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Monday, 31 March 2014
Sunday, 30 March 2014
It was a solemn occasion for the Spanish Royal Family last week as they paid their respects to the late prime minister Adolfo Suarez who died on Sunday at the age of 81. Suarez was the first prime minister after the death of long-time Chief of State Francisco Franco and presided over the Spanish transition from dictatorship to constitutional monarchy. Suarez was the son of a republican but became a high-placed figure in the Franco regime and the...
Thursday, 27 March 2014
The trouble with describing, in a short and easy to understand way, the government of the Kingdom of France comes with the fact that the Kingdom of France lasted for almost a thousand years and, obviously, there were a great many changes in government during all of that time. That, in itself, puts the lie to the republican misconception that France under the monarchy (or any country under any monarchy) knew nothing but stagnation. On the contrary,...
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
In the early eighteenth century, the Kingdom of Sweden dominated the scene in Europe and that was thanks entirely to the military genius and the astounding audacity of King Charles XII, the monarch who earned the nickname of “the last Viking”. He was born on June 17, 1682 in Stockholm, the only surviving son of King Charles XI and, during his youth, was given a superb education in both the civil and military spheres. He also learned his trade alongside...
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
WHY?!?! This drives me up the wall! Why am I constantly being told that I am crazy, deranged or at least hopelessly “out of date” whenever I talk about the threat of communism today? “Get with the times”, they say or, “the Cold War is over” they say. As if the Berlin Wall coming down was the death of Marxism altogether everywhere in the world! Yes, it is true, the “Iron Curtain” came down in Europe but many of the same people were in the communist...
Monday, 24 March 2014
Sunday, 23 March 2014
Starting in the United Kingdom, last week TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge handed out shamrocks to the First Battalion, Irish Guards on St Patrick’s Day, which is a long-standing tradition. Later in the week the couple made a £5,000 donation to flood victims and Prince William knighted the doctor who delivered little Prince George. The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall opened a children’s hospital and later visited Kent and East Sussex...
Thursday, 20 March 2014
The Kingdom of Belgium has had an impact on the world far out of proportion to its size and it has a long history of association with Texas. The Kingdom of Belgium was among the first powers to recognize the independence of the Republic of Texas but Belgians had been involved in Texas history even back in the colonial period. Much of the exploration of the New World was driven by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was also King Carlos I of Spain...
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
As this is the anniversary year of the start of the First World War, it is sure to be the topic of much conversation in 2014. Doubtless, as has already been the case here, there will be a great deal of debate over who was responsible for the war, who caused it, what set it off and how terrible the consequences were. This article will not go into any of those issues as they have been covered here in the past (see the archives). However, one can sometimes...
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Colonial empires in general are quite controversial these days and tend to be viewed in a negative light. Most people, because of how they were educated, accept gross over-simplifications and generalizations and, to a large extent, simply issue blanket condemnations of colonialism as it existed in the past (few speak of the more hidden economic colonialism going on today). However, none are probably more criticized for their colonial past than the...
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