Indholdsfortegnelse for No. 136 i All About History

Q&A ALL ABOUT ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE What were some of the foundational underpinnings of what we’ve come to call the Islamic Golden Age? There are several factors and circumstances that led to the Golden Age. First, and perhaps most significantly, is the very nature of the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258). It was a vast empire; at its greatest extent, it stretched from modern-day Tunisia to modern-day Pakistan. The empire also experienced virtually no external attacks and no internal political turmoil. Their power and stability can be accredited to unifying people under a single faith, that of Islam; the use and standardisation of Arabic; and the creation of an inclusive society, with policies that supported both Muslims and non-Muslims, such as Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. Another factor was the establishment of the Abbasid’s…

The story goes that, one spring day sometime in the 13th century, Lady Mabella Tichborne lay dying. In her final moments, she begged her husband Sir Roger to promise that he would donate food to the poor villages each year following her death. But Sir Roger was a cruel man and he made a despicable arrangement with his dying wife. He promised he would donate flour, but only from the amount of farmland that Lady Tichborne was able to crawl around before the blazing torch she was forced to carry went out. However, Lady Tichborne succeeded in traversing an entire 23-acre field and cursed her husband. Should any generation of Tichbornes fail in donating the yearly amount of food, or Dole, she prophesied a generation of seven daughters would be…

1869 THE LIFE OF RASPUTIN Rasputin was born around 1869 but though sometimes being referred to as ‘the mad monk’, he actually failed to take such vows. Despite having a young family he abandoned them to wander the world, travelling to the holy land for a number of pilgrimages. Throughout these years he also became known as something of a magician, with powerful healing abilities. In 1903 he demonstrated these by seemingly curing Alexei, the young son of Tsar Nicholas II of haemophilia. 1914 PREVIOUS ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT Two years before his actual murder, in June of 1914, Rasputin was stabbed by a woman called Khioniya Guseva who claimed he was ‘seducing the innocent’. Following the attack, Guseva was deemed mentally unwell and committed to an institution. Rasputin’s personality is said…

The Islamic Golden Age is known for its advancements in many fields, including science, mathematics, philosophy and of course, the arts. Crafts known to have flourished during this period include ceramics, woodwork and manuscript illumination. The Seljuk period in particular was renowned for its high-quality craftsmanship and this era was described by Richard Ettinghausen in a 1970 paper as “the richest” of all the periods in Iranian art. Metalwork in particular saw many advancements throughout the golden age and numerous exquisite examples of the craft can be found in museums all over the world. Shown here is an incense burner made for Amir Saif al-Dunya wa’l-Din ibn Muhammad al-Mawardi, currently among the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The burner is the work of the artist…

1 AL-AZHAR MOSQUE CAIRO, EGYPT With its sweeping white courtyard and towering minarets, the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo is truly a sight to behold. The mosque was founded in 970 in the wake of the Fatimid conquest of Egypt by a general named Jawhar al-Siqilli. It was intended to be the Friday mosque for the city of Cairo, which was chosen as the new capital for the Fatimid Caliphate. It also became a key centre of Islamic learning, with the first seminar taking place here in 976 and the mosque still being attached to the university today. Since its early days, the mosque has undergone many expansions. As you walk into the white courtyard, which forms the original core of Al-Azhar, you’ll find yourself surrounded by arcades of keel-shaped arches…

Although Napoleon Bonaparte believed that the Roman Catholic Church favoured the Catholic monarchy of Austria over the revolutionary government of France, he never disavowed the institution and recognised its prominent role in the fabric of society. Napoleon was born and baptised Catholic, remained Catholic his entire life, and received the last rites of the Church on his deathbed. Wherever he led conquering armies, Napoleon proved to be pragmatic and tolerant, respectful of different religious customs and allowing the native populations to continue their practices without interference. Nevertheless, Napoleon’s personal religious views seem somewhat contradictory. Driven by insatiable ambition, he had gained an empire through force. Yet, later in life he is said to have admired the ability of Jesus Christ to influence the course of world events so profoundly with…

Originally deriving from Eastern Europe, around Moldova and Ukraine, the Goths came into contact with the Roman Empire in 376 CE as refugees on the Eastern side of the Danube fleeing the ‘Hunnic storm’. The Romans treated them as an enemy, allowing some but not others to cross the river, failing to feed them properly and allegedly forcing them into slavery. This treatment led inevitably to wars. The first wars came to a conclusion in 383 CE when Theodosius I defeated the Goths, however he allowed them to settle as a semi-autonomous state within Roman territory. Following a decade of peaceful co-existence, Alaric – a Gothic general in the Roman army – led a mutiny that resulted in the Sack of Rome. The Goths who crossed the Danube in 376…

Bayard Rustin was an outsider, recognised as a brilliant organiser, strategist, and thinker whose vision and activism was the foundation for modern movements for Peace, Civil Rights and Gay Liberation. Rustin opposed nuclear arms testing in Africa and Asia, and offered strategic support to independence movements in Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia. His association with communism and socialism, his homosexuality, and later his turn towards the right, led contemporaries and historians to push him out of the limelight and into the shadows. Bayard, his name pronounced like ‘fired’, was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1912. He was raised by his grandparents. Julia “Ma” Rustin was a strong influence, introducing Quaker values of non-violence, recognition of the equality of all people, and the importance of aligning words with deeds. Bayard Rustin was…

The First Fairy Tales Cinderella; Snow White; Beauty And The Beast. Before Disney got their hands on these stories and turned them into animated film classics to be enjoyed by children around the world, they Cwere some of the first stories to be written down and ascribed to the fairy tale genre of storytelling. Even before they were written down however, stories of mystical beasts, princesses locked in towers and wicked stepmothers were circulating in different parts of the world, and told by a variety of narrators in an oral tradition. Passed down through the generations, the stories were subject to embellishment and change as each culture, society and individual shaped and tailored the tales to their own preferences and circumstances. By the time these stories began to be written…

1918 THE END OF THE WAR? If the various theories concerning Rasputin’s involvement in a potential peace plan with Germany are true, then it could have meant a very different end to the war. Germany would have been able to move more troops to the Western Front and could have potentially defeated the allies. Without the Treaty of Versailles and the reparations, would this have meant that National Socialism would still have risen in Germany? 1918 EXECUTION OF RUSSIAN IMPERIAL FAMILY In July of 1918, as the Bolshevik revolution spread, the Romanov royal family were being kept in a small house in Yekaterinburg. When White Russian forces began to approach the area, it became clear that a rescue would be disastrous for the Bolsheviks. On the 17th the family was…

Price: £22 Released: Out now Book Film TV Podcast Games Other Reviews by Martyn Conterio, Jonathan Gordon, Callum McKelvie, Emily Staniforth As Colin Salter states clearly from the outset of this fine coffee table release, the mission of this book is not to chronicle the best, but the most impactful books in history. Here we have titles that span from the 11th century to the 21st, from America to Japan, but all have in common that their release, whether through the innovation in their prose or the unique voice represented in society, shifted opinion and understanding in the wider world. At a little over 220 pages, each novel only receives a couple of pages of analysis and explanation, but Salter offers very concise and engaging takes on each. He gets…

Out now! All About History Annual Vol. 10 Discover the captivating stories behind the events, people, and groundbreaking discoveries that shaped our world in this brand new collection of the best features from All About History. Dive into Volume 10, and uncover the secrets that transformed our past and continue to influence our future, from ancient wonders to modern-day heroes. Buy All About History Annual Vol. 10 in shops or online at magazinesdirect.com Price: £15.99 Out now! The Forgers Author Roger Moorhouse Price £25 Publisher The Bodley Head Moorhouse superbly chronicles the actions of a small group of Polish diplomats and Jewish activists to forge travel documents to smuggle Jews facing extermination in the Holocaust out of the country. To say that this book is brilliantly astonishing would not do the…

750 ABBASID DYNASTY BEGINS The Abbasids overthrow the last Umayyad Caliph, Marwan II, and Abu’lAbbas al-Saffah is proclaimed as the first Abbasid Caliph. Under their rule, the Islamic Empire starts to expand eastwards and the development of arts and sciences thrives. C.786 HOUSE OF WISDOM Epitomising the lust for learning and advancement during Abbasid rule, Bayt al-Hikmah, or the House of Wisdom, is established. It begins as a vast library set up by Harun al-Rashid, and is later extended by Caliph al-Ma’mun as a public academy. UMAYYAD CALIPHATE BEGINS 661 After the end of the Rashidun Caliphate, Mu’awiyah establishes himself as the first Umayyad Caliph marking the beginning of Umayyad rule in the Islamic Empire. CONSTRUCTION OF UMAYYAD MOSQUE COMMENCES 705 Caliph al-Walid I commissions the construction of the Great Mosque in…

Jabir ibn Hayyan c. 721 - 816 Also known as Geber, Jabir ibn Hayyan is considered the father of Islamic chemistry and was a noted alchemist. According to the Library of Congress he was known for his ability to translate complex ideas into simple language so that they could be enjoyed by the public at large and not just the scholarly elite. There is debate as to whether the large number of works attributed to him were actually written by the author or were in fact composed by a number of others. Hunayn ibn Ishaq 808 - 873 Hunayn ibn Ishaq is perhaps best remembered for his work translating classical Greek texts into Arabic and Syriac. He is suspected to have spent some time in Alexandria, where he most likely…

AETIUS Roman general under Valentinian recruited by Galla Placidia. Called “the last of the Romans” by Procopius, he defended the empire against the Huns and fought Attila on a number of occasions. ALARIC So called King of the Goths. Once a general in the Roman army, he served under Theodosius I before mutinying due to lack of recognition and leading Gothic troops against the Roman Empire. ARCADIUS Eastern Roman emperor 383-408 CE. Half brother of Galla Placidia. He became co-emperor with his father at the age of five. ATHAULF King of the Goths following the death of Alaric, and Galla Placidia’s first husband. He developed the Goths into a state and a political power in Gaul before being assassinated in 415 CE leaving Placidia a widow. CONSTANTIUS III Honorius’s magister…

As a former communist, civil rights activist, pacifist, conscientious objector, and openly gay man, the FBI deemed Rustin a threat and kept a close eye on him beginning in the 1940s. The FBI file on him included police reports, confidential surveillance, press clippings, copies of his writings, detailed reports of his comings and goings domestically and abroad, and speculated on his ties to the communist party. The FBI documented the erosion of King and Rustin’s relationship, citing an inside source in June 1967 saying King “seldom mentions Rustin’s name,” and that King described Rustin as a “tired ‘radical who wants to be secure and will no longer go out on a limb’.” His FBI file even included a complaint to J Edgar Hoover about a “radical liberal” teacher who commented…

Price: £27.99 Released: Out now In this remarkable true story of living in and surviving a Nazi camp during World War II, author Makana Eyre recounts the tale of two men who relied on music to get through their ordeal. Imprisoned in Sachsenhausen in 1940, Polish journalist Aleksander Kulisiewicz had been arrested by the Gestapo as a political prisoner. In Sachsenhausen, he first encountered Rosebery d’Arguto, a Jewish choir director, when he came across d’Arguto leading a group of fellow Jewish prisoners in song. Enchanted by his music, Kulisiewicz formed a friendship with d’Arguto that impacted the rest of his life, even after d’Arguto was killed in Auschwitz. Using the huge archive of music making in the Nazi camps collected and preserved by Kulisiewicz, as well as the archive of…

Price: £95 Released: Out now In the years immediately following the end of World War II, numerous Eastern European countries fell under the control of the Soviet Union. On 5 March 1946, Winston Churchill gave his famous speech in Fulton, Missouri where he stated that “From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” The speech gave voice to the Cold War that saw Europe divided. In 2012, journalist and historian Anne Applebaum released her definitive account of how Europe came under Stalin’s iron fist. A follow up to her earlier work Gulag: A History Of The Soviet Camps, Applebaum’s Iron Curtain explored the systematic suppression of Eastern Europe in the decade immediately following the end of World War II. Now,…