What is History? | History Today
WEBAug 8, 2020 · History is the study of people, actions, decisions, interactions and behaviours. It is so compelling a subject because it encapsulates themes which expose the human condition in all of its guises and that resonate throughout time: power, weakness, corruption, tragedy, triumph …. Nowhere are these themes clearer than in political history ...
George Stephenson's First Steam Locomotive | History Today
WEBJul 7, 2014 · A milestone in railway transportation, George Stephenson's first steam train was unveiled on July 25th, 1814. Within a few years of his death in 1848 George Stephenson was called ‘the father of the railways’, but that accolade has been challenged because there were other engineers involved in the development of …
Native Americans and the Federal Government | History Today
WEBWhite Americans, headed by the federal government, were the ‘bad guys’, cheating Indians out of their land and resources. Native Americans were the ‘good guys’, attempting to maintain a traditional way of life much more in harmony with nature and the environment than the rampant capitalism of white America, but powerless to defend their ...
Why Early Christians Were Persecuted by the Romans
WEBThe real basis was the popular suspicion, contempt, and hatred for the early Christians. Without this motivating force it is inconceivable that the persecutions could have occurred. Under Nero (54-68) occurred the first persecution of a ‘new and mischievous superstition’, as Suetonius described it.
The Amritsar Massacre - History Today
WEBApr 4, 2009 · Early in April 1919 news of the arrest of Indian nationalist leaders in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar sparked riots in which a mob went on the rampage, killing several Europeans, leaving an English female missionary for dead, and looting numerous banks and public buildings. British and Indian troops under the command of Brigadier-General ...
What is Confucianism? - History Today
WEBMar 9, 2017 · Stressing the importance of correct behaviour, loyalty and obedience to hierarchy, Confucianism is a system of ethics devised by the Chinese scholar K’ung Fu-tzu (Latinised to Confucius) in sixth century BC China. An itinerant teacher, Confucius (551–479 BC) essentially systematised elements of ancient Chinese philosophy, which were later ...
The Crusades: A Complete History | History Today
WEBMay 5, 2015 · The First Crusade was called in November 1095 by Pope Urban II at the town of Clermont in central France. The pope made a proposal: 'Whoever for devotion alone, but not to gain honour or money, goes to Jerusalem to liberate the Church of God can substitute this journey for all penance.'.
Siam Becomes Thailand - History Today
WEBJun 6, 2014 · People speaking one of the Tai group of languages settled in what is now Thailand around 1,000 years ago. The name Siam came from a Sanskrit word, syam. It was adopted by the Portuguese from the 16th century and became the accepted geographical term. Kingdoms rose and fell, but from the 1780s …
The Man Who Invented Pi | History Today
WEBJul 7, 2009 · William Jones, mathematician from Wales, 1740. The history of the constant ratio of the circumference to the diameter of any circle is as old as man's desire to measure; whereas the symbol for this ratio known today as π (pi) dates from the early 18th century. Before this the ratio had been awkwardly referred to in medieval Latin as: quantitas ...
The Opium Wars - History Today
WEBJun 6, 2012 · The wars of 1839-42 and 1856-60 are a perfect case study of the divergence of opinion that the British Empire continues to generate. Julia Lovell | Published in History Today Volume 62 Issue 6 June 2012. Combat at Guangzhou (Canton) during the Second Opium War. Despite Niall Ferguson’s efforts in 2003 to partially rehabilitate British ...