Browsing: Politics

A Brief History This article provides a table of contents and timeline or sorts for History and Headlines’ editor Beth Michaels’ series of counterfactuals concerning the wives of King Henry VIII of England in which she takes a less-than-conventional approach and highlights aspects from their lives about which even Tudor enthusiasts may not have thought. Digging Deeper Introduction: A Timeline of Tudor Britain Wife no. 1: Could Catherine of Aragon have Lied? Wife no. 2: What if Anne Boleyn Had Slept with Henry VIII? Wife no. 3: What if Jane Seymour Had Survived? Wife no. 4: What if Anne of Cleves Had Been Beautiful? Wife no. 5:…

A Brief History On June 22, 1990, Checkpoint Charlie, the best known crossing point between Soviet-occupied East Germany to Western-occupied West Germany was torn down, a sign that the Cold War that had threatened the world with nuclear annihilation since 1947 was drawing to an end.  Here we list 10 prominent symbols or icons that are closely associated with this time period.  (Honorable mention to the AK-47 and the M-16 assault rifles.) Digging Deeper 10. MiG-15 and F-86.  These are the best of the early jets from both sides that faced off during the Korean War; the fierce debate over which was the…

A Brief History On June 11, 2015, President Obama was in the strange position of having a trade agreement he and many congressional Republicans supported shot down in a vote by members of his own party. Digging Deeper The “Pacific Rim” trade treaty endorsed by the President would involve Canada and 11 other countries in freer trade with the US.  Wary of another NAFTA trade fiasco where such a treaty cost American jobs, many Democrats opposed the agreement, as did enough Republicans to deal the President a defeat.  The President must now go back to negotiating a revised deal if…

A Brief History On May 27, 2015, in a surprising move, the overwhelming Republican majority in the Nebraska State Legislature joined with Democrats to overturn the Governor’s veto of the bill making Nebraska the 19th state (plus Washington, DC) to outlaw the death penalty. Digging Deeper The vote was 30-19.  The governor vowed to execute the 10 inmates still on death row. Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Should capital punishment be abolished? If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on…

A Brief History In early 2015, a new book made the fantastic claim that Henry VIII nearly divorced his sixth and final wife to take on a seventh one!  In Henry VIII’s Last Love by David Baldwin, it is asserted that Henry was planning to divorce Catherine Parr to marry another widow, Catherine Willoughby. Digging Deeper Contrary to what one may assume, however, the title of this article does not refer to Catherine Willoughby but to Queen Catherine Parr herself. “What?!” you might ask yourself in confusion, “how could this wife be forgotten, especially since she is always portrayed in…