Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 140 i All About History

Study enough military history and the importance of timing becomes more and more clear. Attacking a day early or late, resting too soon, moving too early, marching too long; any small factor of timing can change the course of history. The key leaders at the heart of the Gallic Wars probably knew this well and if they didn’t, this conflict would have revealed it to them. For Vercingetorix, his attempt to unite the Gauls against Roman invasion came just too late to turn the tide. For Julius Caesar, his ‘preemptive action’ was well timed to pay off his debts and position him as one of Rome’s most influential and powerful figures. A fascinating tale that brings together elements of political intrigue in Rome, the social dynamics of disparate European communities…

London, UK 1749-1913 In Georgian England, a new way of giving birth was introduced in an effort to make the process safer and more comfortable for pregnant women. The establishment of lying-in hospitals (lying-in was an antiquated term for childbirth) across the country began in England in the 1740s to improve the quality of maternity care provided for by existing hospitals. The most successful, and one of the five of London’s Georgian lying-in hospitals, was the British Lying-In Hospital which was founded in 1749 by governors at Middlesex Hospital. Built on Brownlow Street in Holborn, the hospital was originally named the Lying-In Hospital for Married Women, and served the poorer women of the city for whom giving birth at home came with risks and hardship. As is stressed in the…

In 58 BCE, Gaius Julius Caesar was 41 years old and about to embark on the single greatest addition to the Roman Empire. His campaigns in Gaul (corresponding to large parts of modern France, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands) were hugely ambitious. When his conquests were complete he would plunge the Republic into a civil war from which Caesar would emerge as unassailably the most powerful man in Rome. It almost didn’t happen, but how Caesar had come to be in such a position is a remarkable tale. CAESAR’S RISE TO POWER Born in July 100 BCE, Caesar was part of an ancient aristocratic family, but one which had not played a particularly prominent role in Rome’s history in recent centuries. The family had also sided with Gaius…

Prehistoric cave art is some of the earliest surviving art in human history. Paintings have been found on walls of caves around the world with depictions of objects, symbols, patterns, shapes, animals, humans and mythical creatures. Cave art more broadly also includes relief carvings and portable sculptures, paintings and carvings on rocks. It is a reminder of how far we have come and how disconnected we are from ancestors we know nothing of. It also reveals that common interests and practices have linked communities since our origins: art-making, animals, storytelling and making our mark. Cave art began with abstract shapes, and became increasingly figurative and representative of complex ideas, incorporating humans, animals and plants as time went by. With no written records from tens of thousands of years ago and…

The city of Lucknow, located on the west bank of the Gumti River some 42 miles east of Cawnpore, was the capital of Oude province. The province itself had been annexed by the British East India Company only the year before the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny, after which the incumbent ruler, Wajid Ali, was exiled to Calcutta. This caused much resentment among both the people of Oude and the local sepoy army. The subsequent arrival of the insensitive Coverley Jackson as chief commissioner of the province only further inflamed what was already a fragile situation. Long before the mutiny broke out, Lucknow was a hotbed of discontent. Jackson would later be replaced by Sir Henry Lawrence, a man who possessed far greater understanding of the peoples of India and…

28 February 2013 BENEDICT XVI RESIGNS In a shock to the world, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation on 11 February 2013. He stepped down from his position as Pope later that month on 28 February. The resignation marked the first since Gregory XII abdicated as Pope in 1415. At the age of 85, Pope Benedict cited a deterioration in his health as the reason for his decision. He took on the title of Pope emeritus after his resignation and died in 2022. 7 March 1965 SELMA DEMONSTRATORS ATTACKED In response to the attack of peaceful civil rights protestors in Marion, Alabama by white separatists, Martin Luther King Jr and the Southern Christian Leadership Council organised a march from Selma to Montgomery. On 7 March, the demonstrators found themselves facing…

From 1945 to 1989, Berlin was the hottest spot in the Cold War. At the end of World War II, a defeated Germany was carved up by the Allied powers as post-war reconstruction began. In the middle of this divided country lay a divided city. The capital Berlin was itself split by the Allies and as tensions between the capitalist West and communist East began to surface, the Berlin Wall rose creating a barrier separating the two sides. The image of the wall and the two Berlins quickly captured the public imagination and the city fostered a reputation as a nest of spies – a reputation that was helped by novels such as John Le Carre’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Len Deighton’s Funeral in Berlin and…

RUSTIN An engaging civil rights drama with a superb lead performance Cert: 15 Director: George C Wolfe Cast: Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Jeffrey Wright Released: Out now Rosa Parks. Martin Luther King Jr. Medgar Evers. Malcolm X. Among the renowned names associated with the civil rights movements, one person, until relatively recently, has been mostly forgotten: Bayard Rustin. Rustin’s journey as a civil rights champion began during World War II, when he helped organise a march to end discrimination based on race in the military. He was also a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr, and an avowed pacifist. In the late summer of 1963, Rustin was instrumental in organising the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It’s at this event in which one of the most famous…

THE GREAT ESCAPE Director: John Sturges Starring: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner Country: USA Year: 1963 This story of a mass escape from a German POW camp is a screen classic, but should it be locked up for crimes against accuracy? 01 The film is based on a real mass escape that took place on 24 March 1944 at Stalag Luft III. However, the American-made film exaggerates the role of their countrymen in the story, as most were transferred from the camp months before the escape took place. 02 Richard Attenborough portrays Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett, the mastermind of the operation, based on Roger Bushell – who was also a suspect in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, one of the chief architects of the holocaust. 03 The captured airmen…

1540 THE BIRTH OF MANKIND PUBLISHED Based on a work by Eucharius Rösslin, and translated into English by Richard Jonas, this is thought to be the first book published in England on the subject of midwifery and receives 13 separate editions across 100 years. 1600s INVENTION OF OBSTETRICAL FORCEPS Peter Chamberlen, a member of a family of surgeons and practising midwives, develops the obstetrical forceps. The family keeps the creation a secret for over 100 years, including blindfolding the women whom they were to be used on. 1765 DR WILLIAM SHIPPEN’S COURSE IN MIDWIFERY Dr William Shippen Jr begins to teach the first formal course on midwifery to both females and males in the United States. Due to his teaching of males, the lectures are attacked by violent mobs. 1881…

Belgium, c.1720-1730 Obstetric forceps have become an accepted part of the birthing process. During a difficult birth, the forceps are used to help extract the child from the womb. Prior to their creation, both infant and mother mortality during strenuous labour was common. However, in the 17th century an enterprising family of physicians and male midwives created a device that would change the birthing process forever and is still used to this day. The obstetric forceps are thought to have been the invention of Peter Chamberlen, possibly around 1630, though he and his family kept their creation secret for over a hundred years. The forceps would arrive in a vast chest and would not be removed until everyone except the Chamberlens and the expectant mother had left the room. The…

1 FOUNDLING MUSEUM LONDON, UK In 1739 Thomas Coram founded a hospital dedicated to children who were abandoned – what at the time were termed ‘foundlings’. Despite London being a place packed with opportunities and through which masses of wealth flowed, it also had a vast population gripped by poverty. The museum states that around 1,000 babies were abandoned in the city every year. Since then the hospital has evolved into the children’s charity Coram, still dedicated to helping vulnerable children, while the building itself has been converted into a museum. The exhibitions in the museum change with some regularity, but a recurring theme of its display and events is motherhood and childbirth, both in terms of historical objects and more contemporary art shows. The museum also hosts talks with experts…

One of the ever-present challenges of studying the past as a historian is being able to picture events. For modern historians we have the benefit of photography and film to improve our understanding. These mediums are not always 100 per cent reliable, but they offer important detail. When it comes to older history, we must rely on written descriptions and contemporary recreations to work out how things would have looked in their contemporary setting. To help us out, we have incredible historical artists like Graham Turner, who has been painting historical events for over 30 years. His new book, The Wars of the Roses: The Medieval Art of Graham Turner, highlights some of his most famous works, and we were delighted to learn more about his research and experience bringing…

It’s a problem that has struck most monarchies at one time or another in their history: a ruler isn’t able to choose the manner and timing of their death. In an ideal world, they move on to the heavenly realm when their chosen heir is ready to rule. But disease, deposition, warfare and simple bad luck has meant that many kings shifted off this mortal coil before their successor had reached adulthood – sometimes they weren’t even out of nappies. From crazy kings to record-breaking rulers, here are some of the children who found themselves sitting on the throne, when they really should have been on a rocking horse. Aethelred II Not ready to rule England, 978–1013 / 1014–1016 Aethelred the Unready ascended to the English throne at around the…

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American artist John Singer Sargent made his name painting the portraits of the wealthy and elite. His work was noteworthy for the way his art showcased the individuality of the people he painted, with many of his sitters captured wearing beautiful and elaborate clothing. When painting his subjects, Sargent was known to hand pick the outfits they wore, and to physically alter and manipulate fabric to frame them. In one of Tate Britain’s latest exhibitions, Sargent and Fashion, a selection of Sargent’s portraits will be displayed to reveal the painter’s role as an artistic force in fashion and to delve into the society in which he worked. Among the 60 paintings in Tate Britain’s exhibition, staged in collaboration with the Museum of…

Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne on 6 February 1952, 72 years ago this month. She would rule until her death on 8 September 2022, becoming one of the most beloved monarchs ever to wear the British Crown. In order to commemorate, we present a typical English favourite, partially based on the official Buckingham Palace recipe that was originally shared back in May 2020. However, scones themselves are actually first thought to have originated in Scotland during the 1500s, but over the centuries became a staple of Buckingham Palace summer garden parties. We will leave it up to you, dear reader, whether it's cream or jam first… Ingredients • 350g self-raising flour• 1 tbsp baking powder• 90g butter (cubed)• 150ml whole or butter milk• 100g sultanas (or other dried…