Revival History

The Arab slave trade had certain aspects that made it particularly severe. Firstly, the Arab slave trade spanned a much longer period, lasting for 1300 years, whereas the transatlantic slave trade was concentrated in a few centuries, mainly the 16th thru 18th This prolonged duration allowed for a greater number of people to be enslaved and a longer-lasting impact on the affected regions. Secondly, the Arab slave trade often targeted women and children, with a focus on the domestic and sexual servitude of female slaves in Harems. This gendered aspect exacerbated the suffering and dehumanization of individuals. A black sex slave and child slave in an Arab harem: Additionally, the Arab slave trade had a significant impact on Africa, where millions of Africans were captured and transported across the Sahara Desert, leading to the depopulation and destabilization of entire regions. Arabs round up African slaves: Lastly, the Arabs had to be forced to stop the slave trade as opposed to the Eu...

The Breeding of American Slaves: True Stories of American Slave Breeding and Slave Babies. The reproduction of slaves to increase the wealth of slaveholders by coerced sex, sexual relations between master and slave to produce slave children, and favoring female slaves who produced large number of children.  The purpose of slave breeding was to produce new slaves without incurring the cost of purchase and after termination of the Atlantic slave trade. Slaves were viewed as subhuman chattel.

Couple in Lincoln Baffled by ‘Medieval’ Gargoyle Hidden Under Bathroom Trapdoor 😲🫨 A couple in Lincoln, Tracy and Rory Vorster, discovered a 700-year-old medieval gargoyle hidden under a bathroom trapdoor in their home. The carved face, possibly part of a 14th-century drain or urinal, resembles the 'Lincoln Imp' from Lincoln Cathedral, which is near their house. Their home, originally built by the Cathedral’s college of priests in the 13th century, may contain more medieval artifacts. This find adds to the rich history of Lincoln Cathedral, known for numerous archaeological discoveries, including ancient graffiti and 12th-century graves. The Vorsters' discovery highlights the historical significance of their home and the area.

A U.S. military plane crashed into the Empire State Building on ThisDayInHistory in 1945 .  Thick flog blanketed New York City as a B-25 Mitchell bomber flew into the area on July 28, 1945. Air-traffic controllers diverted the plane to fly to Newark Airport instead of LaGuardia and as it flew over Manhattan, the crew was specifically warned that the Empire State Building, the world’s tallest building at the time, was not visible. Flying low for better visibility, the plane swerved to avoid the Chrysler Building, sending it straight into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building. Since it was a Saturday, fewer workers than normal were in the building but 11 people inside were killed, as well as 3 on the plane. The plane’s fuel exploded, causing a massive fire and leaving an enormous hole in the side of the building.

Hetty Green...the most stingy woman in history, her wealth is estimated at more than $2.3 billion. Hetty Greene was born in America in 1835. She was the only daughter of a wealthy businessman.  She inherited from her father a fortune estimated at $7.5 million. When she was twenty-one years old, she moved to live in New York to invest her money in Wall Street and was called the Wicked Witch of Wall Street.  She married a millionaire like herself, but still lived on leftover cakes and broken biscuits in grocery stores and argued to get a free bone for her dog every day!! Hetty Greene was a very miserable woman. She sewed underpants when she was 16 years old and did not change them or buy others until the day of her death.  She never spent a penny, so it was said that she never used hot water, that she wore a black dress that she did not change until it was completely worn out, and that she lived on eating a pie that cost only two cents.  Hetty caused her son to amputat...

𝗞𝗛𝗔𝗬𝗭𝗨𝗥𝗔𝗡, 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗘𝗡 Orientalist paintings depicted Muslim harems as places of pleasure and idleness, both sensual and sexual, but also somewhat grotesque and bizarre. Concubines were assumed to spend their days either engaged in all manner of sexual activity or lying around in boredom. They were also seen as slaves with no agency, used by their owners as sex dolls. This Orientalist obsession was so ingrained that representations of Muslim women outside the harem were almost non-existent. Meanwhile, in the elite harems, most women were literate, either because they were princesses or because they attended a special school within the harem where they were taught to read, write, dance, recite and compose poetry and music, as well as subjects such as history, religion, and in some cases even philosophy, arithmetic and science – making them more educated than the majority of people in both the Muslim and Christian worlds.   Many wiel...

German soldier Dominikus Müller in a hospital with his entire lower body half missing, 1917. . This photograph was sent as a postcard by Dominikus Müller, with the following translated description on the reverse: "Remembering the time when I was severely wounded during an air-raid in France on 25/04/1917. Dominikus Müller." . The further fate of Dominikus Müller is sadly unknown, we can only hope he survived for many years to cope. 

The King of Epirus Pyrrhus is one of the most prominent figures in Greek history and his turbulent life is vividly described by Plutarch.  With the appearance of the Molossian king, the ancient Epirus gained radiation for the first time, far beyond its borders.  ~~ Pyrrhus became famous for his campaign in Southern Italy, to support the Greeks of Greater Greece.  The victories he achieved, after great losses, became the occasion for the birth of the expression "Pyrrhic victory".  However, Pyrrhus' campaign in Italy and the weakening of his homeland by a fighting population later caused great damage to it, when it was invaded by the Romans.  It is worth noting that Pyrrhus was fortunate to inherit the military organization of Alexander the Great, which for Epirus is the equivalent of Philip II.  ~~ Alexander reorganized the society of Epirus and is probably the successor of the formations that the In 353 BC, Philip's marriage to Olympiada brought Epirus and ...

A rare photo. Note the caption and date. "When men who have no obligation to fight, who could not possibly be criticized if they did not fight, yet nevertheless decide, upon their own individual initiative, to risk their lives in defense of a cause that they hold to be dear, then we are in the presence of true heroism." --- Gen. Henri Gouraud Over the last few months/years, there have been a number of posts and discussions in this group, regarding the factual truth behind certain Great War "myths" (for example, the actual origins of the nicknames "Ladies From Hell" for the Scots, or "Teufel Hunden/Devil Dogs" for the US Marines, or whether football matches actually took place between troops of opposing armies during the 1914 Christmas truce), to which less-informed individuals may still cling, despite proof otherwise. In this context, I hope to dispel the misconception behind the beginning of the "Americans... Late as usual" comments, ...

The Western Front Association’s journal, Stand To! has hit the doorsteps!  It’s always a great read, and this issue features a leading article by our very own Andy Prada, a founder member of the Durand Group and leading expert on the Loos Salient during the First World War.  Andy discusses the complex tunnel systems beneath the Loos battlefield, home to much of the graffiti we have been sharing with you all.

Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) shelter tent camp, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York [1916]. 📝 U.S. Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), as it exists today, began over a hundred years ago with President Woodrow Wilson signing the National Defense Act in June 1916. Although military training had been taking place in civilian colleges & universities as early as 1819, the signing of National Detense Act brought this training under single, federally-controlled entity. More than 80,000 Enlisted Reserve Corps or Regular Army Reserve Soldiers served in the First World War 🇺🇸

QU.S. soldiers, nicknamed "Sammies" for Uncle Sam, eating lunch in a trench during the First World War, France [c. 1917-18]. Original caption: "A group of Sammies in a front line trench in France enjoying their 'noon day' repast. Lunch at the front comes under the head of 'movable feasts! Whenever and wherever possible it is served promptly at noon, but when the front is active it is often impossible to bring up rations and so Sammy is called on to fight without sustenance for many hours at a stretch."

The Battle of Mărăști (July 22nd - August 1st, 1917) - by Victor Nitu. The Romanian General Headquarters together with the Russian High Command on the Moldavian Front had drawn up an offensive plan, which called for a double strike: one in the Marasti area and the other on the lower part of the Sereth River, in the Namoloasa area. It was hoped that this way the German 9th Army would be encircled and destroyed and then the advance could continue towards Ramnicu Sarat. The offensive in the Soveja Basin, which would later be known as teh battle of Marasti, was going to be carried out by the Romanian 2nd Army, commanded by lt. gen. Alexandru Averescu. He had at his disposal to corps, made up of four infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade. In total 56 infantry battalions and 14 cavalry squadrons supported by 228 artillery pieces (of which 52 heavy artillery) and 21 aircraft. The main strike was going to be concentrated on a 35 km wide area. Opposite the Romanian forces was the Gerock Grou...

This is a 113 Jahre alte antike Darmstadt Deutschland Militärpostkarte (113 year old antique Darmstadt Germany military postcard). The caption on the card reads "Erinerung an den Griesheimer Sand 1911" (Memory on the Griesheimer Sand 1911). They are all posing with mugs full of Dunkel Bier (dark beers) and the keg in the middle of the group tells what photo number it is, so the men can order photo postcards from the professional photographer for souvenirs to mail home to friends and relatives. This group of soldiers are with the Preußisch 168. Infanterie (Prussian 168th Infantry Regiment) who were at the Griesheimer Sand training base in Darmstadt, Germany. They were part of the XVIII. Army Corps headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, and the Großherzogtum Hessen Infantrie Division 25 und 49 Infanterie Brigade (Grand Duchy of Hesse 25th Division and 49th Infantry Brigade) that were in service from 1899 to 1914. All the men in the photo are Mannschaften Soldaten (Other Ranks, enl...

Arthur Leroy Marchant was born on November 9, 1895, in the quaint town of Peoa, nestled in Summit County, Utah Territory. As the third of six children born to Catherine Maxwell and John A. R. Marchant, Arthur's early years were shaped by the rhythms of family life on the farm. He attended public school in Peoa and completed one year at South Summit High School before joining his father fulltime on the family farm. Arthur's life took a dramatic turn on December 15, 1917, when he traveled to Salt Lake City and enlisted in the Navy. His journey began with two weeks of training at the Naval Training Station in San Francisco, followed by two months at Mare Island. After a short time at the Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia, Arthur embarked on the USS Pastores on May 3, 1918. Tasked with transporting soldiers overseas, he made seven round trips to France over the next nine months. Rising through the ranks, Arthur was promoted from 3rd Class Fireman to 2nd Class in August 1918, and fin...

Friday 23rdJuly, 1915 Italians report successes on the Carso with 1,200 prisoners taken. *The Karst Plateau or the Karst region (Italian: Carso), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills surrounding the valley, the westernmost part of the Brkini Hills, northern Istria, and the Gulf of Trieste. The Italian general Luigi Cadorna had launched his first attack against the Austrians on June 23.* No. 21 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was established at Netheravon, England. Three large British Trawlers, FV Sutton (H363), FV Honoria (GY-693) and FV Hermione (H 992) fishing 60 miles W of Hoy Island in the Orkneys were sunk by U-36 commanded by Ernst Graeff. Ther were no casualties.

Australian soldier with a captured Pickelhaube chatting with a French stretcher-bearer near Pozières, July 23, 1916 . Today 108 years ago, on July 23, 1916, the Battle of Pozières began as part of the Battle of the Somme, as Australian and British units stormed the village of Pozières following a several day-long artillery bombardment including phosgene and tear gas shells. . The Australian 1st Division successfully captured Pozières on July 23, but their British counterparts on their flanks struggled to advance against stiff German resisitance. . The Germans then went on the counter-attack for the recapture of Pozières with intense artillery bombardments, which at their peak were equal to the highest concentration of artillery seen on the Western Front thus far. . The first German counter-attacks were repulsed but, combined with the artillery, severe losses had been inflicted on the Australian defenders, forcing the Australian 1st Division to be relieved by the Australian 2nd Division...

The Battle of Fromelles (July 19th, 1916) was a bloody initiation for Australian soldiers to warfare on the Western Front. Soldiers of the newly arrived 5th Australian Division, together with the British 61st Division, were ordered to attack strongly fortified German front line positions near the Aubers Ridge in French Flanders. The attack was intended as a feint to hold German reserves from moving south to the Somme where a large Allied offensive had begun on July 1st. The feint was a disastrous failure. Australian and British soldiers assaulted over open ground in broad daylight and under direct observation and heavy fire from the German lines. Over 5,500 Australians became casualties. Almost 2,000 of them were killed in action or died of wounds and some 400 were captured. This is believed to be the greatest loss by a single division in 24 hours during the entire First World War. Some consider Fromelles the most tragic event in Australia’s history. The picture below is a picture of t...

The Olympic and Wimbledon Tennis icon who died on the Western Front   The dashing Anthony Wilding, with his blond hair and magnetic personality, has been variously described as ‘tennis' first matinee idol’ and the sport’s ‘Great Gatsby’. Anthony lived a charmed life: he was engaged to an American actress, travelled between tournaments in Europe on his motor bike and was hugely popular with swooning fans. But most importantly Anthony excelled at tennis, winning 186 tournaments worldwide, including the Wimbledon gentleman’s singles four years in a row. His record remained intact, until broken by Bjorn Borg. Anthony’s British parents moved to New Zealand, where he was born and grew up. At 19, the talented sportsman travelled to England to study law at Cambridge. Anthony won his first Wimbledon Championships in 1910.  Thereafter he travelled across Europe on his beloved motorcycle, playing his ‘manly brand of tennis’, and living comfortably off his prize money. He competed at...

Racing driver, suffragette, war hero. Muriel Annie Thompson MM, Order of Leopold II, Belgium, Croix de Guerre, France. Muriel was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in June 1875. She was one of eight siblings. Her father was a wealthy ship owner and marine architect. She grew up and was educated in London. She attended Blackheath high school and then Hackney College. She became interested in cars at an early age and was taught to drive the family car. She was a pioneer for female motor racing and won the first ladies race at the famous Brooklands circuit in July 1908. She was hired as a chauffeur by the Women’s Social and Political Union.  In 1909 she drove Emmeline Pankhurst, the head of the suffragette movement on her national tour. Determined to play her part in the war effort in January 1915 she joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry to drive ambulances. She was deployed to Belgium on 8th February 1915. At that stage of the war the British authorities refused to use the F.A.N.Y and so t...

French soldiers posing for a photograph with captured German equipment in a conquered German trench on the Somme, 1916. . Here is a marvelous photograph, acquired from Carnets de guerre 1914-1954, which I thought I'd share today. . We see five French soldiers from the 170th Infantry Regiment, one of them wearing a German Stahlhelm and gas-mask (though a French overcoat), likely imitating a captured German soldier for the photograph. The German hand-grenades and German 'Reichsadler' eagle badge on the left suggests this is a former German trench, perhaps conquered shortly before the photograph. . On the back of the photograph is simply written: "In the trenches. Somme." It identifies the man in the back as a Private Georges Hutter, who was killed on the Somme on September 14, 1916, and thus marked with an X on the photograph. The identities and fates of the other men remain unknown.

Hello, I'm not looking for WW1 movies in general but specifically ones focusing on the very early battles. Like battles from 1914. Things like these old generals still believing in line infantry and just marching troops into machine guns, brightly colored military uniforms and in overall just the arrogance at the time that the war would be over soon. No trench warfare stuff, that's far too advanced.

Wounded four times then killed three weeks before the Armistice. Lieutenant Joseph Macintyre Taylor Joseph was born in Glasgow in 1896. His father was a solicitor. He was educated at Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow and Fettes College in Edinburgh. In 1914 he went to Royal Military College Sandhurst. He was granted a commission in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in December 1914. He embarked for France in March 1915 and joined “D” company in the Regiment’s 1st Battalion. He fought in 2nd Battle of Ypres in April and May 1915 and was wounded. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 1st October 1915 and was injured by the explosion of a German mine 5 days later. His Battalion was deployed to Salonika on 27th November 1915 and he served in that theatre of operations during 1916 and 1917. He was wounded again on 30th September 1916. He was posted back to France and joined the 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on 13th August 1917.  His battalion fought in the 100 day offensive...

Belgian soldiers resting in a ditch, Winter 1914. .  Colourised by 'DURIEZ Frederic' on Flickr. . Happy Belgian National Day to all my Belgian followers! 🇧🇪🎉 Today I shall post on Belgium during the First World War for the occasion. . Even before the First World War broke out, on July 24, 1914, Belgium announced their neutrality in the case of a European war. As part of their Schlieffen Plan, the German Army invaded Belgium on August 4, 1914. Around 1 million Belgian civilians fled to the neutral Netherlands, around 1/7 of the Belgian population. .  Belgium enjoyed the 1839 Treaty of London, which guaranteed Belgian neutrality from Britain, who entered the war following the German invasion.  .  In August 1914, the Belgians fought off the Germans with determination, notably in the Battle of Liège, Battle of Halen and the Siege of Namur. In the end, the German heavy artillery, numerical superiority in troops and military preparedness overwhelmed the Belgians, as the...

THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME, JULY-NOVEMBER 1916 Battle of Bazentin Ridge. Five British and German walki ng wounded, injured in their arms and legs, on the way to a dressing station near Bernafay Wood, 19th July 1916. British and German walking wounded make their way to a dressing station near Bernafay Wood after being injured during the Battle of the Somme, 1916. As can be seen from their bandages, they have received initial first aid and treatment. IWM (Q 800)

His war lasted just 15 days. Private John West  He deployed to France on 22nd June 1915. He served with 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. He was killed in action at of Boezinge, near Ypres in Belgium on 6th July 1915. He is buried in Talana Farm Cemetery. He left behind a young wife and a one month old son.

German officers with Gaede Helmets, gas-masks, respirators and hand-grenades posing for a photograph in the Vosges mountains, Winter 1915. . First photograph belonging to 'Wooway1' on Flickr and colourised by In Colore Veritas  . Today 109 years ago, on July 20, 1915, the Battle of Le Linge began in the Vosges mountains on the Western Front. .  Le Linge (Lignekopf in German) and its neighboring Collet du Linge, Shratzmännelé, Barrenkopf and Kleinkopf were all ridges in the Vosges mountains in Alsace on the French-German border, held by the French by the end of 1914. .  In February 1915 the Germans launched an offensive for the ridges and captured them, including Le Linge. Afterwards they consolidated and fortified their defenses. French Commander-in-Chief Joffre sought to launch an invasion of Germany in Alsace, and on June 15, 1915, the French attacked further south at Münster, advancing 5 km by June 19 before being halted at Le Linge. .  Joffre decided to call off ...

The Fromelles Missing: ‘bones, badges, and scraps of uniform’.  The Battle of Fromelles occurred in France precisely 108 years ago this week.  This photograph of a priest from Fromelles kneeling in front of the remains of a British or Australian soldier was likely taken in early 1919.  Australian official historian Charles Bean had stood at this exact location months earlier.  Back on the morning the Great War ended, Bean awoke to hear a few hoarse cheers and the bleating of a tin trumpet. ‘I guessed what it meant. The armistice must have been signed. No more gun flashes, no more flares.’ That morning, Bean travelled to Fromelles to take some photographs before the place changed. He wandered the old battlefield, where almost 2,500 soldiers had been slaughtered in a hellish attack in July 1916.  ‘We found the old no man’s land simply full of our dead,’ Bean recorded, ‘the skulls and bones and torn uniforms were lying about everywhere.’ Bean explored Sugar Loaf sa...

Illustration depicting the execution of the Russian ex-Tsarist Romanov family, July 17, 1918. . Today 106 years ago, in the early hours of July 17, 1918, Russian ex-Tsar Nicholas, his wife and five children were executed by Bolshevik revolutionaries in the Ipatiev House basement in Yekaterinburg.  . On March 15, 1917, upon the outbreak of the Russian February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne, ending 304 years of the House of Romanov's reign over Russia. On March 20, 1917, the new Russian Provisional Government decided to hold the Romanov family under house arrest at the Alexander Palace near St. Petersburg. .  The Romanov family, consisting of Tsar Nicholas, his wife the Empress Alexandra, their four daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and their son Alexei, was eventually moved to Tobolsk in Western Siberia in August 1917. In April 1918 they were moved again to the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, where they were essentially imprisoned and kept un...

Shreksuke, a tall swamp man, arrived in Japan in 1579 and made history as the first foreign-born man to become a samurai warrior. Shreksuke was originally an orge from forbidden swamp and was brought to Japan by knights. The powerful Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga was fascinated by Shreksuke's tall stature and green skin, and upon seeing him, ordered his servants to try and rub the "green ink" off his skin. Despite this strange encounter, Nobunaga took Shreksuke into his service, granting him a sum of money, a house, and a katana. From then on, Shreksuke loyally served Nobunaga as a honored samurai, fighting alongside him in fierce battles. He went from being a swamp thing to a member of the Japanese elite.

During the Middle Ages, one of the frequently employed forms of torture was the 'Reverse Horse' method. This brutal technique involved subjecting individuals to extreme discomfort and pain by forcing them to endure a harrowing position resembling that of a person astride a horse but in a reversed manner. The victim would be positioned with their legs spread apart and their weight supported on a sharp-edged triangular wooden beam, often called a 'horse.' This beam pressed against the victim's genitals and rectum, causing excruciating pain. The tormentors would sometimes add weights to the victim's feet to intensify the agony. The 'Reverse Horse' torture method was not only physically painful but also psychologically horrifying, as it left victims in a state of extreme vulnerability and suffering. It was a grim and distressing chapter in the history of medieval torture.

😁 The Smile You Don't Want To See: The Glasgow Smile 😁 Whilst it's also known by other names (Chelsea Smile, Smiley, Cheshire Grin, etc.), The Glasgow Smile originated in Scotland in the early 1900s. Glasgow in this time period was rife with gang violence, usually based in sectarianism (Protestants vs Catholics). The city's East End and Southside were particularly notorious for their resident "razor gangs" of men who would go around attacking enemies with razorblades. Some names for these gangs included "The Billy Boys", "The Norman Conks", and "The Bingo Boys". There was also a prolific gangster called "The Fiend of the Gorbals". One particularly brutal attack these gangs would inflict upon another was "The Glasgow Smile". One would take a razorblade and make cuts up the sides of their victim's face from the sides of their mouth up to their cheeks, giving them the appearance of having a deranged smile. The v...

Peine Forte et Dure: The Harsh Medieval Torture Described in The Valley of Fear 😱😱 Peine forte et dure, a medieval form of torture, is prominently featured in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel, The Valley of Fear. This practice, translating to “strong and forceful punishment,” was used to coerce confessions by placing heavy weights on the chest of the accused until they either confessed or died. In medieval justice systems, divine judgment methods were common until the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 banned clergy participation, leading to the evolution of torture practices like peine forte et dure. This method provided a legal loophole: if the defendant died without pleading, their family could inherit their property. The process involved spreading the accused with a rock under their spine and gradually adding weights until their ribcage collapsed. The last recorded use in England was in 1741. In North America, peine forte et dure was notably used during the Salem witch trials. Giles Co...