Here you see a physical manifestation of the phrase “bite the bullet.” These two lead bullets came from a hospital serving soldiers wounded in the U.S. Civil War’s famous Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863). In an age preceding anesthetics, patients were told to bite down on these so-called “Hospital” or “Pain Bullets” before surgery was
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In 1862, the port city of Charleston, South Carolina, witnessed one of the most impressive feats in the Civil War. An African-American named Robert Smalls stole an entire ship from the Confederacy and escaped to freedom with his wife, two young children, and several other enslaved people. He did this right under the noses
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Scientists are enabling us to save lives and hopefully prevent disaster in this COVID-19 pandemic — and coming up with big solutions to health problems is one of the main reasons their profession is so valuable. But for me there is another equally praiseworthy aspect: their contributions to unveiling the forces that shape our universe.
The First-Lady of Physics – Chien-Shiung Wu Read More »
We humans are innately social creatures, and even the introverts among us long to feel included in a community we consider our own. Feelings of isolation cause grief and sadness, both now and in ages across time. The Old English poem known as “The Wanderer” evokes these emotions, telling the story of a man far
The Desire for Human Company Read More »
In the centuries before China was unified as an empire, petty kingdoms and warlords struggled for influence in a centuries-long diplomatic chess game. The bells shown here from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BCE) might have been owned by wealthy aristocrats engaged in such manuvers, and used for ceremonial importance, which would have
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This is the only depiction of Joan of Arc created in her own lifetime, and is a doodle out of the imagination of the illustrator made in 1429. In many ways — especially in her religious fervor and because she thought most women ought to behave conventionally — I find Joan’s personality grating. But the
Era Accurate Depiction of Joan of Arc Read More »
Lots of fancy outfits featured here in this Late Medieval illumination of a feast — but take a look at the dudes, especially. Being an aristocratic male meant that you had to juggle the attributes of a military knight skilled in the art of appropriate murderous violence with the finesse of a metosexual able to
“The Book of Curtesye” and Being a Young Male in Medieval Times Read More »
This might be a photo that repells at first glance — the hospital ward has long rows of undifferentiated beds, and they are surrounded by brick dehumanizing walls. In the final years of the Second World War, this ward in the hospital of Fatebenefratelli contained men, women, and children who were diagnosed with a disease
World War II and Syndrome K Read More »
This funky-faced individual was Oswald von Wolkenstein, a poet, musical composer, and diplomat in the Late Middle Ages (1376/7-1445). Von Wolkenstein’s adventurous life included episodes of warfare, daring military ventures, and captivity, but what I find most intriguing is the conflation of his Christian world-view with his open admission of enjoying appetites that he considered
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This detail of Auguste Rodin’s masterpiece, _The Burghers of Calais_ (1884-89) evokes a moment of despondency and sacrifice that took place in the Hundred Year’s War between France and England in the Late Middle Ages. The story ultimately has a happy ending, but nowhere is this foreshadowed in Rodin’s work.In 1346, the French town of
Wealthy Calais Classes Sacrifice for the Less Powerful Read More »
In south-central Pennsylvania’s Pine Grove Furnace State Park lie the ruins of one of three secret interrogation camps in the continental United States for prisoners of World War II. You are looking on the first slide at the remains of a large mess hall. Camp Michaux was originally built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the
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This coin dates to the age of the Germanic ruler Clovis I (d 511 CE), and should immediately strike us with its mythological imagery — angels with swords aren’t things we actually see. We realize that the figure on the coin cannot correspond with a real-life person. A tricky thing about studying Early Medieval history,
Germanic Leader King Clovis I Read More »
Like spokes on a wheel, these wide boulevards typify the landscape of Paris. Beautiful components of the city, tourists have come to associate these streets with “La Ville Lumiere”. But this architecture has a more sinister origin: it developed out of a desire to stop protesters.The second image shows a now-demolished street called rue du
La Ville Lumiere and the Desire to Stop Protests Read More »
This haunting painting by John Singer Sargent (‘Gassed,’ 1919) shows the horrific consequences of Mustard Gas that nations used against enemy soldiers in the First World War. The hazy yellow skies permeate the atmosphere, as the wounded men make their way across the canvas, many blinded by the hydrochloric acid that survivors attested smelt of
The Unexpected Effect of Mustard Gas Read More »
The Ancient Roman military brought the Empire into being, and its soldiers had far-reaching reputations for their discipline and skill. A look at the severity of punishments for wayward enlisted men goes a long way to explain this — the Roman officers could be as brutal to their own men as they were to their
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Conspiracy theories abounded in Ancient Rome: court intrigues were constantly at play among the Senatorial aristocracy, since favoritism and personal alliances rather than a democratically based bureaucracy brought power. And thus we come to the sad end of Stilicho, the barbarian leader who served Rome in the waning days of the Western Empire.Stilicho was half-Vandal,
Conspiracy Theories of Ancient Rome – Stilicho Read More »
Here is a member of the Selous Scouts, a group of special military forces active in the former African state of Rhodesia from 1973-1980. During the Rhodesian Bush War of decolonisation, the Selous Scouts represented the minority white government which struggled to keep power as the black majority fought for an independent state. The Selous
Selous Scouts from the African State of Rhodesia Read More »
In the entire history of the world, I challenge anyone to come up with a better name for a group of poisoners: may I introduce you to the Angel Makers of Nagrev.In the years immediately following the First World War, the small village of Nagrev in Hungary experienced an unusually large number of people –
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In our final post in this week’s series on poisonings in history, I am featuring Alan Turing’s death by cyanide. Turing was, of course, the famous father of theoretical computer science, paving the way for Artificial Intelligence in his development of the “Turing machine,” a mathematical model of computation that enabled much of what we
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By the Early Modern period in England, many people associated witches with their accompanying animals called “familars.” At the bottom of this woodcut you can see “Boy” (also “Boye”) the dog and alleged familiar of the military leader Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who died with his master in battle in 1644.The familiars of 17th-century
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