B-17 “Flying Fortress”

The Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” was a heavy bomber aircraft used by the  Unites States Army Air Corps during World War II. Equipped with four engines, numerous gun emplacements and a superior “flight ceiling”, the B-17 was the favourite bomber of the US Air Corps, despite its inferior range and bomb capacity to the B-24 Liberator, primarily because of its ability to sustain heavy damage and still brings its crew back home alive.

Initially used in risky daylight raids against targets in Germany, the B-17 sustained crippling casualties from the Luffwaffe fighters. As the war progressed and the Allies designed fighters capable of escorting the bombers into enemy territory, the B-17’s raids became more successful, doing crippling damage to German industry and cities.

Over 12,000 B-17s were constructed during World War II and approximately a third of them were lost in combat.

Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I of England

7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603

Gloriana; The Virgin Queen; Good Queen Bess

History

Elizabeth I was a remarkable woman living in a remarkable age. Beautiful, brilliant, and as tough as nails, she survived and indeed thrived, ruling in an era when most women were little more than chattel. The fifth and last monarch of the Tudor Dynasty and the only queen who actually ruled England.

Early Life

Born to King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, who her father had executed for failing to give him a male heir, Elizabeth’s early life was filled with danger. Growing up an unwanted daughter of an insane father who was destroying England’s ties to the Catholic Church and engaging in a civil war so that he could legally marry another woman (several other women, as it turned out), Elizabeth had to use all of her wits to survive. Elizabeth received an excellent education at the hands of various tutors, including the great scholars of the day. She was an outstanding student, and could speak five languages fluently.

When Henry VIII died, the throne passed to his young son, Edward VI. At fifteen Elizabeth was implicated in a plot to overthrow him. She came close to being executed, surviving only because she was able to convince her skeptical interrogators that she knew nothing of the plot.

When Edward VI died in 1553, Elizabeth’s older sister Mary assumed the throne. An ardent Catholic, Mary I was quite unpopular with a number of Protestant noblemen, who attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow her in 1554, Once again Elizabeth was implicated, but once again she talked her way out of execution. Mary I died in 1558, and at last Elizabeth was Queen.

Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth was an extraordinary ruler. She established the Protestant Church as the official Church of England. However, she attempted to stem the persecution of Catholics in England – at least as much as was possible when the Catholic nobility were actively plotting her demise. She also restored the debased currency of England, a step crucially necessary to restore the nation’s flagging finances.

Elizabeth used all of the tools available to her to achieve her goals. She carefully crafted an image for herself as the “Virgin Queen,” greatly increasing popularity. She received countless offers of marriage from nobility and indeed from kings across Europe. But she accepted none of them, instead using her unmarried state to control her friends and foes alike; if one faction got too strong, she could drive them back into line by suggesting that she was considering marrying someone from an opposing faction.

Patron of the Arts

Elizabeth was a great patron of the arts, particularly music and literature. She made England a centre of culture, where great artists like William Shakespeare flourished. During her reign the first English playhouse was built, followed shortly by others including Shakespeare’s Globe. And in 1574 weekday performances were made legal. An admirer of poetry, Elizabeth wrote a number of noteworthy poems herself.

Foreign Relations

Militarily, Catholic Spain was England’s greatest threat. Spain was the great continental power of the day, and its leader, King Philip, had upon more than one occasion expressed the intent of invading England. In 1588, building a huge armada to conquer the upstart nation. Elizabeth quickly organized the country’s navy to fend off the fleet, and by a combination of superior tactics, ship design, and some foul weather at just the right moment, they defeated the Spanish foe. England was not to be seriously threatened with invasion for about 400 years.

During Elizabeth’s reign England, France, Spain, and the Dutch all set up colonies in the New World. Elizabeth employed a large number of privateers to attack foreign ships and colonies, as did most other nations. Spain and its New World wealth remained the privateers’ favourite targets.

Overall, with the exception of her lucky triumph over the Spanish Armada, Elizabeth was not a successful war leader. She oversaw various half-baked military incursions into Ireland, France and the Netherlands, none of which redounded to her credit.

Judgement of History

Elizabeth died in 1603, having ruled 45 years. Although in her later years military and economic reversals had dimmed her luster to the point that many in England were relieved that she finally passed on, history acknowledges that she left her country in a much better state than when she came to power. Her great skills were an unerring survival instinct and flair for self-promotion, personal charisma, and toughness matching that of the strongest rulers in history. No better words can serve to describe her than her own: “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.”

A quote by Pope Sixtus V

“She is only a woman, only mistress of half an island, and yet she makes herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, By all.”

Poem by Queen Elizabeth I

THE DOUBT OF FUTURE FOES

The doubt of future foes exiles my present joy,

And wit me warns to shun such snares as threaten mine annoy;

For falsehood now doth flow, and subjects’ faith doth ebb,

Which should not be if reason ruled or wisdom weaved the web.

But clouds of joy untried do cloak aspiring minds,

Which turn to rain of late repent by changed course of winds.

The top of hope supposed, the root of rue shall be,

And fruitless all their grafted guile, as shortly ye shall see.

The dazzled eyes with pride, which great ambition blinds,

shall be unsealed by worthy wights whose foresight falsehood finds.

The daughter of debate that discord aye doth sow

Shall reap no gain where former rule still peace hath taught to know.

No foreign banished wight shall anchor in this port;

Our realm brooks not seditious sects, let them elsewhere resort.

My rusty sword through rest shall first his edge employ

To poll their tops that seek such change or gape for future joy.

Ship of the Line

Ships of the line were the largest and most powerful wooden sailing vessels ever built. They formed the backbone of Europe’s great navies from the 17th to the mid-19th centuries. Ships of the line were named for the classic formation that these ships fought in. In battle, each side’s ships would approach the enemy in a line, as the opposing ships passed, each would let off a thundering broadside of cannon fire, doing horrific damage to the vessels and to those aboard her. Victory usually went to the side with the most cannon and the best-trained sailors. The English were masters at this form of warfare, and their ships of the line dominated the world’s oceans for more than a century.

English Longbowman

The English longbow developed during the 12th century, as the English were fighting to conquer Wales. The longbow was made from yew or elm, and was 5 to 7 feet in height (depending upon the height and strength of the user). The longbow was extremely difficult to master, but well-trained English Longbowmen could shoot farther, faster and more accurately than the crossbowmen of the day. But this did require years of training. As the country’s population grew the English wilderness was transformed into farmland. Opportunities for hunting disappeared and the English yeomen became less proficient with bow and arrow. This, more so even than the advent of gunpowder, led to the decline of the English longbow.

The Thirty Years War

Part of the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation was a series of wars that attempted to abolish Protestantism and restore the Catholic Church’s predominance. The most vicious of these was the Thirty Years War (1608-1648)’ fought mainly in Germany. While religious issues were the direct cause of the conflict, it evolved into a larger political struggle in which France and Sweden sought to reduce the strength of the Habsburg dynasty that ruled Austria. Eventually most of Europe was involved and Austria was forced into peace, while France and her allies threatened to take Prague, Munich, and Vienna.

Modern estimates are that the population of Germany declined by 20% during the Thirty Years War, in some regions the decline was 50% as entire villages disappeared. Long-term effects of the war were the establishment of Switzerland and the Dutch Republic, the emergence of France as the dominant land power of Europe, and the continued fractionalization of Germany that long delayed its unification into a state.

The Industrial Revolution

The second great human economic transformation after the rise of agriculture was the Industrial Revolution, which was basically the gradually conversion of handmade craftsman manufacturing to machine-made mass production. Industrial production required the grouping of labour, the creation of machines to do the work, and the availability of power sources to run the machines. These elements and several other factors came together first in Great Britain in the late eighteenth century, and then spread to the rest of Europe, North America, and eventually most of the world.

Historians generally point to the development of the steam engine as the spark that ignited the Industrial Revolution. This basic machine, powered by coal, could be placed anywhere and drive other machines, particularly at first powered looms for weaving. Very quickly the steam engine moved into other industries and then into transportation, where it increased the speed and efficiency of railroads, steamships, and communication.

The economic and social effects of industrialization were enormous, including rapid population growth due to increased efficiency in food production; capitalism as industry created profits but require great investment; social conflict between workers and industry owners; political change as democracy, socialism, and communism arose; scientific advance such as electricity and medicines, and increased lethality of war as conscription of mass armies and technologically advanced weapons took their toll.

The Fur Trade

Although North America was largely ignored by Europeans for a hundred years after its discovery, the area around Newfoundland was visited regularly by fishermen. These men often traded with natives, and the furs they brought back attracted a new sort of entrepreneur, the fur trader. Ships from France, Spain, England, and the Netherlands cruised the coast looking for native hunters willing to trade furs for knives and other goods. The French tried to monopolize the northern trade by placing outposts along the St. Lawrence River to intercept natives coming from the interior. The Dutch placed outposts at New Amsterdam and Albany on the Hudson for the same purpose. A beaver fur that could be obtained for a few tools and trinkets might sell for huge profits in Europe.

The demand for fur created intense rivalries on both the European and native sides. Wars were fought for control of the coasts, while native tribes fought over trapping grounds and the role of middlemen with the Europeans. As beaver populations were completely extinguished nearer the coasts, the traders and trappers had to push further inland. The French placed trading forts along the Great Lakes and eventually down the Mississippi River. The fur trade moved all the way to the Pacific Coast up rivers like the Missouri, and the Russians also sought sea otter furs.

The quest for furs was the critical factor in the early exploration and settlement of North America, but the industry had limited era of dominance. As colonies expanded in North America, changes in European tastes for hats, the growing scarcity of easily obtainable furs, and rising demand for other important resources (such as farmland, timber, and minerals) reduced the fur trade to a shadow of its former prominence.

The California Gold Rush

Gold was discovered in 1848 at Sutter’s Mill, near Sacramento, California. Far from a celebration, the discovery proved a disaster for John Sutter, who was more interested in cultivating his land. Once the word got out, waves of eager prospectors overland and by sea. Ships were abandoned in California ports as crews joined the rush. Many who made the trip were unprepared and some entrepreneurs became rich selling necessities along the westward trail or in the gold camps.

Most gold prospectors never became rich, barely finding enough gold to pay for their daily living expenses. Collectively, they were known as the 49ers. When the 49ers departed, they left behind a changed California. Mining companies owned and operated most of the productive mines. San Francisco, which had been a small port town, became a large, prosperous city. Prospectors traveled from boom town to boom town in their quest to strike it rich. The California Gold Rush was followed by similar gold strikes in New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, the Yukon, and Alaska.

Pirates!

From the late 1500s into the 1700s, the Caribbean Sea was a hunting ground for sea pirates that preyed on ships of Spain at first, but later of all nations with colonies and trading outposts in the area. The vast treasures of gold and silver, and other wealth that Spain began shipping back from the New World first caught the attention of these pirates. Many were officially sanctioned by nations at war with Spain, but during an era of slow communication and no effective international policing, the line between official and criminal piracy was indistinct.

Pirate crew came from all walks of life, but most were seamen who wanted a chance at real freedom and wealth. Many were escaped slaves or servants with nothing to go home to. Crews were usually very democratic, with the captain elected by the crew and subject to removal at any time. They preferred small, fast ships that could fight or flee as the occasion warranted. Their preferred method of attack was to board and fight hand-to-hand. They preyed on lightly armed merchant ships, but would occasionally attack a city or large warship if the shakes were high enough. They usually lack any sort of discipline, drank heavily, and most ended up dead at sea or on a gallows after a short but wild career.

At their peak, pirates controlled island towns that were havens for recruiting crews, selling captured merchandise, refitting ships, and spending their loot. Various nations turned a blind eye to piracy, so long as their own ships were not being taken. As the Caribbean became more settled and more economically important, pirates gradually disappeared as they were hunted down by warships and their bases were taken.

Napoleonic Warfare

Warfare during the age of Napoleon was defined by several parameters: the effective range of a smoothbore musket (50-100 yards); the effective range of a cannon ball (1,000 yards); the speed of marching men and charging horses; the morale, discipline, and training of men required to stand in lines or march in columns under fire; and the ability of commanders to inspire troops and deploy them effectively.

The basic problem was how to take a position held be the enemy and the basic answer was to March at them in a dense column of infantry carrying muskets fitted with bayonets. If the column had the will and strength to march up to the enemy and keep coming, the defender would normally break a withdraw, conceding victory. Cannons fired iron balls at both defenders and marching columns, attempting to weaken morale before the moment of contact. Infantry in defensive lines fired volleys at the columns to kill officers and men, and weaken the attacker’s morale. Skirmishers out front of both sides tried to do the same. Cavalry hovered on the wings to charge in against disorganized troops and ride them down.

For most of the Napoleonic era France did everything better than its opponents. It’s cannon were the best served; its infantry had the best morale and marched faster, and its columns were rarely stopped; its cavalry was the most audacious; and its leaders were the most effective in battlefield maneuvers. By 1813, however, the other European powers had learned a great deal, had found competent leader of their own, and had a manpower advantage that was wearing down the French. At Waterloo in 1815, British lines of volley firing infantry stopped the French massed columns while the Prussian columns hit the French flank; together they brought the Napoleonic era to an end.