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The Russians had checked it in the East, but in the West the expansion of Napoleon Bonaparte’s empire was far from over.
In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte wrapped up the short-lived French Republic, crowned himself Emperor of the French, and set about conquering Europe. However, failure to invade Moscow in 1812 was the first sign of vulnerability, and on June 18, 1815, his dream was ended by allied forces commanded by the Duke of Wellington.
Posted February 3 2020
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Gregory Rasputin is tricked into attending a dissolute Moscow soirée, and shares his sadness with Englishman Gerard Shelley.
One evening in April 1915, scandal-plagued holy man Gregory Rasputin (1864-1916), a close friend of Empress Alexandra, answered the invitation of pretty, young Marya Mlozov to visit her in Moscow. He was expecting to meet soldiers wounded in the Great War, but stumbled instead into a decidedly bohemian party in full swing. After disappointing Marya by shunning every temptation she put his way, he walked home with Gerard Shelley a picture of dejection.
Posted February 1 2020
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Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Java, urged London to bypass our European partners and trade directly with Japan.
On February 13, 1814, Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) in Java wrote to Lord Minto, former Governor-General of India, urging London to pursue a more vigorous trade policy with Japan. Previous trade links had employed Dutch agents, but Raffles believed that Britain would do better by trading directly rather than through European partners.
Posted January 28 2020
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A. A. Milne warns that marketing cricket to people who don’t like the game must not spoil it for those who do.
Even in the days of Jack Hobbs and Wilfred Rhodes people were talking about the need to ‘brighten up’ the game of cricket, much as they do today. Writing shortly after the end of the Great War, ardent cricket fan A. A. Milne (of Winnie-the-Pooh fame) just wanted his beloved game back.
Posted January 26 2020
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From the grateful solitude of his library in the Dordogne, Michel de Montaigne reflects on the companionship of his cat.
In 1571, aged 38, busy lawyer and courtier Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) retired to the library of his residence in the Dordogne and began writing essays on a wide range of subjects. His solitude was dear to him and his wife Françoise and daughter Léonore let him have it; but he did not spend it entirely alone.
Posted January 25 2020
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The Gallipoli landings in 1915 did not achieve the Admiralty’s goals, but for John Masefield they remained one of the proudest moments of the Great War.
The Dardanelles Campaign of April-December 1915, during the Great War, is remembered especially for the Anzac and Indian troops who gave their lives on the Gallipoli Peninsula in western Turkey. Then as now it was regarded as a failure by many, but John Masefield took quite another view — of the campaign, and of failure itself.
Posted November 28 2019