Castles: Their History and Evolution in Medieval Britain

Castles: Their History and Evolution in Medieval Britain by Marc Morris

What are castles? Why we seem to understand what castles are, defining one can be challenging. The book attempts to define castles and trace their history in England. British castles were heavily influenced by the French. William the Conqueror has a giant castle in Normandy. He later conquered England. Many minor nobles had their castles which were used for both defense and display of wealth and power. Castles eventually fell out of popularity as the rich created country estates instead. In addition to the history of the buildings, this book details some of the key castle owners and interesting events that occurred in British castles.

Heligoland: The True Story of German Bight and the Island that Britain Forgot

Heligoland: The True Story of German Bight and the Island that Britain Forgot by George Drower

Heligoland is a small island in the North Sea. It is constantly beaten by the sea, so much so that a few centuries ago it was split into two. It is far enough from the mainland to be missing from many charts, yet close enough to be strategically useful. The island has been inhabited for centuries, never growing huge, but remaining pretty stable. The island has swapped ownership a number of times. For a while, it was a Danish possession. Then it became an English colony before it was ceded to Germany (in a peacetime transaction involving African colonies.) It was reclaimed by England after World War II, and then given back to Germany after it had been heavily bombed.

The residents of the island have been occasionally kicked off - often during times of war or bombing. However, they have usually returned. They have historically been involved in sea-faring activities. They are talented in maneuvering boats in the adverse conditions and in finding fish for sustenance. The island has also become a tourist destination for Germans and seemed to help with creative impulses. The German national anthem was written by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben while he was on vacation in Heligoland (ironically when it was still a British possession.) Heisenberg came up with his uncertainty principle while on the island. 

The book has a fairly haphazard structure. It is written from a very British perspective. A recurring theme is that the Heligolanders loved when they were under British control and did not like the German overlordship. At times the book will dwell on certain related events for seemingly endless pages, then jump forward a few decades. It feels that there was just not enough available in the sources, so the author grabbed what they could when there were tangentially related details.

Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land

This is an attempt at a large history of what is today the eastern part of europe, with a focus on Poland, but expanding to other areas. Today, the residents are more likely to refer to themselves as central europeans, due to the stigma of the iron curtain. The region has been part of many different government entities. Poland was once one of the most open regions. It had a large multi-cultural population. Then Hitler came and it is now mostly Poles. The Soviet block came into play. Communism did alright, but never had a strong hold of everyone. Russia has exerted its experience in the region.

The biggest fault of the book is the wide scope. It feels like it takes on too much, and then gets into minute details that distract from the big picture.

Lingo: Around Europe in Sixty Languages

Lingo has 60 short chapters exploring languages of Europe. Most languages also include some English loan words from the language as well as a "useful" word from that language that is not in English. The languages include many of the "big ones" (such as English and German) as well as many smaller ones, such as the extinct Dalmatian or the "back from the dead" Cornish.

The chapters are mostly fun explorations of unique aspects of a language, performed in a light-hearted manner. Chapters are grouped with subheadings such as "Intensive care" and "Werds, wirds, wurds". The language chapters are written in a variety of different styles with different goals. There is a lesson on learning cyrillic in the Russian chapter, while Hungarian is a treated as a counseling visit for language isolation. There is even a section on "identifying a language" entirely by the script. The entertaining book gave me the desire to explore little known languages, while also exposing the fuitlessless of trying to speak them fluently.

Geography Is Destiny: Britain's Place in the World: A 10,000 Year History

Geography Is Destiny analyzes Brexit from the really long view. England has been somewhat part of Europe for milenia, but it has also been separate. The many islands of the coast of the European continent were connected during previous ages. At other times they were all fairly independent before being largely unified today.

Great Britain was once a Roman outpost. This was a strong "European Union". However, Rome ended up parting ways. Later it was the church union. The Catholic church played a similar role of Brussels today. England also took a similar exit. Today England continues to have close ties to other parts of the world. Other English speaking countries or Chine may feel closer. The former British empire continues to have strong ties.

The book goes into prehistoric and historic analysis of Britain's place in the world. There is interesting genetic analysis and reanalysis. History will often change based on the time it is written. We have stories like that of King Author that seem to have only appeared long after the events took place. This makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction. There were also the many viking raids. Were these exaggerated (much as terrorist attacks would be exaggerated today?) or did they play the large role we see? It is always easier to raid than it is to govern the territory. Despite large empires, Britain maintains an independent streak.

Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

Ravenna spent a brief period of time as the capital of the Roman Empire. However, its influence extended beyond that. It lay on the Adriatic coast and was often pulled by the Eastern Byzantines. There was a strong culture that evolved there with many artistic mosaics. Eventually, the access to the see was silted up and nearby Venice became the prime seagoing port of the area.

The Fracture Zone: A Return to the Balkans

Simon Winchester usually does a great job of meandering around a topic, giving a great deal of personal background to the subject he is covering. In The Fracture Zone, that meandering is pretty much all there is. He goes to the balkans and explores the area and the people. There are still plenty of different groups with different goals and desires. There are different groups of people that don't get along. There are also people with shared ancestors  that don't get along. It makes for all sorts of conflict.

Afropean: Notes from Black Europe

Afropean explores the lives of the "outsiders" in Europe. While the focus is on blacks, the plights of Arabas and other "outsiders" is covered. The author takes us through many places with different views of race and ethnicity. Even in the same country, there can be very different experiences (such as Paris vs. Marseilles and Amsterdam vs. Rotterdam). There are also historical interludes and trips to places such as Ethiopia and New York City. 

In many places in Europe, blacks reside in the immigrant underclass. There is an odd relationship of partial toleration. In France, everyone is considered "French", yet black French are often looked down on. The police will regularly sweep through the vendors in Paris, only for the vendors to go back to their old locations. Most cities have the "poor neighborhood" that is filled with blacks. There is a separate culture there, not quite African and not quite European. It is Afropean.

The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History

The Napoleonic Wars is a long book that covers the Napoleonic Wars as well as all the world history that immediately related to it. Napoleon himself only plays a minor part in the story. There are shifting alliances among other European countries. The European nations at the time had colonies throughout the world. Thus, the various conflicts among the nations spread through the entire world.

Napoleon rose to power after the French Revolution. The revolution started out as an attempt to ensure freedom for the people. Alas, this freedom ended up with people that did not like the "right" freedom losing their heads. Eventually, the best way to be "free" was to have a strong leader that could force other people to be "free." Napoleon filled this void. He was a keen military leader and took advantage of this opportunity to take over the army and eventually declare himself emperor. All of the idealism of the revolution simply resulted in the replacement of one despot with another. (Oh, and a few million people died in the process.) Alas, this pattern has seemed to repeat itself again and again as the "people" throw out the despot only to end up needing a new despot to force the "will of the people". A violent progressive revolution is a dangerous thing.

The events of the Napoleonic war caused massive changes in other parts of the world. A number of colonies switched hands during the time. Many took that opportunity to proclaim their own independence.  It was not a direct process. There were rises and falls before the revolutions finished playing out. France, Spain and Britain were somewhat involved, but also busy with the European battles. Asia was also involved, with China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia all touched by these wars. The United States also grew with the Louisiana purchase. International trade was impacted by the wars as countries tried to block others from trading. Slavery was initially banned by the French, but Napoleon was convinced to maintain it. (The Haitian government created after a slave rebellion was blackballed by much of the world.)

Back in Europe, Napoleon created a large (if temporary) unification of Europe. In some sense, it was a preview of the European Union that would come in the future. There were some bad economic decisions in the process. However, in the end it was primarily overextension of military quests that did in Napoleon. 

Napoleon was exiled, then came back. He seemed to have a chance, but just was not quite up to his old self. This time he was exiled a little more thoroughly. France was also punished more thoroughly with more territory lost than at the end of the previous peace. The author posits that the way tides had turned, Napoleon would have eventually met his defeat no matter what had happened. He just made some mistakes that caused it to happen earlier. Britain seemed to be the big European winner. After the huge number of deaths, there was a lot more respect for conservative leadership. The ideals of the French revolution did continue to hold some sway, they just progressed a little slower.

Balkans: A Short History

The Balkans are rarely heard of except when something bad happens. World War I was kicked off by an assassination in the Balkans. More recently there was a long drawn out conflict after Yugoslavia disintegrated. What is going on there?

The Balkans were slow to develop due to their geography. The mountains made travel challenging. The rivers were not easily navigable, and seemed to flow off in to the wrong direction. It was not an area that rulers would concern themselves with. 

The region also did not have a strong ethnic identity. The population adopted Christianity, yet was ruled by Muslims. It also had an active Jewish population. These groups tended to live together without much problem. They were often willing to adopt the parts of the religion that best suited the population. Some people would switch religions as they would benefit. The population was predominantly rural and due to geography did not have significant interactions with others.

The concept of the "nation state" was somewhat forced upon the Balkans. The concept of the state came first. Then people were encouraged to join the group that fit them. People were not "Bulgarians" or "Romanians" until the country came about. However, these identities later became a nice excuse for battling those that somebody did not agree with.

The implied message from this book is that people of the Balkans largely want to go along living in peace. However, when the world decided they needed to play "state games", they obliged and set about fighting each other.

(I also find it interesting that I had read this same book a decade before without realizing it.)

Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem

Columbus is a complicated figure. At one time he was venerated. Now he is often demonized. Regardless of he his is viewed, he played an important role in history. The primary sources available are remarkably abundant, yet influenced by the passing of time. After all, his voyages were over 500 years ago. The American Revolution is much closer to our days than it is to the time of Columbus.

Some of the mythology gets in the way of understanding Columbus. He, like many educated people of the day knew that the earth was round. However, he miscalculated the size of the earth. America happened to be right where he thought Asia would be. He was a great navigator and went through great efforts to launch his voyage. He had to spend time wooing monarchs in order to get funds to sail into the unknown. 

Religion was an important part of his reasoning for sailing - and one of his political talking points. He thought of the expedition as a great chance to help convert the Great Khan and his subjects to Christianity. He also saw it has a chance to accumulate gold to finance a crusade to retake Jerusalem. He also saw his discoveries as part of the steps needed for the oncoming of Christ's millennial reign, which was to come in about 150 years. Towards the end of his life he published a work that detailed many of his religious views.

Crews were initially reluctant to join him. However, after he succeeded on the first voyage, he had many more people willing to join him. This was perhaps a bigger challenge. Now in addition to navigating and exploring, he had to manage people. The "elites" didn't want to do the hard work of colony building. Men were also eager to abuse the natives and found the unclothed women especially tempting. Columbus's first settlement of La Navidad was totally destroyed by the natives after the settlers had behaved poorly with the natives. 

Many of the Spaniards saw the natives as inferior and felt no qualms of abusing them. Columbus was often at odds with his fellow Europeans. They preferred to live in their "European" style and treat the natives as slaves. These Europeans were often high ranking. They would use their position to report vitriol against Columbus, even sending him back to Spain in chains at the end of one voyage. Columbus even had concerns with the religious leaders. He wanted to make sure that the natives could be instructed in the teachings of Christ before they would be baptized. 

The "Indians" that were encountered were not a single entity. There were different groups. Some shared common customs and got along well with each others. Others were not so friendly. Some of the Carib Indians had customs that were seen as especially barbaric, such as cannibalism and sodomy. It became a question of how best to punish them. Some were brought back as slaves. (Slavery of non Christians was commonly accepted at the time.) Other friendly Indians were also brought back to Europe. 

Columbus died still thinking he found Asia, not a new continent. He had a special love for Santo Domingo, yet was upset with the poor behavior of those sent to rule there. Each generation has tried to make Columbus in their own image. As scientific rationality took hold, the "science" of this voyage took the forefront, with the religious point of view brushed aside. In today's anti-racist climate, the poor behavior of his crews and later followers have led people to accuse Columbus of genocide, mass murder and slavery. Alas, this all tries to simplify a complex man and put him in mold of the current day. Even the primary sources we can find can be somewhat misleading. (Columbus had plenty of enemies who loved to exaggerate or make up horrible claims.) The irony of those spewing negativity is that Columbus was one of the more liberal, peaceful men of his days. He had much greater respect for the "Indians" and their land than did the typical European sailor.  

The Habsburgs: To Rule the World

The Habsburgs had a very long history in Europe. They once controlled a large swatch of land (and most of the European wealth.) However, inbreeding eventually led to mental issues and the extinction of the male heirs. Eventually World War I led to the end of the empire, with the remainder of the family living primarily as celebrities.

During their history, they ruled over Spain and the new world empire as well as Austria, Hungary, the "low countries" and "yogoslav" areas. The control tended to vary. Different areas would have different degrees of autonomy over time. The Habsburg leadership mad their share of good and bad choices. However, genetics and cultural forces led to the downfall.  

A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence and Social Division in Modern Spain

Spain has had quite the history of corruption and incompetence. This book generally covers the last century until today. World War II is covered, but it is gone over quickly. Franco's Spain was more of a "little brother to a little brother". They wanted to be aligned with Germany to gather the spoils, but really didn't provide strategic value. The right wing government had little understanding of economics and thought they could get a Spanish miracle by printing money. Alas, that didn't work. However there was plenty of corruption around. (There was also the curious case of the regime accusing those that were opposed to their initial coup as being "enemies of the state."
Spain just seemed to have a mess of a leadership. Franco's regime was in principle a conservative response to the rising communist/socialist powers. However, it seemed that ideology was second fiddle to personal aggrandizement. Franco and his cronies accumulated great riches. Spain would boom and bust.
Even post Franco, the leadership had interesting ways of doing things. King Juan Carlos was popular. But his reputation fell in part due to a "friendship" with a lady. The country was able to prosper with huge construction booms. However, these would be very cyclical, leaving periods of massive unemployment. There was also plenty of corruption in rezoning of properties to allow for the big construction booms.
There is also the matter of Catalan and Basque country. There are regular cries for independence and plebiscite votes, and even violence. However, the regions still remain part of Spain. The leftists, especially in the cities, regularly rise up in the name of workers. Some people do end up with nice government jobs, but the workers often do not end up significantly better off.
The book paints a picture of a continual mess of corruption and incompetence that has not really changed in the past century. Luckily, the Germans and Brits love the land and somehow find a way of helping to keep the Spanish governmental mess from collapsing.

The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931

Deluge describes how the events of World War I ushered in a massive change in the world order and a dominance of the United States. Some of the early sections offer a strong condemnation of US policy towards "minor" players in the war effort. Some small policy shifts in American policy may have led to massively different outcomes in Russia and China which would have impacted events in World War 2 and the cold war.
The book is fairly harsh on president Wilson. He seemed to be too idealistic, yet patronizing. It seems a lot of the issues of the time rose from people thinking they new what was best for other people. Many of the various revolutions revolved around charismatic elite claiming they spoke for the peasants. It seems to be a similar problem we have today. Leaders get the "masses" to side with them, but their solutions are just crafted to "look good" to the masses. Often they benefit the "elite" who know their way around the restrictions.
The interwar period was also significantly impacted by debt payment. It seemed that even back then, the bankers were able to extract the needed concessions from the countries involved. Reparations were only a small part of the system of transfer of payments, with payments to allies often being more significant. There was also little attention given to those outside of western Europe. How would things be different today if a few small changes were made in the late 1910s?

1434

[August 2011] In 1434, Gavin Menzies provides an Chinese-centric history of the renaissance. This is a follow up to 1421 in which China is seen as having early contact with the American continent. Eventually bureaucracy shut down the grand explorations and Europe went on to assume its role as great explorer and innovator.

The stories presented are roundly criticized by historians for not being factual. However, the arguments do have a strong element of plausibility. Perhaps the real truth is somewhere in between. China obviously provided some inspiration to Europe. (Nobody discounts Marco Polo). There could have been much greater connections that were simply lost in the historical record. (People would much rather have appeared to come up with something on their own than to have copied it.)

Epochs of European Civilization: Antiquity To Renaissance

Epochs of European Civilization: Antiquity To Renaissance starts with a lecture on the Jews.

Wait a second. Israel part of Europe?

Well, geographically, it may not be. But the European geographic boundaries are arbitrary at best. Culturally, the Jewish culture has played a big role in the European state. Christianity sprung out of Israel to become the dominant religion of Europe. Even the Jews that remained played important parts in the emergence of the European power. The Jewish bankers were indispensable to the European monarchs. Even as they were persecuting Jews, they would hold on to their key financial authorities. The separation and persecution of the Jews helped them to grow stronger and develop special skills and attributes that benefited European society. (Does that mean that the integration of Jews in to modern society will hurt them?)

These lectures pay a lot of attention to the role of religion and church within the culture of Europe. This makes a lot of sense. The Catholic can be considered the de facto continuation of the Roman empire, and spent a thousand years as the dominant force in Europe. The conversion of different peoples were also significant events in the middle ages. From this perspective, the crusades were seen as a way to "unite" the disparate small kingdoms. The underlying theme helps tie together many of the other key "battles" and "events" in ancient European history and makes for very informative lectures.

A History of Hitler's Empire

This series of lectures does a great job of presenting Hitler in his time. The key events that lead to his power in Germany were described. Hitler's strengths along with the proper sidekicks and right situations all helped him gain power. The Nazi party had a bizarre set of values. However, in the nutcase that was interwar Germany the simple "we stand for something different" was all that was needed to gain a large share of the votes.

The early rise of Hitler's nazi party seems perfectly legitimate. Later on there was a little thugery. However, even that could be brushed aside. Hitler was a deft salesman, often building off of the supposed international abuses to unite the German people. The catch was the logical extension - you either go on conquering, or have your empire implode as you run out of enemies.

The actual war years only hold a brief section of this work. A disproportionate amount of the war coverage relates to the Holocaust. However, the actual extermination of the Jews seems to have been not very well known in the world or inside Germany until near the end of the war. The attack on Jews was a natural extension of the "unity through enemies" approach carried out by Nazi party. However, when the enemies are different and have money, they become easy target. The impression in these lectures is that the cruelty originated from lower level functionaries, but those higher up did not object and later gave their approval. (Some even began to take pride in their ability to "dehumanization" them.)

The lectures bring out the point that Hitler was not some gross aberration, but a product of our western culture. Germany of the time had one of the most open, educated, liberal welfare states. However, it also felt abused by other nations, and was thus ready for someone to unite them against a common enemy. Unfortunately, this had disastrous results. Could this be repeated again?

A world lit only by fire

This book rambles on about the middle ages and renaissance, and eventually goes on the laud Magellan. Finally in the afterward he explains that it started after he wrote an introduction for a friend's work on Magellan. He decided that he wanted to write a brief background to the times of the explorer. Things got out of hand, and we ended up with this book. He also admits to using all secondary sources in the work.

Alas, what we have is a book that is half filled with lurid details of the depredations of corrupt popes, and half filled with the voyage of Magellan. Here is the middle ages as seen through the eyes of modern sensibilities.

This book reads like a disorganized term paper on the middle ages that was graded on length not quality. About the only part worthwhile part was the tale of Magellan's final fall. And this would probably be better told in a more focussed book. That leaves, well, nothing to recommend in this book.

Epochs of European Civilization 2: Reformation to the 21st Century

The Modern Scholar: Epochs of European Civilization (set 7 cds,plus paperback book)
These lectures provide a rapid summary of the last few centuries of European history. With the large amount of material in a short space, there is obviously not time for in depth coverage of particular people and events. However, the large time frame does have the advantage of being able to provide context and historical explanations for significant events.

The course starts with the protestant reformation. This grew in part out of the Roman church's over-extension. As the church made the savings of souls more complex (and financially lucrative), others sought a return to a more "basic" religion. This in turn lead to the reformation both outside of the Church (Luther, Calvin, etc.) and within the church itself. In addition to the church, people such as Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, started taking an external look at society itself, starting with The Persian Letters.

The Enlightenment also grew out of this new found rational look at society. Part of the impetus for the enlightenment was political. Warfare became more expensive and dependent on more professional soldiers. As the hiring of mercenaries became more expensive, leaders found it more beneficial to raise and support standing armies from within. This required providing more for them - a sense of patriotism or shared belief was critical as was general care for the subjects.

As science and thinking rose in Europe, nationalism also went on the rise. The nation-state became the ideal. However, people were not aligned in a way to make these easy, with many "common" people spread across different geographic areas. The rise of German nationalism, in particular lead to the first World War. And the poor conditions (and reparations) afterward lead to the second and the Nazis. The Jews were often seen as a scapegoat - in part because of their success and dominant position. (Wagner was reported to have created his music to show the triumph of the "emotional" German over the strict orderliness [seen by many as Jewish economics] - this seems somewhat ironic as Germans themselves now have the reputation as rule-following money-makers).

The rise of socialism is seen as an experiment that didn't succeed. Few reasons are directly spelled out for the failure. However, it is acknowledged that the Russian experiment alienated many other European socialists.

Modern Europe continues to grow and have its own new challenges. The meta-state of the European Union is a large bureaucracy without an obvious leader. Often policies fall far short of their grand goals. And when they succeed (such as food policy) they can often benefit Europe as a whole at the expense of the world. [Hmm, isn't that what should happen?] Europe also suffers from projecting a few from their experiences on to the world. They assume a state must fully secularize to become part of the "club". (However, America shows an opposite approach where strong religious faith remains - protected by yet separated from the state.)

This contained a nice introduction to European history. The emphasis is on the key events, with just a few well-thought out explanations. While there are occasional bits of detail, these are mostly on "key" events that help illuminate the rapid-fire story.