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21 Articles

We wanted to approach D-Day a little differently this issue to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy Beach landings. In the past we’ve dealt with some of the key figures of the day, looked at the contributions made by different services, highlighted the roles of forgotten heroes and looked at the invasion from a German perspective. I recommend subscribers take advantage of their access to our digital back issues and give those a read (issues 78 and 79). For this issue we thought we would concentrate on Operation Neptune itself; the blow-by-blow account. How did the day play out? Where was progress made and where did the Allies stall? Was D-Day considered a success? We welcome Mark Simner as our guide, giving us our hour-by-hour account of the landings…

Defining Moments

29 May 1953 HILLARY AND NORGAY REACH EVEREST’S SUMMIT Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay and New Zealand explorer Edmund Hillary became the first two people to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, at 11:30am on 29 May 1953. The pair were just two of a number of mountaineers who were part of the ninth expedition that attempted to be the first to scale Everest. The news of the summit reached the UK on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, and the members of the Himalayan expedition were later awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. 17 May 1954 SCHOOL SEGREGATION OUTLAWED IN USA In a significant victory for the burgeoning civil rights movement, the US Supreme Court ruled that the racial segregation of children in schools…

Defining Moments

1595 VOYAGE TO THE EAST INDIES Brothers Cornelis and Frederik de Houtman lead the first Dutch trading expedition to the East Indies. They land the following year and establish trade with Bali, Java and Sumatra. They return in 1596 with spices including pepper, mace and nutmeg. 1602 DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY The Dutch East India Company is formed to take advantage of the spice trade in Asia. It becomes a powerful asset to the Netherlands, and has the power to go to war and colonise. It operates until it is dissolved in 1799. 1641 CONQUEST OF ANGOLA The Dutch defeat the Portuguese to take Angola, one of a series of African conquests made by the Dutch. They engage heavily in the transatlantic slave trade, reportedly enslaving around 600,000 African people…

CITIZENS’ HALL

Amsterdam in 1648 was a capital city still recovering from a long war. 80 years of conflict had come to an end when the Dutch Republic was recognised by the Spanish as independent. Embracing their newfound independence and position as a growing and prosperous trade centre, the Dutch decided to build a new Town Hall that would be accessible for all Dutch citizens. Within this new administrative building, the impressive Citizens’ Hall was built as a grand central room. The architect of the Town Hall was Jacob van Campen, who had already designed a number of other important buildings in the Netherlands. In designing the central Citizens’ Hall, van Campen relied heavily on symbolic imagery to put across the concept he wanted to convey: that Amsterdam was at the centre…

WOMEN’S GOLDEN AGE FASHION

VLIEGER Worn over a dress, the vlieger was a floor-length sleeveless cape that was popular among the upper classes of 17th century Holland. A vlieger like this one would usually have been worn by married women only, and were often dark in colour. They were worn open to expose the dress underneath. SLEEVES As the vlieger was sleeveless, separate sleeves would have to be attached to the cape-like gown. These sleeves were pinned or laced onto the outer garment, and could either match the colour and design of the vlieger, or could match the dress that was being worn underneath it. STOMACHER Stomachers in early 17th century Europe were prominent and intricately designed. A separate piece of clothing to the dress they were attached to, stomachers would have been pinned…

WOMEN’S GOLDEN AGE FASHION

REMBRANDT’S THE NIGHT WATCH

Easily one of the most famous masterworks of the Dutch Golden Age, Rembrandt’s The Night Watch has an enigmatic and mysterious reputation, thanks in part to its bizarre and fascinating history. The painting was completed in 1642 and shows a group of civic guardsmen, also known as the Schutterij, a civilian force designed to protect a town from attack. The Rijksmuseum specifies that the painting was even commissioned for display in one of the Schutterij’s headquarters. The Night Watch depicts the commander, Captain Frans Banning Cocq, giving his company the order to move out. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (better known simply as Rembrandt) is remembered as one of the Golden Age’s key figures and, at the time, was one of the Netherlands’ most famous artists. Among his other noted works…

REMBRANDT’S THE NIGHT WATCH

GREAT THINKERS OF THE GOLDEN AGE

Jan Swammerdam Dutch, 1637 – 1680 Jan Swammerdam is best remembered for his investigations into the world of all things creepy and crawly and is considered to have been one of the first great microscopists. Towards the end of his life, Swammerdam met mystic Antoinette Bourignon and abandoned his scientific explorations for more spiritual pursuits. Swammerdam would return to the sciences towards the end of his life, spending his final years desperately trying to complete a manuscript. Over 50 years after his death, in 1737, his work was finally translated and published as The Bible of Nature. RENE DESCARTES FRENCH, 1596 – 1650 Despite his birth in La Haye, France, Rene Descartes quickly became regarded as one of the key figures in the Dutch Golden Age and spent much of…

GREAT THINKERS OF THE GOLDEN AGE

ART OF THE GOLDEN AGE

How did the cultural and economic prosperity of the Dutch Golden Age influence art? What has become commonly known as the Dutch Golden Age was a period that lasted roughly from 1588 to 1672 when the Dutch Republic was the most prosperous nation in Europe. Trade flourished and cities thrived, and the new wealth created confidence, which in turn led to wonderful achievements especially in the arts and sciences. Independence from Spanish Catholic rule by seven Dutch provinces (who became the Dutch Republic) made the Dutch Golden Age possible. An influx of trade boosted commerce, leading to the rise of a large middle and merchant class. The new prosperity and social mobility inspired a collective consciousness, nurturing a sense of national pride and identity, and it unleashed a creative storm.…

ART OF THE GOLDEN AGE

DUTCH GOLDEN AGE ARCHITECTURE

1 OOSTKERK MIDDELBURG, NETHERLANDS Visitors to Middelburg will immediately notice a particularly beautiful dome on the horizon. Built between 1648 and 1667, Oostkerk is a Protestant church noted for its distinct dome as well as its unique octagonal shape. The pulpit was placed centrally and according to William Brereton in Travels in Holland, the intention was for the churchgoers to be able to “see as well as hear the minister”. This amazing building was the combined creation of Bartholomeus Drijfhout and Pieter Post, the latter a noted architect and artist of the Golden Age. According to Hugh Dunthorne in his book, Britain and the Dutch Revolt, the design of the Oostkerk church, as well as others in the Netherlands, proved particularly inspiring to a number of British architects, with many…

DUTCH GOLDEN AGE ARCHITECTURE

D-DAY HOUR BY HOUR

In March 1942, Adolf Hitler issued Führer Directive 40, calling for the building of an ‘Atlantic Wall’ to guard against an expected Allied seaborne invasion from England. Over the coming months, supplies of astronomical proportions of steel, concrete, and other materials were used to bolster the defences of German-occupied Scandinavia and Continental Europe. Many thousands of slave labourers and people from the occupied territories, as well as workers from the German Organisation Todt were drafted in to complete the ambitious project. A number of the troops manning these defences would similarly be men from occupied Europe who were pressed into service. Adolf Hitler’s fears were well founded and a little over a year later, the Allies began to plan just such an invasion. They had been under pressure from Soviet…

D-DAY HOUR BY HOUR

FERDINAND & ISABELLA A UNIFYING COUPLE

It is rare in medieval history that a queen would overshadow her royal husband. However, this has long been the case for Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Both monarchs of their own respective regions, and together a united king and queen of Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand each brought their own strengths to rulership. Isabella was a fearsome, fiercely religious, determined and politically astute queen. But, Ferdinand was also a talented politician and a skilled military leader, and together the two rulers were an unstoppable force. But how did this partnership come about, and what did the married monarchs achieve throughout their reigns? A ROCKY START Before the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand in 1469, the land we now recognise as Spain was made up of a…

FERDINAND & ISABELLA A UNIFYING COUPLE

Francois Vidocq The First Detective

From Sherlock Holmes to Miss Marple, we all love stories of the eccentric master detective, solving crimes through clever deduction and superior wit. Yet the world’s first modern investigator was himself something of a bohemian, founding a small team of like-minded individuals to take on the criminal underworld of 19th century Paris – Eugene Francois Vidocq. In the years that he worked for the Parisian police he claimed to have been responsible for the arrest of thousands of ne’er-do-wells, and is even credited with establishing the world’s first private detective agency. Of his adventures, much has been written and it is clear that he was not opposed to embellishing the facts with heavy doses of fiction too. As such, it is often difficult to separate the man Vidocq from his…

Francois Vidocq The First Detective

EVOLUTION OF THE AMUSEMENT PARK

Roller coasters, spinning tea cups, swinging pirate ships and log flumes are the staples of the modern amusement park, but these often massive, dedicated entertainment spaces have a fascinating history. Their origins can be traced back to the ancient world with its pleasure gardens, all the way up through the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution, with each age building on the attractions that came before. Here we’ll chart the evolution of the amusement park, from its lavish natural parks to the mechanical wonders of the modern world. FAIRS & FESTIVALS The history of the fair, a gathering of people for a common purpose for a limited time, goes back to ancient history. A key visual of the fair to this day can trace its legacy back to religious festivals, where large crowds…

EVOLUTION OF THE AMUSEMENT PARK

Queen Dido Founder of Carthage

As founder and queen of Carthage, Dido’s name has survived the ages as a myth. Deity to some, historical reality to others, she has been further immortalised in literature, most famously in Virgil’s Aeneid as the woman who gave her life for one of the founding heroes of Rome. In this epic poem, written between 29 and 19 BCE, Aeneas encounters Dido, queen of Carthage, a city-state that will one day rival Rome itself. She is a central yet fictionalised figure in this story, killing herself for the love of its hero and dooming the powerful city that she founded. It is little wonder that Dido’s tale has long fascinated scholars, who continue their investigations into whether this remarkable woman was flesh and blood or myth and legend. Dido’s name…

Queen Dido Founder of Carthage

BEHIND THE AZTEC MYTHS

Despite centuries of research and interest in the Aztec people, they remain one of the more misunderstood and mysterious cultures to many of us. Thanks to a combination of Spanish records from the time painting them in a very particular light, and an understandable preference for some of the gorier details of public life in Central America at the time, what it was really like living in a city like Teotihuacan can be hard to imagine. Experts like Camilla Townsend have thankfully been working hard to demystify the Aztecs and highlight sources that give voice to the real people behind the legends. Her new book, The Aztec Myths, breaks down their real and evolving religious beliefs and we were delighted to catch up with her to learn more. How challenging…

BEHIND THE AZTEC MYTHS

BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE

By the spring of 1863, the American Civil War in the eastern theatre of Northern Virginia was in stalemate. Both sides had been busy rebuilding their forces in winter quarters since the bloodletting at the Battle of Fredericksburg the previous December. Since the beginning of the war itself, President Abraham Lincoln had been searching for a general who could effectively lead the enormous resources Washington would place under his command in terms of men and materiel. The industrial north had the resources to conduct and win a strategic war against the weaker agricultural-based southern rebel states, but what it repeatedly failed to do was defeat Robert E Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862 had been a bloody calamity for the north, with thousands needlessly…

BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE

ARGENTINA HAD WON THE FALKLANDS WAR?

Following the Argentinian incursion into the Falklands, the move by Margaret Thatcher to deploy a military task force to retake the territory galvanised a nation. Britain seemed to be united in a patriotic fervour and single-minded belief that it had been deeply wronged and was taking action to show it was still a major player to be reckoned with on the world stage. Following the British victory, and a hero’s welcome for the task force, Thatcher would refer to the ‘Falklands Spirit’ for years to come. But with a British failure in the South Atlantic, the global respect afforded Margaret Thatcher might never have materialised, and there could have been serious repercussions for Britain, at home and around the world. What may have been the impact on global politics and…

ARGENTINA HAD WON THE FALKLANDS WAR?

The Roman legion has an enduring legacy as the elite army that helped to enforce the might of the Roman Empire across the world. Serving as the military, navy and police force, the legion as a whole stood for centuries as a symbol of the power of Rome. But, for the individual legionaries that made up the imperial army, life was often more domestic than we may imagine. A new exhibition at the British Museum in London aims to shine a spotlight on the lives of these ordinary men who were recruited to the legion, as well as those of their families. Legion: Life in the Roman Army draws together over 200 objects from the British Museum’s collection, and from 28 lenders around the world, to bring to life the…

Book Film TV Podcast Games Other THIS TOWN Steven Knight’s soulful Midlands memories deliver poignancy over power Cert: 18 Director: Paul Whittington Cast: Levi Brown, Jordan Bolger, Nicholas Pinnock Released: Out now With a series like Peaky Blinders having such success, creator Steven Knight was never going to stay away from his Midlands homeland for long. He returns there with This Town, a BBC mini-series set against the backdrop of the Handsworth Riots of 1981 and the Troubles of Northern Ireland. Here he draws up a ragtag group of young people on the Midlands council estates, and throws them into a world of alcohol, drugs, the IRA, and the need to make music to escape a life on society’s outskirts. The tribute Steven Knight and director Paul Whittington pay to…

HISTORY VS HOLLYWOOD

LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME Director: Charles Vidor Starring: Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell Country: USA Year: 1955 An all-singing, all-dancing take on the life of singer Ruth Etting, but do the facts match the fiction? VERDICT: An entertaining musical that features two Hollywood legends, it fails to reach the high notes as far as fact is concerned. 01 Ruth Etting (Doris Day), is a popular singer during the 1920s/30s in a relationship with gangster, Martin “Moe the Gimp” Snyder (James Cagney). Snyder gives Etting her first performing job, but in reality they met when she was already a chorus girl. 02 Under Snyder, Etting’s career takes off. The film portrays her as somewhat complicit and at worst using Snyder. While it’s impossible to know if this is what…

HISTORY VS HOLLYWOOD

An extremely popular dish in the Netherlands, this form of raw pickled herring has become a seasonal staple. But herring is also an important part of Dutch history and was integral to the country’s economy. In the 14th century, William Buckles invented gibbing, a process of preserving herring by placing them into salt barrels. This created a vast maritime industry and has even led some to claim that herring was partially responsible for the Golden Age. In fact, during this period the Dutch, according to the Marine Stewardship Council, were responsible for 80 per cent of the herring trade. As this recipe contains raw fish, please exercise caution when preparing soused herring. Ingredients 6 fresh herring fillets (filleted and trimmed)600ml white wine vinegar1 onion, chopped200g caster sugar1 red chilli, finely…

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