Archive for the ‘History’ Category
The seige of Nándorfehérvár
July 31st, 2006 by Roger Darlington
This month sees the 550th anniversary of Hungarian victory at the seige of the town then called Nándorfehérvár (today known as Belgrade) – an event subsequently said by Pope Callixtus III to have “decided the fate of Christendom”. This anniversary – indeed the whole event – escaped me too, but it was pointed out to […]
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The Spanish civil war
July 22nd, 2006 by Roger Darlington
All war is brutal and terrible, but here is something especially bitter about civil war. This week marks the 70th anniversary of the commencement of the Spanish civil war – a three year conflict )1936-1939) in which between 300,000 and 1 million people were killed. A special feature of this war was the international involvement […]
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The most iconic political image
July 9th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
What can it be? When you think about it, it can be only one thing: the photograph of ‘Che’ Guevara taken by Alberto ‘Korda’ Diaz on 5 March 1960. This afternoon, I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum in central London to see an exhibition built entirely around this image. How the picture was […]
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Why does history matter?
July 9th, 2006 by Roger Darlington
I’m fascinated by history, even though I had to stop studying it at school at the age of 15 because I had to make a choice between history and physics and my original plan was to be an engineer so I had to choose physics. To this day, though, I still enjoy watching history programmes […]
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