Category: historical

bookmark_borderWhy didn’t Portugal join the allies?

Posted on by Vasco de Sousa

I was going to title this, “sympathy for the devil,” after reading all the condolences for a recently departed head of state. Countries who strongly condemned Iran’s regime have been lamenting the loss of that country’s president, and it reminds me of a similar incident almost eighty years ago. (It happened oong before I was born, but I read about it, maybe eight years ago.)

I don’t know as much about Iran as I do Portugal. I have read about the protests, the stories of prison, including “white torture”, the stories of repression, the stories of capitivity, and the accusations of terrorism.

Now, with the condolences sent by the European Union and Nato for the death of the president of Iran, can we really say that mere condolences show any alliance or aligned ideals?

Some of the accusations have been made against various opposing regimes. There was the sinking of a tanker that is sometimes blamed on Gadaffi, sometimes on the Iranian regime, sometimes perhaps even on MEK or some other organisation entirely. The accusations can sound like the angry kid who lost his pen and blames as many people as he can find rather than looking in his bag. But even among Iranians, you might hear things.

Continue reading “Why didn’t Portugal join the allies?”

bookmark_borderArtificial Stupidity, a threat to history?

Posted on by Vasco de Sousa

You might not know much about Chester A Arthur, one of the more obscure presidents of the USA. But if you are a history nut, or you even read a long article about the guy, then you probably know more than the AI does.

A lot of articles about Artificial Intelligence talk about how computer intelligence is a threat to writers (which may include historians). After a test drive of one popular engine, I do not feel the least bit intimidated by the engine’s “intelligence.” The bigger threat might be its popularity, and the possible impact it has on finding the facts.

Continue reading “Artificial Stupidity, a threat to history?”

bookmark_borderBeaumarchais and the first writers’ strike

Posted on by Vasco de Sousa

You may have heard of Beaumarchais. He was a watchmaker, a publisher of Voltaire’s works, a gun runner for the rebels in the American Revolution, but most notably a playwright of works such as The Barber of Seville (which Mozart adapted into an opera.)

In Beaumarchais’s time, writers were not well paid. The theatres of Paris held a kind of monopoly, or cartel.  They colluded together to keep writers’ fees down.

The Barber of Seville was one of the hits of 1775 and it continued bringing in audiences after that.  But, despite the money that the theatres got from Beaumarchais’s popular play, his remuneration wasn’t very high.

So, in 1777, Beaumarchais led the other French writers in a strike. If they didn’t get paid more for their successful plays, they wouldn’t write at all.

This led to a scarcity of plays and forced theatre owners into negotiations.

Theatre owners now paid royalties, instead of just a flat fee for plays.

bookmark_borderThe use of Flashback in Amazing Grace

Posted on by Vasco de Sousa

Amazing Grace (dir. Michael Apted, written by Steven Knight) seems to be the first major film to depict the life and activism of Wilfred Wilberforce. I was reluctant to write any review because I’m not sure of the historical accuracy of Wilberforce’s life. However, from a creative point of view, I find the use of flashbacks interesting.

Many biopics, from made-for-tv movies to big-budget blockbusters, use flashbacks as a creative device. At one extreme you have The Iron Lady, where almost every other scene is the elderly Thatcher remembering her rise and fall. Then there’s the TV movie like Coco Chanel, where flashbacks are used intermittently to show a character still in her prime remembering how she got where she was while preparing a show.

The classic, however, is a film like Gandhi (Dir: David Attenborough, writer: John Briley, 1982), where we start at the death of the main character, then tell the story in sequence, introducing the protagonist just before that fateful first decision is made. But, all these devices open a story toward the end of the story, not in the middle. Continue reading “The use of Flashback in Amazing Grace”

bookmark_borderIt takes more than 100 days

Posted on by Vasco de Sousa

2 years ago, I witnessed the re-enactment of the battle of Waterloo.  Thousands of talented volunteers from around the world walked through the footsteps of Napoleon, Wellington, Blücher, and their allies and armies.

Although we didn’t have the best seats on the field, it was wonderful that so many dedicated re-enactors, or living historians, brought history to life for us.  If you missed it, you should have been there. Continue reading “It takes more than 100 days”

bookmark_borderThe papers were wrong! Clinton is the loser!

Posted on by Chinny McGringo

In a letter to the British press, an American Federalist was sure of victory over Madison’s “Democrats.”

“De Witt Clinton will be president; Mr Monroe will go out; his successor is not named.”

He continued that “our secretary of treasury is going down as fast as possible. His budget will, no doubt, be the laughing stock of all foreign nations, as well as this.”

Continue reading “The papers were wrong! Clinton is the loser!”

bookmark_borderHappy 104th Father’s Day

Posted on by Chinny McGringo

“A mischievous youngster named Wood
Declared that he wouldn’t be good
Till his father one day
With a shingle they say[…]”

Fill in the last line.

Back in 1910, the Los Angeles Herald held a contest to finish that limerick.  Before you read the results, I’d challenge you to finish it yourself.

The winning boy’s last line was given by a young man in Inglewood [sic] Colorado named Milton Basham.

“Interviewed him since then has stood.”

Hmm.  They say taste is fickle.

The winners of the girls finished the limerick with the following line:

“Effected a change in his mood.”

At least the fits the rhythm.
Some of the funnier poems didn’t get any prizes, but had a few honorable mentions.  Ruby May Hill didn’t even get an honorable mention for hers.

“Spanked him as hard as he could.”

Sure, that’s not the ideal father, but it’s funny and it fits the rhythm.

Esther Audrey Irene Varley was thinking along the same lines as Miss Hill when she added:

“Whipped him as hard as he could.”

Oh dear, those girls really want poor Wood to be punished for being naughty.

Ester seemed to have another entry (unless there were two girls entering from that town at the same address with the same first and last name.)

“Whipped him into a different mood.”

And again, the same girl at the same address:

“Paddled him, until he promised he would.”

Blossom Ferris had this solution for the father of the mischievous youngster:

“Took away his hood.”

What do you know, they had hoodies 104 years ago!

I won’t go into all the solutions, most involved spanking of some sort or other.  Maude Edwards had this to say:

“Just thrashed him as all fathers should.”

No wonder, after reading all these violent solutions to bad behavior, the judges picked the following as an honorable mention:

“Impressed on his mind that he should.”(1)

Now, you may find the spanking poems funny, when there are one or two, but there were duplicate, even triplicate entries of the same last line.

“Whipped him as hard as he could” was far from original, and it’s sad to see young children thinking that was the normal way a father should behave.

It makes you wonder. Did they think Wood a bully who got away with everything, and was so spoilt that he hurt others with impunity?  Or, did they find a regular thrashing a normal thing for a father to do?  Probably it just followed a bunch of folk tales and other rhymes the kids heard.

This poetry contest came on the year that was supposedly the first father’s day.

The call for a Father’s Day apparently originated a little north of those spank-happy youngsters, in Washington State, Spokane to be exact.

Yup, that’s right, the same state that gave us Microsoft and Bezos Books and Grunge Music first advocated father’s day.  Well, perhaps someone somewhere might have said it first, but if they did they did, then it was before the 6th of June 1910.

Here’s the story in its original glory.

“Spokane People want a Father’s Day Now.”

“Father’s Day!”

Some time ago, there was a day set aside throughout the land to be known as Mother’s Day and to be celebrated the first Sabbath in May.  This holiday was given birth to in the East, but the West has gone them one better.  Mrs J.B. Dodd of Spokane heads the petition approved by the ministerial alliance of this city to set aside the first Sabbath in June to be known as Father’s Day.

 

She wishes the idea to take root and to sprout in the hearts of the people of our country.  The object of this day, she says, is to bring [together] father and child, and to give the head of the house and earner of daily bread for his brood all respect and honor due him.  It is also the aim of this day to instill the same love and reverence for the father as is the mother’s portion.  The petition has been signed thus far by the following men of Spokane:

Mark H. Wheeler, Y.M.C.A. [which stands for Young Men\’s Christian Association]; George H. Forbes, secretary Y.M.C.A.;  Mills E. Pettibone, secretary Ministerial Alliance.

The name of Mrs. J.B. Dodd heads the list. (2)

That was front page news back in the day.

So there you have it.  Californians thought the role of fathers was to spank their kids, while in Washington State the idea of a dad was a breadwinner and head of the household who was due respect without having to lash out at anybody.

The religious origins of Father’s Day are often forgotten.  It seems that “Sundays” were “Sabbaths” to the people who invented the day, and many of the first signatories to the day were pretty high up in well known Christian organizations.  Father’s Day could be called a Protestant holiday.

The next month, the State Governor
Marion E. Hay made Father’s Day a state holiday.  Being on a Sunday, no one really got an extra day off, it was just a nice sentiment to keep the protesters quiet and get the press off his back.  Did it work?  And would the ploy of Father’s Day work for other politicians?

Well, Marion E. Hay not only instituted Father’s Day, he also brought some measure towards women’s suffrage and Workman’s compensation.  So, he could be called a reformer of sorts.  But he was never elected.  He came in as lieutenant governor, and only took over when the acting governor died.  And, Hay lost re-election.  So, Father’s Day didn’t help his political career.

Well, eventually Father’s Day was brought into law by two “popular” Presidents, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.  Why isn’t it the first Sunday in June?  Perhaps the separation by a week or two has something to do with the separation of church and state.  Or, maybe the old Presidents were just a bit late in declaring the day.

Most countries don’t have an official Father’s Day.  Catholics have their own Father’s Day tradition, going back to the feast of Saint Joseph on March 19th.  Russians also have a kind of Father’s Day, going back to some communist patriotic thing.  And a country here or there has its own tradition, going back to monarchy or whatever else.

But most nations of the world, including Britain and even many Catholic countries, follow the American Father’s Day.  That’s when the greeting cards come out.

Anyway, in 1972 it was an official day in the USA, and that day is here to stay.  Sure, it didn’t seem to help anyone’s career, other than the makers of greeting cards and ties.  (That’s probably why other countries don’t declare it, just look at what it did for Johnson and Nixon.)  But, some tacky greeting cards are actually funny, occasionally.  So, just relax and enjoy.  Happy Father’s Day from Chinny McGringo and the Ptara.

(1)”Herald Juniors demonstrate skill in rhyming contest.”  Los Angeles Herald, junior section. (Los Angeles [Calif.]), 16 Oct. 1910. page 5.

(2)”Spokane People Want a “Father’s Day” Now.” The Spokane press. (Spokane, Wash.), 06 June 1910. page 1.

bookmark_borderThe re-election of James Madison

Posted on by Chinny McGringo

WB Strickland's image of the USS United States capturing the HMS Macedonian
Did the October 25 capture of the HMS Macedonian by the USS United States help Madison win re-election in November 1812?

At times, it looked as if the election of 1812 would be a close one.  At any rate, its outcome was more important than remembered. Even as late as July 3 1813, the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser in Australian was speculating on who the winner was. Their information, which came from across the sea on the 12th January of that year, supposed that they could have been wrong about a DeWitt Clinton victory, but “The electors of Vermont are said to be in favor of Mr. Clinton.” Continue reading “The re-election of James Madison”

bookmark_borderFrench terrorists vs Spanish insurgents

Posted on by Chinny McGringo

At the start of 1812, insurgents were big news in the French media.

“We learn from Valencia that the small fortress that Marshall Sechet has left in his rear, blockaded by various corps of the army, have successively surrendered, and the siege of Valencia has been seriously prosecuted by General Harispe, who commands under the orders of the Marshall. The Spanish General Blake is attempting to collect a force, in order to make a second attempt to relieve the place, but the uniform terror spread by the armies of France, is sufficient to impede his design; and the insurgents have, by the last account, been driven from the right bank of Guadilaviar. The Polish division has particularly distinguished itself in the late encounters with the enemy.”

USS terror at sea
The USS terror was a mine laying ship that operated with the American Navy during the second world war.

One thing I notice in looking at old documents is the use of the word “terror” in war, as if it were a good thing. The French weren’t alone is using “terror” as an instrument. Even in the US Navy, ships carried the name “USS Terror” as late as World War II. (The Terror was a minelayer, a ship whose primary purpose was to lay sea mines in the water.)

Of course, the word terror does not necessarily mean what we today call a terrorist. But has the definition of the word insurgent changed as well? Continue reading “French terrorists vs Spanish insurgents”