The answer to the question what is the difference between “insurrection” and “revolution” depends, of course, on which side you are. The American colonies were not slow to coin their rebellion a “revolution” and they were sensible to do so. The word “revolution” in the 1770s did not necessarily mean the visceral violence of the… Continue reading #OTD 30 October – Surrecting slavery
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#OTD 29 October – Crash of the titans
Tuesday 29 October 1929 was Black Tuesday, the Wall Street crash. What were the reactions and was it any different from any other time when extended exuberance comes to an abrupt end? The Washington Evening Star was a local paper of record for much of its life. The market had been very turbulent over the… Continue reading #OTD 29 October – Crash of the titans
#OTD 28 October – Wilson and the other Hughes
The 1916 presidential campaign saw the appearance on the campaign trail, or perhaps track, of the Hughes special, a train of women supporting Hughes. It was not all easy going. The Topeka State Journal for 28 October 1916 reported ox-gall in a Kansas City auditorium – “KC auditorium reeking with odor for Republicans” – and… Continue reading #OTD 28 October – Wilson and the other Hughes
#OTD 13 October
We have things in common because we are different and language is no different. A common feature of languages is that they divide, with varying degrees of formality, into a high and a low. The high is usually the language of the priest and the lawyer; its written form tends to the formal and is… Continue reading #OTD 13 October
#OTD 12 October
While English is the most spoken language, Spanish is fourth behind Mandarin and Hindi. Italian is ranked around 21. As every American schoolchild knows, in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, making landfall on 12 October on San Salvador in the Caribbean. It is Columbus Day or a cognate for the US and for many… Continue reading #OTD 12 October
#OTD 11 October
Division among the three Abrahamic beliefs has riddled much of European and Asian history. Alongside this divisions are the necessarily parochial but still huge divides within each belief. Western Christians may be aware of the Sunni and Shia systems of Islam and of the debates between the Orthodox and the Reform Jew; others may not… Continue reading #OTD 11 October
#OTD 10 October
10 October 1911 is a key day of the 20th century; on that day, the Wuchang Uprising against the Qing took place; from it sprang the Xinhai Revolution that overthrew the imperial dynasty; and from that sprang the Republic of China. It is here that things become somewhat political. The People’s Republic of China, that… Continue reading #OTD 10 October
#OTD 9 October
For good reasons both historical and geographical, the US and Russia have had some interest in the nations of Europe’s deep north. 9 October is Leif Erikson Day in the US; in the words of President Biden’s proclamation for the 2021 celebration: The voyage of Leif Erikson and his valiant crew — bold explorers from… Continue reading #OTD 9 October
#OTD 8 October
Irish Catholics settled as readily in Chicago as anywhere else in the nineteenth century, and met as readily the same prejudice. Come 8 October 1871, the Great Chicago Fire killed up to 300 and razed about 9 square kilometres. Drought and strong winds played their part, but the real mystery was and remains the initial… Continue reading #OTD 8 October
#OTD 7 October
The Republic of Venice was a sovereign state for over a thousand years, a maritime empire whose end only came with the opening of new trade routes and a New World. On 7 October 1403, a Venetian fleet defeated the then French controlled Genoese at the Battle of Modon, the Peloponnesian town now known as… Continue reading #OTD 7 October