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.

Colonial Revolutions

The European empires in the New World lasted in most cases for a little more than 300 years. By the early nineteenth century most European colonies had frown off their Old World masters and had became independent nations. All that remained of the great New World empires were Britain’s colony in Canada and a scattering of island colonies in the Caribbean Sea.

The first revolution by the thirteen British colonies resulted in the eventual formation of the United States. These colonies were chafing under rule by the Parliament in Britain with no American representation. They felt handicapped by British prohibitions on expanding west into Native American territories, and they disliked laws that gave advantages to British traders and shippers at the colonists’ expense. When revolution broke out, lead by General George Washington, the British were unable to win the war militarily, and made peace with France, Spain, and the Netherlands sided with the colonists.

The French occupation of Spain and Portugal in the early nineteenth century cut off those countries from their colonies in South America and set off the wars of independence. The success of these revolutions was assured when the United States stated its Monroe Doctrine, forbidding any power from further conquests or colony placement in the Americas, and Great Britain made it clear that it’s navy would not allow such action either.

England’s past Kings and Queens

House of Norman – 11^th Century

1066 – William the Conqueror

1087 – William Rufus (son of William)

House of Plantagenet – 12^th, 13^th & 14^th Century

1100 – Henry I (brother of William Rufus)

1135 – Stephen (nephew of Henry I)

1154 – Henry II (grandson of Henry I)

1189 – Richard I (third son of Henry II)

1199 – John (fifth son of Henry II)

1216 – Henry III (son of John)

1272 – Edward I (son of Henry III)

1307 – Edward II (son of Edward I)

1327 – Edward III (son of Edward II)

1377 – Richard II (grandson of Edward III, son of the Black Prince)

House of Lancaster – 14^th & 15^th Century

1399 – Henry IV (grandson of Edward III, son of John of Gaunt)

1413 – Henry V (son of Henry IV)

1422 – Henry VI (son of Henry V)

House of York – 15^th Century

1461 – Edward IV (youngest son of Edward III)

1483 – Richard III (uncle of Edward V)

*House of Tudor* – 15^th – 17^th Century

1485 – Henry VII (grandson of Henry V)

1509 – *Henry VIII* (son of Henry VII)

1547 – Edward VI (Henry’s son by Jane Seymour)

1553 – Mary I (Henry’s daughter by Katherine of Aragon)

1558 – *Elizabeth I* (Henry’s daughter by Anne Boleyn)

House of Stuart – 17^th Century

1603 – James I (great-great-grandson of Henry VII)

1625 – Charles I (second son of James)

1649 – The Commonwealth under the Cromwell rule

1660 – Charles II (oldest son of Charles I)

1685 – James II (brother of Charles I)

House of Orange-Nassau and Stuart – 17^th – 18^th Century

1689 – William of Orange (grandson of Charles I) and Mary II (daughter of James II)

1694 – William III – Ruled alone after death of Mary

1702 – Anne (sister of Mary)

House of Hanover – 18^th – 19^th Century

1714 – George I (great-grandson of James I)

1727 – George II (son of George I)

1760 – George III (grandson of George II)

1820 – George IV (son of George III)

1830 – William IV (brother of George IV)

1837 – Victoria (niece of William IV)

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – 20^th Century

1901 – Edward VII (son of Victoria and Albert)

House of Windsor – 20^th – 21^st Century

1910 – George V (second son of Edward VII)

1936 – Edward VIII (son of George V)

           – George VI (second son of George V)

1952 – Elizabeth II (daughter of George VI)       

20 – William V (grandson of Elizabeth II)

Places of Interest in Britain

London

The Tower of London

Constructed by William The Conqueror towards the end of 1066 and became a prison in 1100 until 1952, today the Tower adopts the name ‘Bloody Tower’, for the Tower has held many victims. Today the Tower is said to be the most haunted building in England. The ghost of Anne Boleyn, beheaded in 1536 for “treason” against Henry VIII allegedly haunts the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, where she is buried, and has been said to walk around the White Tower carrying her head under her arm.

Westminster Abbey

Constructed between the 13th and 16th centuries, Westminster Abbey also presents a unique pageant of British history – the shrine of St Edward the Confessor, the tombs of kings and queens, and countless memorials to the famous and the great. Since 1066 every king and queen have crowned in the Abbey. Along with some fabulous coronations, Westminster Abbey has held many funerals and glamorous royal weddings.

Buckingham Palace

The primary residence of Queen Elizabeth II and the most respected royal family, Buckingham Palace is undoubtedly one of the most famous building in Britain. The site where the Palace is today is all thanks to Henry VIII in 1531 which he used the open fields to entertain guests and for sports such as hunting. Before it was Buckingham Palace there were three houses on the site: Goring House in 1633; Arlington House in 1674 and Buckingham House in 1703. It became a palace and the official royal residence in 1837, with Queen Victoria being the first monarch to live in the Palace. The Buckingham Palace is the most beloved landmark for the British people.

More places to come…

Thanks to cnfle.com and flickr.com for photos.

Story of Titanic

Birth of a Great Lady

Construction of the RMS Titanic began on March 31, 1909 at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She was one of three large transatlantic liners commissioned at the time by the White Star Line and were intended to be the biggest and most luxurious ships ever built. On May 31, 1911, her hull was launched and the outfitting completed on March 31, 1912. Carrying the RMS (Royal Mail Service) title, she began her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912 at Southampton, England, bound for New York under the command of Captain Edward J. Smith.

A Fateful Maiden Voyage

After stops at Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland to pick up more passengers and mail, she continued towards New York with 2,077 people aboard. The first-class section boasted 324 passengers including some of the most prominent and wealthy people in the world. These names included industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim, U.S. presidential aide Archibald Butt, Macy’s department store owner Isidor Strauss and his wife Ide, journalist William Thomas Stead, silent film actress Dorothy Gibson and many others, including Thomas Andrews one of Harland & Wolff’s Managing Directors (and nephew of Harland & Wolff’s chairman William J. Pirrie) and White Star managing director J. Bruce Ismay. 277 second-class passengers, 708 third-class passengers, 885 crew members and 13 postal clerks and musicians filled cabins on the lower decks.

Tragedy in the Atlantic

At 11:40 PM on the freezing cold, calm and clear night of April 14, lookouts Reginald Lee and Fredrick Fleet spotted an iceberg directly in Titanic’s path. Captain Smith had received several iceberg warnings over the wireless the last few days, and altered her course slightly to the south, thereby stirring Titanic directly in the iceberg’s path, though now it was clear that the course had not been shifted enough, First Officer Murdoch immediately ordered a turn to starboard and then a stop on all engines. However, large ships like Titanic weren’t designed to turn rapidly, and she was not able to clear the iceberg so it scraped along the hull on the starboard side. 

After she stopped Captain Smith ordered an inspection below decks, and just before midnight it became apparent the Titanic would sink within two hours or more. Shortly after a distress call was sent out and lifeboats were readied. Many passengers were initially reluctant to leave Titanic, as she was alleged to be unsinkable. This reluctance was compounded by the “women and children first” policy that the crew were enforcing (men were generally allowed aboard lifeboats only as crew or oarsmen.) By the point that most of the lifeboats had left, the trim of Titanic became more pronounced and panic began to ensue. Sadly, Titanic only had 20 lifeboats – more than the British Board of Regulations called for at the time, yet with a total capacity of 1,178 persons – well below the number of people aboard. Due to the location of staircases on A through D decks that led directly to the Boat Deck, first- and second-class passengers found it easy to make it to the lifeboats, while the more isolated third-class passengers and sleeping crew members on the lower decks found access more difficult; this difficulty was added to by crew members waiting for instructions to let people from the lower decks go up to the Boat Deck. Moreover, compounding the tragedy, due to the ensuring confusion, not all of the lifeboats departed with a full complement of passengers. As an example, one of the boats designed to hold 40 people left the ship with only 12 aboard.

At 2:05 AM, all lifeboats save two had been launched and the entire bow was submerged. By 2:10 AM, the stern rose from the water (possibly after the keel broke apart amidships) and the Boat Deck sank up to the waterline. At this point, the large number of people still on the deck were scrambling towards the highest point afloat – the stern section. As the stern rose straight up in the air, the ship broke in two pieces, and the bow sank. This was followed a few seconds later, at 2:20 AM, by the stern, which descended vertically into the sea. In all, 1495 perished, many of dying of hypothermia in the freezing water after failing to reach a lifeboat. Among the victims were 123 first-class passengers, 159 second-class passengers, all the postmen and musicians, 673 crew members, and 527 third class passengers, many of whom were still below in the lower decks.

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD; I shall not what. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters; he restores my soul; he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death; I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff; they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen!!!

Psalm 23:1-6

And God shall wipe away all their tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Revelations 21:4

The Aftermath

Despite the fact that many of the lifeboats were well below capacity, only one returned to search for survivors, well after most people in the water had succumbed to the freezing temperatures; only five survivors were found with two eventually perishing in the lifeboat. The closest ship to respond to Titanic’s distress signal was the RMS Carpathia, which was 58 miles away at the time and took four hours to reach Titanic at daybreak. The Carpathia picked up the lifeboats with a total of 712 people and took them to New York, while the SS Californian, SS Virginian, and the SS Minia steamed to the site of the sinking to look for any additional survivors. None were found. Instead, they found light flotsam from the ship such as paper, pillows, and linens, plus scores of bodies floating in the frigid waters. Most of these were identified and taken to Nova Scotia for burial. The last survivor of the Titanic disaster was British resident Millvina Dean, who was two months old at the time of the sinking and who passed away in 2010 at the age of 98.

The Discovery

Due to an error in the initial distress report of the latitude and longitude of which the Titanic sank, the remains of the wreck remained lost for over seven decades as legends surrounding her grew in the popular consciousness. In 1985, explorers and oceanographers Jean-Louis Michel and Dr. Robert Ballad the wreck 22 miles from its originally reported location. Until this time, it was not known for certain if she broke in half; her discovery uncovered that fact as well as allowing for sonar studies that showed she did not suffer a large gash on her starboard side from the iceberg as originally believed, but instead suffered damage from the steel plates of the hull buckling, popping rivets, and separating along a narrow line from the effects of the sideswipe. In the decades since her discovery, most of the non-structural artifacts in the debris field and items lying loose on the hull have been removed from the wreck site by salvagers, primarily RMS Titanic Inc. (a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions Inc.), who were awarded salvor-in-possession of the wreck by a US District Court in 1994 and have kept the rights despite several court challenges since. Calls for Titanic’s preservation have been sounded since shortly after her discovery, but submersible tourism and salvage operations (which have experienced a significant jump since the release of the international blockbuster TITANIC in 1997) continue up to the present. Today the Titanic is being slowly eaten away by underwater bacteria called rustics.

Though that Titanic is not going to last much longer; she shall never be forgotten; she will go on. There are three things that will make sure of that: first, that tragic night; second, the film and third, the song.

The Titanic disaster was a story of heroes: Captain Smith, even though he made mistakes with the Titanic he made it up by sticking to his duty as captain. The wireless operators, Harold Bride and Jack Philips, sent distress calls all night, without breaks. The musicians,  I Salonisti, who continued to play as Titanic sank to try and instill a sense of calm. The postmen who tried to save the mail, unconcerned about themselves, unfortunately the water overwhelmed them. Molly Brown, helping people into a lifeboat, having no intention of getting in the boat. Thomas Andrews, assisting and advising passengers to lifeboats. The disaster was also a story of villains: J. Bruce Ismay, for making Titanic an idol then being a coward by climbing into a lifeboat. Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon, who were in the lifeboat with only 12 people, bribed the officers to row away from Titanic, despite being ordered to return to the ship to get more passengers. Fortunately, all these villains were highly criticized by the press.

The only explanation for this tragedy is that an object was once again used to test God and He had to teach people a lesson through nature’s wrath.

Thanks to Google for photos.