The battle of Stockton, 1933

These days, Sunday afternoons in Stockton are relatively quiet. In the High Street few shops are open, and with the loss of the Cinema, the only signs of life are to be found in those pubs that are still open.

But this was not the case some 58 years ago when Stockton, for a few hours, suddenly found itself playing…

Source: The battle of Stockton, 1933

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“The Ideal German Soldier” | toritto

“The Ideal German Soldier” –  appearing on the front page of Berliner Tagsblatt newspaper, Sunday edition during the invasion of Poland – 1939. Our soldier’s picture w…

Source: “The Ideal German Soldier” | toritto

A Brief History of The War in Croatia – Background, Battlefields and Outcomes – Croatia, the War, and the Future

Vukovar, Croatia 1991 – brutally devastated from Serb aggression

To understand Croatia’s war in the 1990s, one needs to understand the historical background, as well as geopolitical interests of the international community, neighbours and international powers – and all of those interests before, during and after the war, as well as in the future.Croatia was, and still is, the hottest piece of geographic real estate in Europe. Croatia is the…

Source: A Brief History of The War in Croatia – Background, Battlefields and Outcomes – Croatia, the War, and the Future

The History Girls: ‘Algernon and Ernest’s Excellent Adventure’ by Lesley Downer

‘younger by six centuries’ pic from Rutherford Alcock The Capital of the Tykoon 1863

In October 1866 a young man called Algernon Mitford arrived in Japan. ‘I found myself in a world younger by six centuries than that which I had left behind,’ he recalled. Like the eponymous heroes of the 1989 film ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’, he had stepped into a time machine, but in his case, his experiences were real.

The extraordinary world that Mitford found himself in is …

Source: The History Girls: ‘Algernon and Ernest’s Excellent Adventure’ by Lesley Downer

Polish-Jewish ballet dancer Franceska Mann

Arriving at Auschwitz in 1943, Polish-Jewish ballet dancer Franceska Mann was ordered to disrobe for the crematorium….

Posted by HistoryBites on Friday, 8 September 2017

Lest We Forget | Actonbooks

A brave and by his own words modest man died last month. His name was Mike Dauncey. He was 97, and so in the language of the battle for hearts and minds that the English call the game of cricket, D…

Source: Lest We Forget | Actonbooks

October 1, 1918 Lawrence of Arabia – Today in History

I have been in hospital for two weeks, hence the gap in transmission.

Lawrence tried to convince his superiors that Arab independence was in their own best interest, but found himself undermined by the Sykes-Picot agreement, negotiated in secret between French and Br…

Source: October 1, 1918 Lawrence of Arabia – Today in History

WW2 espionage: The spies who surprised me | History Extra

Sir Max Hastings’ new book tells the story of espionage in the Second World War. Here he introduces some of the remarkable agents who captured his imagination, and reveals the momentous impact o…

Source: WW2 espionage: The spies who surprised me | History Extra

Revolution in Russia 1: Understanding Influences | First World War Hidden History

The First World War drained Russia, literally and metaphorically. By January 1917, after two-and-a-half years of mortal combat, six million young Russians had been killed, seriously wounded or lost…

Source: Revolution in Russia 1: Understanding Influences | First World War Hidden History

September 12, 1940 Lascaux Caves – Today in History

Entering via a long tunnel, the boys discovered what turned out to be a cave complex, its walls covered with depictions of animals.  Hundreds of them.  Four teenagers in Nazi occupied France, had d…

Source: September 12, 1940 Lascaux Caves – Today in History

The History Girls: The writer, the spies and leaf-mould memories by Deborah Burrows

I first visited the museum at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, UK in 2014, and went again last month. It is a fascinating museum, in many ways representing the triumph of eccentricity over evil. At Bletchley a group of dedicated men and women – many of them amateurs with a gift for …

Source: The History Girls: The writer, the spies and leaf-mould memories by Deborah Burrows

Painting the Town Red: Spies & Secret Agents in London Restaurants & Hotels in the 1920s | cabinetroom

If you were wanting to learn about the history of London’s bars, restaurants and hotels – or indeed just to choose somewhere nice for dinner – you might not immediately think to look in the MI5 archives. These files, which the British government has gradually been declassifying and which are held at the National Archives in Kew, are full of unexpected details about…

Source: Painting the Town Red: Spies & Secret Agents in London Restaurants & Hotels in the 1920s | cabinetroom

Admiring the Adelphi | Jane Austen’s London

In the 1750s the three-acre site between the Strand and the Thames that had once been occupied by Durham House was nothing more than a ruinous network of slum courts. It was to be transformed into …

Source: Admiring the Adelphi | Jane Austen’s London

The Milkman | Iconic Photos

Keep Calm and Carry On, proclaimed the poster which is now overused and over-parodied. Ironically, the poster was never used — the campaign was abandoned just as the Second World War began. In…

Source: The Milkman | Iconic Photos

Tilly Edinger vs. the Nazis. | Letters from Gondwana.

“Tilly” Edinger was born on November 13, 1897, in Frankfurt, Germany. She was the youngest daughter of the eminent neurologist Ludwig Edinger and Dora Goldschmidt, a leading social advocate and acti…

Source: Tilly Edinger vs. the Nazis. | Letters from Gondwana.