the Holocaust, in all its guises, and to all those who have been victims of other atrocities and acts of genocide. It was 1st September 1939, when the outbreak of World War Two was declared. The Nazi party under Adolf Hitler had been in power for a number of years and had implemented many changes to law on the domestic front as well as aggressive behavior towards her neighbours. But the day was an important one in history for another reason, in a retrospective way. In order to understand we need to come forward, just a little way,…
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The Bathroom
Since the beginning of civilized living, we have made sure our waste is carried away. By moving sources of water and then through a series of pipes. The bathroom developed from just a necessary house to a place of luxuriating as the Romans perfected their bath houses. These became places of gossip and socializing as much as keeping clean. The Baths of Caracalla offered warm and cold pools, body oiling and scraping services, hair shampooing and styling areas, manicures and exercise ar [...]
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The Christmas Truce
When war broke out in 1914, the general consensus was that it would “all be over by Christmas”. Borne out by the initial campaign medals which were struck with the year 1914. Alas, following the disaster of Mons, and the failed siege of Antwerp, it soon became abundantly clear that the hostilities would be continuing into the foreseeable future. Trenches were dug into a front line stretching some 450 miles, and men settled in for the long haul. In December high volumes of rainfall and persistent shelling had turned these lines, particularly around the areas now known so well for their association with the horrors of war, Fromelles, Armentieres, Ypres,…
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Karl Marx
Karl Marx was born on 5th May 1818, in Trier in Prussia. He was the third child of nine, born to Lawyer Herschel Marx and his Dutch wife Henrietta Pressburg, whose family later founded the Philips electronics company. Herschel Marx received a secular education, the first in his family to do so, and after studying philosophers such as Kant and Voltaire, converted to Lutheranism prior to Karl’s birth, changing his name to the German version, Heinrich. Heinrich’s male precedents on his father’s side were traditionally Rabbis, however he subsequently had all his own children baptised together as Lutherans when Karl was around six years of age. Henrietta waited until her…
