Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 145 i All About History

Why did so many Germans go along with Hitler? It’s a common question regarding the rise of the Nazi party and the road that led to World War II. It’s a question that gets to the heart of issues of human behaviour and the dangers of authoritarianism. But, it’s also not an entirely fair question, because there were many Germans who stood against Hitler, from his earliest days rising up through German politics, right up to the final years of the war. The most extreme examples of this movement were those who attempted to assassinate him. The list of attempts is really quite extraordinary and speaks to the level of opposition, but also to the threat that people saw from the Führer. Mike Haskew joins us to be our guide…

By 1598, William Shakespeare’s plays had been performed in London by the company known as The Lord Chamberlain’s Men for around six years. Shakespeare and his company decided it was time to erect their own theatre, and to do so dismantled the building of the theatre they had first performed in and transported it across the river Thames, from Shoreditch to a new site in Southwark. They hurriedly built their new venue – an “O” shaped open air theatre called the Globe, which would become iconic as the stage for Shakespearean drama. Shakespeare’s new theatre was opened in May 1599. It is believed that the first play written by Shakespeare to be performed at the Globe was Julius Caesar, with other early productions staged there including Henry V and Hamlet.…

Why has the identity of William Shakespeare been a subject of historical debate? Shakespeare’s life in Stratford-upon-Avon is well documented and we know a lot about his life in London as a playwright, but the link between the two, although logical, has eluded definitive proof: how do we know that the Shakespeare in Stratford was the Shakespeare in London? Heather Wolfe, curator and archivist at the Folger Shakespeare Library, has recently found documentary proof in the College of Heralds. These documents, about Shakespeare’s coat of arms, describe him as ‘Shakespeare, gent of Stratford’ and ‘Shakespeare the player’. So the Stratford Shakespeare and the London Shakespeare are demonstrably one and the same! The debate about Shakespeare’s identity also has elements of provincial and class bias. People find it difficult to believe…

Criminality and lawlessness have historically gone hand in hand with major conflicts. Whether perpetrated by the combatants involved or by those on the sidelines, profiteering or exploiting the chaos of conflict to avoid accountability, it’s often assumed to come with the territory. But what of the Crusades? After all, the Christian invaders and Muslim states considered this to be a holy war, full of religious significance and repercussions for both sides. As Steve Tibble’s new book Crusader Criminals: The Knights Who Went Rogue in the Holy Land explores, the Crusades were not exempt from criminal activity and the reasons why tell us a lot about the darker sides of human nature. We were delighted to have the chance to discuss the topic with him. Do you think the amount of…

SWIMMING OBSTACLE RACE 1900 This sounds like great fun. Held on the River Seine alongside the other swimming events at the Paris Olympics, swimmers had to complete 200 metres while overcoming three sets of obstacles. First they climbed over a pole, then scrambled over a line of boats, then they had to swim under another row of boats. 12 swimmers took on the challenge. The top two finishers in each of the three four-man heats qualified, and the four fastest losers also progressed to make ten finalists. Most of those who qualified improved their times in the second run as they worked out the best way to tackle the obstacles. Frederick Lane from Australia was the winner; he took a different line from many of his fellow swimmers by clambering…

Human burials are some of the most poignant and famous archaeological remains that survive from the ancient world. People were buried in a variety of ways, from being entombed within massive pyramids to simply getting dumped in a bog. In some cases, people feared that the dead would come back to life and cause harm – leading to their bodies being decapitated or driven through with a stake. Here we’ll look at some of the most remarkable examples from around the world and reveal what we can learn from them. ROYAL TOMBS AT UR Iraq Dating back around 4,500 years, the royal tombs at Ur consist of around 16 tombs that belong to royals or other elite members of society. They were buried with elaborate goods such as headdresses, necklaces, earrings and cylinder…

Throughout history, royalty have consolidated their power and displayed their status through portraiture. With the advent of photography in the 19th century, a new way of capturing the royal image was born and slowly began to replace painting and sculpture as a way to harness the likeness of the monarch. In a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace, the intriguing relationship between the British royal family and those employed to photograph them is being explored through a series of magnificent portraits. Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography is the first exhibition to open in the newly renamed King’s Gallery, and displays 150 works from 40 photographers, from Cecil Beaton to Annie Leibovitz. Charting the evolution of photography of the British royals from the 1920s to present day, Royal Portraits explores how…

1564 BIRTH OF SHAKESPEARE William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon to parents John and Mary. His mother comes from an affluent landowning family and his father is a successful glove maker who holds several municipal offices, enabling William to attend the local grammar school. 1577 FRANCIS DRAKE’S EXPEDITION Francis Drake sets off from Plymouth on England’s first circumnavigation of the globe. He conducts numerous raids of Spanish settlements along the coast of South America and amasses huge amounts of wealth for the English Crown, earning himself a knighthood. 1611 KING JAMES BIBLE A new and definitive English translation of the Bible is published. Commissioned by James I and known as the King James Bible, it is produced by a collaboration of 47 scholars who go back to Greek, Hebrew, and…

ELIZABETH I 1533 – 1603 With a reign that is credited as bringing about a golden age of art in England, it’s no surprise that the queen herself was a patron of many creative works. She is noted to have particularly favoured the paintings of Nicholas Hilliard who worked as a court painter and produced many miniatures, which were popular at the time. In theatre Elizabeth had the Queen’s Men, an illustrious, all-star acting company founded in 1583. ANNE OF DENMARK 1574 – 1619 Anne first began supporting British arts when she became Queen of Scotland upon marrying James VI (later James I of England) in 1589. Leonard Fryer was her Serjeant Painter when she arrived in London, believed to have been a silversmith rather than an artist as the title suggests.…

Before and during the 12 years of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler was the target of dozens of assassination plots. Hitler stirred the people, rising to power through cunning, shrewdness, and projecting a messianic will. He became the symbol of a resurgent nation, and in doing so he also became a marked man. Historians and researchers have ostensibly discovered more than 40 attempts on the life of the Führer, from conspiracies that penetrated the highest echelons of the Reich’s military command to lone wolves – from poison and pistol to bomb blast. Each would ultimately fail, some due to ineptitude; others to sheer happenstance, or even blind luck. Ever aware of his polarising presence, Hitler took great pains to thwart would-be assassins, from both inside and outside the Reich. Even…

Victorian Britain was not a safe time in which to be queer. Until 1861 intercourse between two males was punishable by death and from 1885, the Labouchere Amendment decried that any sexual act between men would result in a two-year prison sentence. This is to say nothing of the laws and attitudes affecting other queer persons. Yet this does not mean that queer people were driven into hiding and a study of LGBTQ+ Victorians reveals stories of an overwhelming desire to be true to oneself, in the face of prejudice. An important note regarding queer history Of course, as ever when discussing queer history, the age-old warning must be repeated; it is impossible to know how or if any of the individuals chronicled here would have responded to modern terminology.…