This Week in History: The Pastry War Breaks Out

Sometimes, forgettable incidents in history refuse to bow down and be overlooked. One way this happens is when the seriousness of the incident is pushed aside by a silly but memorable title. Enter the Pastry War of the 1830s. Otherwise known as the First Franco-Mexican War – but who would have remembered that? – this […]

The Heaven Book that Abolished Slavery

The capital of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, Bologna is a historical goldmine for lovers of obscure but important history. The city enjoyed great success during the Medieval period, but perhaps the most interesting thing is the Liber Paradisus, otherwise known as the Heaven Book. Dating back to 1256 – and beating Britain and the […]

This Week in History: The Great Emu War Ends, Emus Win

In this week in history, Australia admitted defeat in its war with thousands of large, flightless birds. Imagine an army, 20,000 strong, that can run at 30 mph – significantly faster than Usain Bolt – take up to five bullets before being felled and tear down metal fencing with just their legs. Major Meredith of […]

This Week in History: Frederick the Great’s Finest Moment

This week, just over 250 years ago, the battle of Rossbach ended with Frederick the Great’s Prussia crushing the armies of France, the Holy Roman Empire and Austria. A year into the Seven Years’ War, the 18th century’s answer to a World War, and things weren’t looking too good for Prussia. United as a kingdom […]

This Week in History: West Vs East in the Battle of Lepanto

This week saw arguably one of the greatest naval battles of the Renaissance period, as the Ottoman Empire’s fleet suffered their first major defeat at the hands of Christian forces. It was 1570 and the Ottomans were making designs on Western Europe yet again. The Pope at the time, Pius V, heard about their recent invasion […]

The Year the Dutch ate their Prime Minister

The Dutch Republic, with Johan de Witt as their Grand Pensionary – the rough equivalent of a modern day PM – had been one of the world’s leading superpowers since the turn of the 17th century. Pretty incredible for a country smaller than Ireland and with a population of just 2 million. However, disaster struck […]

This Week in History: The Battle Of Marathon

This week saw the Battle of Marathon commence, where Persian forces representing the world’s most powerful empire were beaten by a small, splintered group of Greeks in 490 BC. Athens had earlier supported the city of Ionia in their effort to overthrow the Persians. When the Ionians were eventually crushed, Persia’s King Darius vowed to […]