Throwback Thursday – Kamikaze and the Mongols
The Kamikaze (divine wind/winds of God) spared Japan from the invasion of the Mongols, not once, but twice. I recall learning about this event when I took my world history class in university. The Mongols were one of the most impressive invading forces in the world and possessed the largest contiguous empire in history. Still, […]
Throwback Thursday – The Highland Clearances
The Highland Clearances took places in the late 18th century over a period of about 70 years. This relates back to last weeks post that concerned Footsteps in the Snow. The Scott family in the story were victims of the Clearances and since I mentioned them previously I thought I would expand on them in […]
Throwback Thursday – Footsteps in the Snow
I thought today I would combine a Throwback Thursday with a What I’m Reading. Footsteps in the Snow is a book from the Dear Canada collection. It features the Red River Settlement in 1815 and is written by Carol Matas. The book features the fictional Isobel Scott, an immigrant from Scotland whose family was pushed […]
Woodstock
Had I been on the ball I’d have done this post on the actual anniversary of Woodstock, but instead it’ll be today! Woodstock is probably the most iconic music festival ever. It took place over August 15-18, 1969 and over 400,000 people attended. When it was being planned it wasn’t anticipated to be anywhere as […]
National Park Service – 100 Years
Today is the 100th Anniversary of the United States National Park Service. It seems a little odd that it took so long to come into existence considering 12 National Parks were established prior to the creation of the National Park Service. Either way I’m glad a system of protection for the national parks exists. While […]
This Day in History – Battle of Bosworth Field
It’s my Birthday today! I decided to switch my Throwback Thursday post to today since it’s the anniversary of a really neat historical event. I absolutely adore Tudor history and for years I devoured information and historical fiction books about it. When I was taking a history class in University about the Tudors I learned […]
Throwback Thursday – I Am No Witch
The Salem Witch trials are really weird. It’s basically a town that got swept up into hysteria, potentially the product of consumption of fungus that causes hallucinations and then the hallucinations were used as evidence in a court of law. One thing you have to consider about the witch trials is where they were and […]
Throwback Thursday – ABBA and Aryans
Some pretty freaky and deplorable things happened during the Nazi regime, but there’s one that I’d never heard of before. The Lebensborn program. This was part of the Aryan idea where they would breed German soldiers with the blonde haired, blue eyed Norwegian women to expand the “master race”. Of course the Nazi’s lost the […]
Throwback Thursday – Baseball and Empires
What do the Chicago Cubs and the Ottoman Empire have in common? The last time the Cubs won the world series the Ottoman Empire was still in existence and controlled much of the Middle East. The Ottomans ruled the roost for over 600 years, spread Islam through the Mediterranean region and claimed the Islamic holy lands. […]
Throwback Thursday – Sci Fi and Public Executions
1977 is an interesting year. Not only is it the year that Star Wars: A New Hope came out, but it’s also the last year that the guillotine was used as a method of execution in France. How crazy is that? I always love things that are considered weird because people have no idea that […]