Wholesome History Reads Group discussion
What I'm Reading
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Gia
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Mar 25, 2019 12:13PM
I have finished reading "John Adams" by David McCullough today and I will never be the same again...what an epic read! The next book I will be reading is "Six Frigates" by Ian Toll. I can hardly wait to get started! :)
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Sounds like it must have been a excellent read. I hope you enjoy "Six Frigates" just as much, keep us all posted.
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"One of the most touching moments of the entire journey occurred in Washington when the Indians visited the College of Deaf Mutes. Miguel immediately established a rapport with the deaf boys and, with sign language, enthralled them with tales of the animals and forests far to the west where he lived. They responded with stories of their own, and for a brief moment common humanity overcame the yawning gulf of race and culture."
The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History by Paul Andrew Hutton
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I liked this story of when General Oliver Howard took a delegation of Apache Indian chiefs to Washington to meet "The Great White Father":"One of the most touching moments of the entire journey o..."
Nice story Rick, always good to get a bit of common humanity.
I'm nearing the end of Serhii Plokhy's
Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear CatastropheI couldn't help but be impressed by the dedication of Soviet helicopter crews, who were called in to drop sandbags onto the exposed reactor core:
"The first pilots, including General Antoshkin himself, wore no protective gear as they hovered over the reactor. It was estimated that in order to drop the sandbags the pilots had to hover over the eye of the nuclear volcano for about four minutes. A single trip would thus expose the crew to between 20 and 80 roentgens, meaning that they should have been sent to the hospital immediately upon their return. In reality, for eight long days they would make flights day in and day out, accumulating extremely high, if not lethal, doses of radiation. Their doses were measured on the basis of the radioactivity of their clothes, not according to the level of radioactivity above the reactor. By the time the mission was completed in early May, none of the pilots who made the first drops on the afternoon of April 27 were still on-site. Most of them were being treated for radiation sickness in the hospitals of Kyiv."
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The Terror: The Shadow of the Guillotine: France 1792–1794 by Graeme Fife
I've been meaning to get to grips with the French Revolution Rick , I'll be interested to hear what you think.
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I noticed the book has mixed reviews so I was a bit dubious at first if I was going to like the book or the style of the author but so far it has been pretty good.
I also have an unread copy of this book on the French Revolution written by an Australian:
Liberty or Death: The French Revolution by Peter McPhee
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"With another shout of 'St George!' Bedford's men surged forward and the French line broke. They ran, hollering, towards the fortress of Verneuil a mile away, begging to be let in. But the garrison kept its gates firmly closed. The dauphin's men tumbled desperately into the ditches surrounding the town, and there the English fell on them. Waurin recalled the slaughter with the words: 'Mercy had no place there'."
Battle of Verneuil:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...
Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI by Lauren Johnson
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"Another of the Vendean leaders, the young Henri de Rochejaquelein, an ex-officer in the national Guard, who had narrowly escaped the slaughter of 10 August, told the peasants of his parish who had called on him to lead them: 'If I advance, follow me, if I retreat, kill me, if I die, avenge me'."
The Terror: The Shadow of the Guillotine: France 1792–1794 by Graeme Fife
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The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta: The Persian Challenge by Paul Anthony Rahe
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Marooned: Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America’s Origin by Joseph Kelly
Having made it to the end of the very challenging
Hiroshima Nagasaki: The Real Story of the Atomic Bombings and Their AftermathI've put down some musings here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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https://raikespeare.wordpress.com/201...
A History of Milan Under the Sforza by Cecilia Mary Ady
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Magnifico: The Brilliant Life and Violent Times of Lorenzo de' Medici by Miles J. Unger
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In the Name of God: A History of Christian and Muslim Intolerance by Selina O'Grady
I've made a start on
The SS: A New HistoryThe author sets out his opinion on his subject early on:
"The reason why I wanted to write about the SS - apart from the fact that it had always fascinated me - was because there seemed to be an increasing disconnection between what the organisation actually was and how it is now portrayed, more than sixty years since it was dissolved. A generation of casual readers of military history is likely to believe that the Holocaust was perpetrated by a gang of psychopathic sadists, while the Waffen- SS was an elite force of military supermen whose reputation has been tainted simply because of the uniform they wore."
My purchase was influenced greatly by the one star reviews on Amazon; anything that annoys the apologists that much could be all bad!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revi...
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"Despite the strength of Ovando’s forces, Caonabó’s widow exhorted her cacique kinsmen to resist the alien invaders. Serious trouble erupted when a foolish Spaniard lost control of his dog of war. The ferocious canine attacked an important chief, “gnawing at his midriff,” and as the cacique fled one way, the dog ran the other, one end of the man’s intestines in his jaws, his internal organs unwinding before the eyes of the horrified onlookers. In revenge, the Indians killed eight sailors who had landed on a small island just offshore"
América: The Epic Story of Spanish North America, 1493-1898 by Robert Goodwin
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"On August 8, 1505, Pinzon's men anchored off the coast of Puerto Rico and loaded two sows, a hog, a few she-goats, and a billy goat onto a longboat and rowed them ashore. A notary formally witnessed the release of these animals before the men returned to Hispaniola. By this quirk of historical happenstance, three pigs and a herd of goats became the first legally notarized European settlers of any land that today belongs to the United States."
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House of Trade/Archives of the Indies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General...
Cathedral of Seville:
en.wikipedia.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seville...
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"On 15 July 1099, after a one-month siege, Jerusalem, 'the navel of the world', fell to the Christians. Fuelled with religious passion and the triumph of war, the Crusaders embarked on an orgy of killing. Muslims who had taken refuge in their mosque were massacred; Jews who had done the same in their synagogue were locked inside and burned to death; others were flayed while they were still alive; children were dashed against stones; even Christian monks, Eastern, not Latin or course, were mown down where they tried to protect the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre from being looted. 'Indeed, it was a just and splendid judgement of God that this place [Jerusalem] should be filled with the blood of the unbelievers, since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies,' wrote Raymond of Aguilers, chaplain to Raymond Count of Toulouse. By the time the Crusaders had finished, the entire Muslim population of Jerusalem had either been killed or enslaved."
In the Name of God: A History of Christian and Muslim Intolerance by Selina O'Grady
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"The Crusade against the Cathars was, of course, brutal. The tone of the campaign was set from the start in July 1209 when Crusaders massacred the entire population of the town of Béziers, near Narbonne. Asked by one of his soldiers how they were to distinguish between Cathar heretics and orthodox Catholics, the commander of the campaign, the papal legate Abbot Arnaud Amalric, allegedly replied, 'Kill them all; God will know his own.' Almaric estimated that the Crusaders killed 20,000 people in this 'divine vengeance miraculously raged' against Bézier's Cathars."
The Albigensian Crusade:
http://www.cathar.info/cathar_wars.htm
Massacre at Béziers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacr...
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"On 16 July 1216, Pope Innocent died in Perugia. Three months later his vassal, King John of England, at war with his barons and with a French invasion force that had landed near Kent, died of Dysentery. "Foul as it is, Hell itself is made fouler by the presence of John', was Matthew Paris's epitaph."
In the Name of God: A History of Christian and Muslim Intolerance by Selina O'Grady
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http://www.jewishwikipedia.info/sao_t...
http://libiastaire.weebly.com/uploads...
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"Voltaire is alleged to have told his mistress, 'Whatever you do, don't tell the servants there is no God or they'll steal the silver'."
In the Name of God: A History of Christian and Muslim Intolerance by Selina O'Grady
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"The campaign was more of a horror story. O'Reilly landed his troops on a sandy beach, where they were immediately trapped under constant fire from enemy snipers and artillery positions on the dunes above. Bernardo was shot in the leg trying to take the high ground and valiantly remained on the field. Before sundown, O'Reilly was forced to order their retreat. His first major campaign had been an unmitigated disaster. Saavedra counted seven hundred corpses on the beach and helped evacuate more than two thousand wounded, 'all crying out in great distress.' The Algerians claimed the Spanish losses were four times that number, As one wounded aristocrat caustically commented, the 'Moors must have found it difficult to believe we should have come such a long way in such warlike fashion simply to pay then a visit and spend a day by the seaside with them'."
The Spanish invasion of Algiers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasio...
América: The Epic Story of Spanish North America, 1493-1898 by Robert Goodwin
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Staring at God: Britain in the Great War by Simon Heffer
Yesterday I finished "The Railways: Nation, Network and People" which was a pretty good look at Britain's railways, their development and impact. There are a few thoughts here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and my Kindle highlights can be read (albeit without context) here:
https://www.goodreads.com/notes/26806...
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Don John of Austria, Volume 1 by William Stirling Maxwell
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The explosion of the Spanish flagship during the Battle of Gibraltar, 25 April 1607:
https://www.wikiart.org/en/hendrick-c...
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"A few of the bolder spirits, hardy mountaineers of the Alpuxarras, took up arms in defence of their rights, and, for the greater part of a winter, kept their snowy fastnesses against the old soldiers of the conquest. But although they fought with the utmost valour, and cut to pieces the force which the brave Alonso de Aguilar led into the passes of the Sierra Bermeja, they were overpowered by superior numbers and discipline. The Count of Tendilla stormed the fort of Guejar; the Count of Lerin, driving the rebels out of Lauxar, blew up the mosque in which the women and children of a large district had been placed for safety, and the King in person reduced the town and strong castle of Lanjaron, the key of the Alpuxarras. The rising was quelled. The sterner Moslems bade a sorrowful farewell to their beloved Damascus in the West, carrying their agricultural skill to the fields of Morocco or Tunis, their manual dexterity to the bazaars of Cairo or Constantinople; and the remaining children of the Saracen learned to bow the knee in unwilling homage to that cross and wafer which their conquering sires had driven before them to the savage glens of Asturias."
Don John of Austria, Volume 1 by William Stirling Maxwell
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"Don Antonio de Luna marched from Granada at the head of three thousand two hundred foot and one hundred and twenty horse; and at Tablate was joined by the garrison of that place, consisting of three companies of infantry, under the captain, Alonso de Cespedes. This officer was a veteran of the Imperial armies, famous for his personal strength, who in 1546 swam the Elbe with a few followers, and in the face of the enemy seized some boats which secured to the Emperor and his troops a passage to their victory at Muklberg. With their imposing force Luna and Cespedes proceeded to scour the valley. But the revolted villages were all found empty both of the inhabitants and their goods; and of the skirmishes which took place between the royal troops and parties of the enemy only one was worth recording. On a hill near Restaval, on the 25th of July, Cespedes found the Morisco chief, Rendati, strongly posted, in charge of a large number of women, and much cattle and baggage. The Christian captain had with him only two hundred arquebusiers; but although the enemy greatly outnumbered him, the temptation of booty was irresistible, and he led his men up the height. The rebels were so well prepared to receive them that, after the smoke and dust of the first onslaught had somewhat cleared away, Cespedes found that most of his marksmen had fled, leaving him with some twenty better spirits to finish the adventure. Rallying this little band, he threw himself into the midst of the foes; and with his famous Valencian sword, three fingers broad, and weighting fourteen pounds, he is said to have cloven a hundred of them, through head or shoulder, to the girdle. A bullet, however, through his cuirass, laid him dead on the hillside. There was hardly a Morisco in the combat who did not plunge his weapon into the body of the fallen champion; and his banner and sword were sent as trophies to the kingling of the Alpuxarras.
Don John of Austria heard with great sorrow of the death of this stout soldier of his sire, whom, but two days before, he had recommended to the King for promotion to the rank of major (maese de campo) and a commandery of Santiago. The mangled corpse was afterwards found under a heap of stones, and removed to the church of Restaval; and the spot where he fell, near the road from Granada to Motril, was marked by a large stone cross, inscribed, Here died the great captain Alonso de Cespedes the brave"
Don John of Austria, Volume 1 by William Stirling Maxwell
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"The Turks and Algerines and the flower of the Morisco host instantly rushed to the assault, and the drums and cymbals and barbarous shouts of the infidel resounded within the works of the Christians, who were driven back upon their interior defences. Even these were for some minutes in danger, and became the scene of a desperate hand-to-hand combat; and ere Francisco de Molina, conspicuous in his gilded corselet, had by his personal prowess turned the tide of battle, two crescent-spangled banners had been planted on the wall. When the assailants were repulsed, these trophies were left behind them, as well as two hundred corpses. One of the standard-bearers, mortally wounded through the shoulder, fell within the works. In hopes of rallying his retreating comrades, he called out to them that it was better to die like men than run like women. His advice being disregarded, he then cursed them as dogs and cowards; and, finally, he addressed himself to the Christians, begging them to put him out of his torment, as it was better to die by their hands than to live with the vile rabble who had deserted him. A soldier, descending from the wall, complied with his request by cutting off his head."
Don John of Austria, Volume 1 by William Stirling Maxwell
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" … As he himself retired, the Moriscos pressed more and more upon his rear; but although his men were eager to attack them, he would not yield to their impatience until he had reached a piece of flat ground, called the Court (Corral), where his cavalry could manoeuvre. He then halted, formed his order of battle, and indulged his men with a Santiago. The Moriscos, amongst whom were many Moors and Turks, charged with no less courage and determination than the Christians. The musketeers, one each side, fired their pieces but once ere they closed; and the men of Lorca at last owed the victory to their cavalry. Even against this force the rebels fought stoutly; and the Christians themselves admired the gallantry with which one of their standard-bearers, after having being twice pierced with a horseman's lance, defended his flag until his breath had left his mangled body. The Moriscos at length gave way, and were cut down, as they fled, by their mounted pursuers. They left five hundred and fifty dead on the field, while Lorca lost only two men and fourteen horses killed and thirty-seven men wounded."
Don John of Austria, Volume 1 by William Stirling Maxwell
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Alexander the Great: His Life and His Mysterious Death by Anthony Everitt
I want to read that book as well. Please let us know what you think.
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I'll keep you posted Betsy :)
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The Battle of Preveza:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...
http://materiaislamica.com/index.php/...
Don John of Austria, Volume 1 by William Stirling Maxwell
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" … 'Physicians,' said a Venetian observer, 'give their patients food not to make them fat, but to keep them alive; so the Turk assists the French, in the hope of seeing them neither fat nor lean, neither victorious nor vanquished'."
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Betsy have you read this book on Alexander the Great:
Alexander the Great by Philip FreemanI think its a pretty good general and popular account, it provides a decent overview of the man and his campaigns.
No, I haven't although from your review it sounds as if I should. Thanks for the recmmendation.
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"But there were other persons in the fleet as well as the Venetians who were anxious for fighting. Don John and some of his intimates had been debating whether in a naval battle it was or was not desirable to be the first to fire, and he referred the questions to his old friend Toledo. The veteran's opinion was, that the longer a vessel's fire could be reserved the better. 'In my judgement,' he wrote, 'the troopers are right who say you should never fire your arquebus until you are near enough to be splashed with the blood of your enemy; and I have always heard the most knowing sea-captains say that the crashing of a ship's iron beak and the first report of her guns should be heard at the same moment, and I think so too. But your people should be taught not to be considering the enemy, or who is to fire first or last, but to fire when your Highness gives the word, and then only'."
Don John of Austria, Volume 1 by William Stirling Maxwell
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"Shouting and screaming, they bade the Christians come on 'like drowned hens' and be slaughtered; they danced, and stamped, and clanged their arms; they blew trumpets, clashed cymbals, and fired volleys of useless musketry. When the Christians had ended their devotions and stood to their guns, or in their ordered ranks, each galley, in the long array, seemed on fire, as the noontide sun blazed on helmet and corselet, and pointed blades and pikes with flame. The bulges now sounded a charge, and the bands of each vessel began to play."
The Battle of Lepanto:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...
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Battle of the Field of Blood:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...
The Crusader Armies, 1099–1187 by Steve Tibble
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The Field of Blood: The Battle for Aleppo and the Remaking of the Medieval Middle East by Nicholas Morton
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"Turcopoles helped to create the necessary operational flexibility and manoeuvrability that a heavy Frankish army would otherwise have lacked. They undertook long-range reconnaissance and spying missions. They scouted in front of the enemy on campaign and shadowed any forces on the move. They harassed Muslim supply lines and isolated columns. In short, while they could not entirely 'solve' the issue of how to deal with large numbers of Turkic light cavalry on the battlefield, they could act as a bridge between European and eastern modes of fighting, giving sufficient flexibility to a Frankish army to allow it to either deter enemy cavalry armies, or to arrive on the battlefield in a condition that would maximise their chances of success."
Turcopoles:
http://www.crusaderkingdoms.com/turco...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turcopole
Finished up Thomas Keneally's
Australians: Eureka to the DiggersUsual ramblings and nonsense here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Bags of larikinism but barely a mention of the 'C' word.... and How To Disparage The American First World War "contribution" in one short sentence....
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Wholesome History Reads Group
Books mentioned in this topic
The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 (other topics)A Campaign of Giants—The Battle for Petersburg, Vol. 2: From the Crater's Aftermath to the Battle of Burgess Mill (other topics)
The Secret Expedition: The Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland 1799 (other topics)
Saipan: The Battle That Doomed Japan in World War II (other topics)
Defeat In Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912-1913 (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Rick Atkinson (other topics)A. Wilson Greene (other topics)
Geert van Uythoven (other topics)
James H. Hallas (other topics)
Edward J. Erickson (other topics)
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