Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On December 8, 2022, we take the opportunity to review a new book by Stephen Dando-Collins, an author we have become familiar with through previous reviews.  This latest work, Rebels Against Rome, sub-titled 400 Years of Rebellions against the Rule of Rome, is another winner in our estimation, excellently written in a manner easy and pleasing for academics and casual readers of history alike. Digging Deeper Dando-Collins, an Australian, does not get bogged down in incessant citing of sources and references often found in more academic treatments, instead relying on end notes for citations, a method we…

A Brief History On December 2, 1954, the United States and the Republic of China, known to us today more familiarly as “Taiwan,” signed a mutual defense treaty that was really just the US promising to ensure the integrity of the island of Taiwan which claimed to be the “legitimate” government of China against any invasion or aggression from mainland/Communist China or perhaps the USSR. Digging Deeper A Cold War arrangement, this treaty became obsolete because of a change in the relationship between the US and Communist China during the 1970s and by 1980 the treaty was nullified.  The treaty…

A Brief History On November 7, 921, the Treaty of Bonn was signed by two Frankish kings, Charles the Simple and Henry the Fowler.  Once more, as we have noted in other articles, kings and other leaders have had some pretty goofy names. Digging Deeper Henry got his moniker, “The Fowler,” because of his affinity for hunting birds, and was said to be fixing his bird catching nets when a messenger found him to tell him he had become King of East Francia.  The other party to this Germanic treaty was King Charles III of West Francia, known better as Charles…

A Brief History On November 6, 963, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I called a council in Rome to depose the current Pope, John XII, on charges of leading an armed rebellion against Otto, as well as conducting his secular affairs in a corrupt and immoral manner. Digging Deeper Pope John XII was born in Rome to a rich and powerful family, and in what would seem strange today, became Pope when he was either in his late teens or early twenties!  In a time when the Pope was expected to rule as a secular leader as well as providing spiritual…

A Brief History On November 5, 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to his third term as US President, and would win yet another presidential election in 1944, ending up serving a record 12+ years as US President.  Some other nations have had much longer serving heads of state or government of various titles, and here we list a few that exceeded our own FDR in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Digging Deeper Queen Elizabeth II of the UK, 1952-2022 Hirohito of Japan, 1926-1989 Fidel Castro of Cuba, 1959-2008 Malietoa Tanumafili II of Samoa, 1962-2007 Josef Stalin of the USSR,…