Today's article: Robespierre's Terror

Sunday, February 27, 2011

This is the 3rd part of these series of articles from the French Revolution. Hope you guys like it.

Today's article: French Revolution Pt. 2

Saturday, February 26, 2011

As promised, here's the continuation of the French Revolution article. Enjoy

The Assembly Reforms France

The night of August 4, 1789, noblemen made grand speeches, declaring their love of liberty and equality. Motivated by fear, they joined other members of the National Assembly in sweeping away the feudal privileges of the First Estate and the Second Estate. By morning, the Old Regime was dead.

This weekend's articles: The French Revolution

Friday, February 25, 2011

I've been busy this week because I had a lot of homework but I got you guys a weekend-long article special. The French Revolution! This is one of my favorite subjects in History. I'm gonna write several articles about the French Revolution this weekend, hope you guys like it.

Old Regime

In the 1770's the feudalism system, called the Old Regime, remained in place. France was divided into three large social classes, or estates.

The Privileged Estates

The Roman Catholic Church, whose clergy formed the First Estate, owned 10 percent of the land in France. The Second Estate was made up of rich nobles. They made up only 2 percent of the population.


 
The Third Estate

About 98 percent of the people belonged to the Third Estate. The first group- the bourgeoisie were merchants and artisans. The workers of France's cities-cooks, servants, and others-formed the second group. Peasants formed the largest group within the Third Estate-more than 80 percent.

The Forces of Change

Enlightment Ideas

New views about power and authority in government were spreading among the Third Estate. The people began questioning these notions about the structure of society and started using words like equality, liberty, and democracy.

Economic Woes

Louis XVI, who became king in 1774, inherited part of the debt from his predecessors. He also borrowed heavily in order to help the American revolutionaries in their war against their long-time enemy, Great Britain.

A Weak Leader


Louis married his wife Marie Antoinette. As queen, she spent so much money on gowns, jewels, and gifts that she became known as Madame Deficit. Louis put off dealing with the emergency until France faced bankruptcy. Then when he tried to tax aristocrats, the Second Estate forced him to call a meeting of the Estates-General.

Revolution Dawns

The National Assembly


Abbe Sieyes, in a dramatic speech, suggested that the Third Estate delegates name themselves the National Assembly and pass laws and reforms in the name of the French People. On June 17, 1789, they voted to establish the National Assembly, in effect proclaiming the end of absolute monarchy and the beginning of representative government. Three days later, the Third Estate delegates found themselves locked out of their meeting room.

Storming the Bastille

The king stationed his mercenary army of Swiss guards in Paris, since he no longer trusted the loyalty of the French soldiers. Since rumors that foreign troops were coming to massacre French citizens, people gathered weapons in order to defend Paris against the king's foreign troops. The angry crowd overwhelmed the king's soldiers, and the Bastille fell into the control of the citizens. The fall of the Bastille became a great symbolic act of revolution to the French people. Even since, July 14 has been a French national holiday, similar to the U.S. Fourth of July.

Anyway, this is only the beginning of the French Revolution, tomorrow I will write another article about the beheading of Louis XVI and what not. Throw comments about this article, don't hesitate to ask questions, I'll try to respond.

Today's Article: World War I

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Start of the War

World War I began on July 28, 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. This seemingly small conflict between two countries spread rapidly: soon, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, and France were all drawn into the war, largely because they were involved in treaties that obligated them to defend certain other nations. Western and eastern fronts quickly opened along the borders of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Today's Article: Ulysses S. Grant

Sunday, February 20, 2011

First of all, sorry for not posting any articles yesterday, I was busy at work and couldn't post my article, but here it is! Hope you like it.

Why Ulysses S. Grant? Well, Ulysses S. Grant served as Union Army General, as General of the United States Army and also was the 18th president. He fought on the Mexican-American war, although he opposed it, he aided Mexico during the French Intervention on Mexico, sending weapons to Benito Juarez, he enforced Civil rights laws as a president and fought against the KKK.

Tonight's article: Badass Finnish Hero Simo Häyhä

Friday, February 18, 2011

Greetings fellow readers.

Well, I didn't want to write about this guy in my last article because the article is already too long so I decided to write a exclusive article about him.

 This guy, THE guy, is one of the most badassest soldiers out there, better than John Basilone imo. Not many people have heard of Simo Hayha. Well he served the Finnish lines during the Winter War (1939-1940) and did his duty as a sniper. This guy's house is full of trophies for marksmanship before he joined the service.

Today’s article: The Winter War or Zee Ski-Equipped Troops Are Killing Me Komrades!

One of my favorite wars of all time is the Finnish-Soviet war or Winter War. I mean, the Finnish were outmanned and outgunned and still managed to inflict some severe losses to the Soviets. Although the Finnish lost, the tactics and strategies used by the Finnish are pretty damn awesome.

And to celebrate the 100 mark, one of my favorite subjects... AIRCRAFTS!

From the so called Dogfights, I write this article in memory of those who fought their battles in the sky.

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft.
Fighters are the primary means by which armed forces gain air superiority over their opponents in battle. Since at least World War II, achieving and maintaining this air superiority has been a key component of victory in warfare, particularly conventional warfare, between regular armies (as opposed to guerrilla warfare).

Kamikaze planes hitting U.S. Navy

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Kamikaze pilots would attempt to crash their aircraft into enemy ships—planes often laden with explosives, bombs, torpedoes and full fuel tanks. The aircraft's normal functions (to deliver torpedoes or bombs or shoot down other aircraft) were put aside, and the planes were converted to what were essentially manned missiles in an attempt to reap the benefits of greatly increased accuracy and payload over that of normal bombs. The goal of crippling as many Allied ships as possible, particularly aircraft carriers, was considered critical enough to warrant the combined sacrifice of pilots and aircraft.

USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa (photo above) and another airman on May 11, 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600.

Just wanted to share this with you guys. What do you think of these attacks? Would you do the same for your country? Some comments would be appreciated

The 19th Century Revolution

Our modern (or contemporary) world has its origins in the 19th century. Particularly in regard to developments in politics, economics and in the Industrial Revolution which occurred in Europe (including Russia) and in the US and which spread in a significant manner to Japan during the 19th century.

It seems these developments have spread across our modern world to such a significant degree that countries today are considered "modernized" or "developing" in regard to how they compare with what emerged from the 19th century in Europe and the US.

Top 10 Badasses You Haven't Heard Of

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Okay granted there may be one or two on this list that you do know – though maybe not by name – but hopefully the vast majority of readers will be unfamiliar with most of the badass men and women featured on this list. History is full of badasses, and it is very hard to rank them, so here we are ranking by reverse chronological order. Enjoy the list and be sure to mention other badasses in the comments. This list was inspired by the book “Baddass” by Ben Thompson which contains a chapter on each of the characters below as well as dozens more.

Common Misconceptions in History

We've all heard things which are incorrect in regards to history but is generally accepted outside the world of closer research and study.

What ones have you heard about you'd deem a common misconception?