Archive for the ‘History’ Category
Remembering the Soviet role in the space race
October 13th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
When I was an adolescent in the 1960s, the space race between the USA and the USSR was at full pelt. It was an exciting time with a new achievement almost every few months. But, of course, we knew much more at the time about the background to the American space programme compared to the […]
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The history of 13 countries in 15 words or less
September 19th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
A web site issued the challenge of summarising the history of a country in a sentence. The offerings are amusing and sometimes insightful. For the United States: “Freedom* *terms and conditions may apply.” For the United Kingdom: “Had the largest empire ever, but lost it due to drinking too much tea.” You can check out […]
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The 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and our family’s part in the original conflict
September 15th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Today we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 1940 and commemorated the bravery of the almost 3,000 Royal Air Force pilots who flew in the conflict. Around 40 World War Two aircraft – Spitfires, Hurricanes and Blenheims – were brought together to fly over southern England, creating some amazing sights and […]
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A review of a new(ish) history of the Second World War
September 13th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
My summer reading has been a book that I’ve owned for four years but not read until now because the main text is 600 pages: “The Storm Of War” by British historian Andrew Robert. Yet 600 pages is not a lot to cover something as long and involved as the Second World War and I have […]
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The position of China in World War Two
September 3rd, 2015 by Roger Darlington
In China today, the Communist Party mounted a massive military parade through Beijing’s Tiananmen Square (the name means ‘The Square of Heavenly Peace’) to mark the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Japan and the end of the Second World War. Except, of course, that the Japanese were not defeated in China (they capitulated after the […]
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The most desperate battle in history: Stalingrad 1942-1943
September 1st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading the 600-page book “The Storm Of War”, an account of the Second World War by Andrew Roberts. He writes: “The battle of Stalingrad is deservedly considered to be one of the most desperate in human history.” The ferocity of the fighting and the scale of the casualties almost defy comprehension. Roberts gives […]
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“The Fallen Of World War II” – a powerful data graphics presentation
August 24th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The Second World War was the bloodiest conflict in history. The actual death toll is the subject of many estimates and, for the purposes of his video, American Neil Halloran has used estimates which total around 70 million, He has produced a graphic which explains how this total is made up and how the toll […]
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The bloodiest siege in history: Leningrad 1941-1944
August 20th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading the 600-page book “The Storm Of War”, an account of the Second World War by Andrew Roberts. Even though I am familiar with all the major events of the war, it is still shocking to be reminded of the utter devastation of the conflict. Following the German invasion of the Soviet […]
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The largest loss of life in a British maritime disaster – and you’ve never heard of it
August 17th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Which British ship was sunk with the largest loss of life? The “Lusitania” in 1915 with 1,198 deaths? The “Titantic” in 1912 with 1,517 deaths? Suppose I told you that there was a sinking in which the death toll was greater than that of the “Titantic” and the “Lusitania” combined? And suppose i told you […]
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Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt
August 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
This week I attended a one-day course at the City Lit college in central London on “Henry V And The Battle Of Agincourt”. Our lecturer was Vanessa King of the Mary Ward Centre who ran a course I attended last Autumn on “The Danish Conquest Of England”. Henry V (1386-1422) is one of the most […]
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