Winston Churchill Born

Winston S. Churchill
(1874-1965)

Sir Winston Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, 1874 at Blenheim Palace, the home built for his famous ancestor the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill, who led an allied victory against the French at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. As the future Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill would lead his nation to win even greater battles, first in the Battle of Britain and later in the ultimate defeat of Germany and Japan in World War II.

Winston Churchill was a soldier, journalist, writer, politician, historian and even an artist. A brilliant orator and a man of genius, he made many grave mistakes in his career but he was instrumental in keeping Great Britain and its Empire in the fight against Hitler's Germany in the early years of the Second World War when a Nazi victory seemed certain. When the United States finally declared war against the Axis powers (Germany, Japan, Italy) in December of 1941 Churchill knew that although the fighting was far from over, the war was all but won.

Throughout his life Churchill was a fervent supporter of the British Empire. As a soldier and a journalist he fought on the North-West frontier of India and took part in the Sudan expedition that culminated in the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. He was taken prisoner in the Boer War and escaped to write about his exploits. During the First World War he fought again as an officer on the Western Front.

Following in his fathers footsteps, Lord Randolph Churchill, he became a member of Parliament. He was First Lord of the Admiralty in both World Wars before becoming Prime Minister in 1940. He served as Prime Minister from 1940-1945 and again in 1951-1955.

Upon his death in 1965, Sir Winston S. Churchill was given an official state funeral, an honor generally reserved for royalty in Great Britain.

Battle of Waterloo

Battle of Waterloo

This is the 195th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. On Sunday 18 June 1815, near the town of Waterloo, in what is now Belgium, a coalition of British, Dutch and German forces under British commander Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington and his ally Marshall Blucher commanding a Prussian army, combined together to defeat the Emperor Napoleon and his French Imperial Army.

The Battle of Waterloo, along with the Battle of Gettysburg from the American Civil War, are perhaps the two most debated and written about battles in world history. As the Duke of Wellington aptly described the battle, it was "a near run thing".

The allied army was able to hold against severe French assaults throughout a long day giving time for the Prussian forces to join them in the late afternoon. The order for an army-wide advance was then given and the ranks of the French Grande Armee collapsed and either surrendered or fled from the field, only to be chased by vengeful Prussian soldiers and cavalry. The exception to this general rout was Napoleon's Old Guard which stubbornly retired from (and died on) the field with honor.

Napoleon surrendered to his enemies and spent his last days in captivity on the island of St. Helena. He died in 1821. The "Iron Duke" was showered with honors, ultimately serving as both the Prime Minister of England and at the time of his death in 1852 was Commander-in-Chief of the British Army.

Stamp Act Passes in Parliament

The Stamp Act

The Stamp Act was passed in the British Parliament in London on this date in 1765. This bill was designed to help pay for the huge debt created by the recently concluded Seven Years War (the French and Indian War in North America) by taxing the American Colonies. The act required that all legal documents, legal licenses, broadsides, newspapers, decks of playing cards, etc. , printed in the Colonies had to have a special embossed stamp. The stamped papers were to be sold by the British Colonial authorities with the tax varying according to the particular item.

The passage of this bill created a huge protest in the colonies, which surprised the members of Parliament and the King's cabinet. (A similar stamp act had already gone into effect in England). The colonists were used to paying special taxes, but expected the taxes to be levied by their own elected or appointed legislatures and Governors. This act was viewed as "taxation without representation" and many throughout the Colonies called for its immediate repeal. The Stamp Act was the beginning of the radicalization of America and its first movements towards independence.

The War of the Roses

The War of the Roses (1445-1485) was a bitter civil war fought between the House's (noble families) of Lancaster and of York, who were each contending to place their own heirs on the throne of England. Supporters of the House of Lancaster wore red roses on their livery, while the House of York wore white roses.

On 22 August 1485 in the Battle of Bosworth Field King Richard III of the House of York was killed, effectively ending the War of the Roses. (This event was the inspiration of Shakespeare's famous lines from Richard III, "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"). The victor of the battle Henry Tudor was crowned Henry VII, King of England. The Tudor dynasty took as its symbol a red rose with a white center. The Tudors, which included King Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, ruled England for 118 years and set the nation on the path to become a great naval and world power.

Boy Scouts of America Founded

On this date in 1910 the Boy Scouts of America was founded. The BSA is based on the British Scouting organization founded in 1907 by General Robert Baden-Powell, who won fame in the Boer War. According to a famous story, William D. Boyce of Chicago visited London and had been given some aid and directions by a British Scout. This made such an impression on him that upon his return to the U.S. he decided to start an American version of the youth group.

The Boy Scouts of America presently has a membership of 4 million. Many years ago I was a member of a Boy Scout troop, an experience from which I have a lot of great memories. To this day I can still recite from memory the Boy Scout Law: "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent."

A Night To Remember

RMS Titanic

The last survivor of the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Titanic on 14-15 April 1912, Elizabeth Gladys Milvina Dean died on Sunday at the age of 97. Sunday happened to be the anniversary of the launching of the famous steamship in 1911. (Story on Elizabeth Dean here.) Struck by an iceberg in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City, over 1,500 passengers lost their lives when the ship sank in less than three hours.

According to the popular lore of the time, the Titanic was supposedly unsinkable. The catastrophe has been blamed on the negligence of the Captain, traveling at a speeds that was unsafe given the time of year and conditions and even the faulty manufacture of the ships steel and rivets. The loss of life was greatly increased due to a lack of a sufficient number of lifeboats onboard the Titanic.

2008 Poppies Appeal

Poppies amidst headstones
The Royal British Legion has announced the start of its 2008 Poppies Appeal. This year the campaign begins in Basra, Iraq - the first time it has been launched in a war zone. The Legion sells red poppies in order to provide services for former and current members of the British military. This years theme puts it simply: "Serving those who serve".

The inspiration for selling red poppies comes from the poem "In Flanders Field" written by Major John McCrae, a doctor in the Royal Canadian Army, shortly after the battle of Ypres. Poppies were one of the few flowers to grow on the churned up earth of the World War I battlefield in Western Europe. Poppies are also associated with morphine, an opiate, which was used both to ease the pain of and to put wounded soldiers to sleep. "In Flanders Field" is arguably one of the most famous poems to come out of any war.


In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved,
and now we lie in Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Baseball invented in England

British Baseball
(Olympic Team)

It was announced on Thursday that Americas great contribution to the world of sports and its "favorite pastime", the game of Baseball, was apparently invented in England. A diary by a Surrey solicitor that was recently found in a tool shed (how English is that?) has a 1755 entry that states the writer spent some time "playing at" the game of "Base Ball". This was followed by the drinking of Tea and a game of Cricket. (The game of Cricket was played in Colonial America but never achieved the long-lasting popularity it has in England).

The entry was made on the Monday after Easter, a Holiday in England and mentions that the game of "Base Ball" included women players. The solicitor, William Bray, was already well-known to the Surrey History Centre as a diarist and local historian when the diary containing the entry was turned over to them.

Prior to this it was believed Baseball was invented in the U.S. in the 1790's. (Although I seem to remember references to Baseball being played in America in the 1770's). With the addition of Baseball to the list of sports/pastimes invented in Great Britain the list has become an impressive one. Golf, Football (Soccer), Rugby, Cricket, Fly Fishing, Tennis and Badminton were all invented in the British Isles. Major League Baseball has been informed of this news.

The Dogs of War

Julius Caesar
by William Shakespeare

Mark Antony's famous line, "Cry Havoc and let loose the Dogs of War," in Shakespeare's play Julius Casar, was his promise to take revenge upon the conspirators who assassinated Caesar. He knew very well that this would lead to a bloody civil war of Roman against Roman. His term Dogs of War, which formerly simply meant soldier, has changed somewhat over the years. Today it is a term often used for mercenaries.

The hiring of mercenaries has been a part of statecraft for thousands of years. While it was usually preferable to use native soldiers, rulers in the past were often forced to hire foreign born troops to augment their armies. The ancient Greeks hired themselves out to the Persians, the men of Genoa were known for their ability with crossbows and the Swiss fought in many of Europe's wars under other flags.

Upon the outbreak of hostilities in his American colonies King George III was faced with the immediate prospect of needing more troops. Rebuffed in his efforts to hire Russian soldiers from Catherine the Great, King George turned to the divided German states for his needs. The German Princes were more than willing to rent out their native sons for currency. Most of the soldiers came from Hesse-Kassal, which led to the German troops being referred to as Hessian's, but soldiers from Brunswick and other states were also hired.

Also during the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette and Baron von Steuben, along with many others, took up the cause of freedom and fought the British. Ireland's Wild Geese, Irish soldiers fighting under foreign flags, made a name for themselves throughout the world. During the Spanish Civil War many idealists fought against Franco's regime, while Nazi Germany sent troops, including the Condor Legion, to support Franco. Frances Foreign Legion, whose enlisted ranks are made up solely of foreign born soldiers, has been making history since 1831. Finally Jews from all over the world have fought for Israel since its creation in 1948.

Under the Geneva Convention and according to the laws of many nations, a mercenary is someone who hires themselves out as a soldier and is paid more than the common soldiers whose army he has joined. This is to differentiate a mercenary from someone who has joined a foreign army to fight for a cause he believes in, or quite often, because soldiering is the only trade he knows.

In the past being a mercenary, or as he is sometimes referred to, a soldier of fortune, was considered an honorable profession. Myles Standish in his hiring by the Pilgrims, the Ronin of feudal Japan, the hired soldiers fighting for Biafra's independence, were all mercenaries. They all fulfilled a need to provide military expertise, or perhaps just a sword, in a dangerous world. Today's world is not really all that different. It is perhaps a much more dangerous world in that today many choose to believe that the world no longer needs mercenaries, or for that matter, soldiers.

China wins the Gold - 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics
Beijing, China

With the 2008 Summer Olympic Games ending today, maybe it is premature to say so, but I think people will realize that this Summer Olympics was a harbinger of the world to come. China spent years preparing to host this event and not just in the time, money and effort it took to build the needed facilities, to plan and choreograph the opening and closing ceremonies, provide the necessary security and make all of the other arrangements. China also put the power of its central government behind finding and training the athletes, some of them as young as six, needed to perform well at these games.

All of the effort paid off in gold. China won 51 gold medals versus its nearest competitor, the U.S., which won a total of 36. The next closest competitors were Russia with 23 gold medals and Great Britain with 19. In total China won 100 medals, the U.S. won more with 110. But it is naturally the gold medals that everyone focuses on.

I also find the listing of these top four winning nations to be significant. I do not think it is coincidental that these particular nations are among the most powerful countries in the world. The CIA World Factbook lists the U.S. has having the 2nd largest GDP (behind the E.U.), China has the third, Great Britain the seventh and Russia the eight largest GDP. All four nations have a strong national identity and large military assets.

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games attracted a huge worldwide audience and provided China with a great opportunity to showcase itself has a emerging world power. The U.S. may be the worlds sole superpower, but I think in this century China will challenge that role and seek co-equal status.

Great Britain dominates Olympics - Summer of 1908

1908 Summer Olympics
White City Stadium
London, England

This week, with the XXIX Summer Olympics taking place in Beijing, China I thought I might take a look back to a hundred years ago to the 1908 Summer Olympics. Held at the newly built White City Stadium in London the IV Olympiad was originally scheduled to take place in Rome. When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 1906, it became necessary to find a new location and London, England was chosen.

The 1908 Summer Olympics are considered the most controversial of the modern era but from today's perspective much of the controversy seems, to me at least, to be "tempests in a teapot".

What I find to be most interesting, however, about those games are a couple of things. First of all is the absolute dominance of Great Britain in these Olympics. Great Britain won an amazing total of 146 gold (56), silver (51) and bronze (39) medals. Its nearest competitor, the U.S., won a total of 47 (23 gold). Fielding athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, Great Britain decisively won more medals than the rest of the competition, much of which was drawn from more populated nations. Being the host nation is perhaps an advantage to winning in the Olympics, but certainly not to this degree of success.

Looking at the list of participants in the games is also interesting. This Olympics could have been called the "Games of Empires". Starting with the host nation, England, the center of the British Empire, there were 21 other nations participating. Included among those nations are France (French Empire), Germany (German Empire), Turkey (Ottoman Empire), Austria (Austrian-Hungarian Empire) and Russia (Russian Empire). The only Empires of the time that are missing from this list, that I know of, are the Chinese and Japanese Empires.

This was the last days of Empire for Germany, Turkey, Austria and Russia. The defeat of the Central Powers in World War One in 1918 and the Russian Revolution of 1917 spelled the end of their Empires. The last Chinese Emperor was deposed in 1912 and Japan lost its Empire at the end of World War II in 1945. France and Great Britain gave up their dreams of Empire in the aftermath of World War II when their former colonies gained their own independence.

In 1908, during those Summer Olympics, the British Empire was at its peak. The nightmare of the world war that was to break out in August of 1914 was still in the unseen future. What a different world that must have been. How different a world it would be if that "War to end all Wars" had never taken place.