The War of Jenkins’ Ear pitted Britain against Spain from 1739 to 1748, leaving three particularly noteworthy episodes in its wake. One was the incident that sparked it, leading the British to name it that way while Spanish call it Guerra del Asiento. Another was Admiral Howard Vernon’s disastrous attempt to conquer Cartagena de Indias, […]
Jorge Álvarez
Degree in History and Diploma in Archival and Library Science. Founder and director of Apuntes magazine (2002-2005). Creator of the blog El Viajero Incidental. Travel and tourism blogger since 2009 in Viajeros. Editor of LBV Magazine.
Posted inFirst World War
White Friday: The Avalanches That Buried Thousands of Soldiers in the Alps in World War I
Many people are eagerly watching the calendar, awaiting the arrival of Black Friday on November to take advantage of tempting deals, even if it means braving the crowds to do so. But, while each year we laugh at the videos circulating of these scuffles, the truth is that the White Friday was much worse. Unlike […]
Posted inModern Era
How the Siege of Paris in 1871 Enabled German Unification, Proclaimed in Versailles
On October 7, 1870, one of those minor, anecdotal episodes that pepper History amidst greater events took place. A hydrogen balloon named Armand-Barbès lifted off from Paris, setting out towards Tours with an unusual passenger: none other than Léon Michel Gambetta, Minister of the Interior and War in the National Defense Government, a provisional administration […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
The Strange Legend of the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, also called Borametz and Polypodium Borametz, or “Chinese polypody,” is a plant shaped like a lamb, covered in golden fluff. It stands on four or five roots; the plants around it die, yet it remains lush; when cut, it releases a bloody juice (…) In other monsters, species or animal […]
Posted inAntiquity
The Mesopotamian Stele Showing the First Phalanx Formation in History
When we talk about a phalanx in a military context, we automatically think of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian army, with its compact formation of armored infantrymen armed with long sarissas. These were arranged in 64 squares or syntagmas, 16 men across (each in a one-square-meter space) by as many in depth, forming a total of […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
Bohemond of Taranto, the Sinister Norman Who Conquered Antioch and Hated the Byzantine Empire
There are quite a few literary and cinematic works about the First Crusade, and in most of them, beginning with the anonymous Gesta Francorum or Torquato Tasso’s famous epic poem The liberated Jerusalem (La Gerusalemme liberata), we find a curious figure who was one of its main leaders, the Norman Bohemond of Taranto. He was […]
Posted inSecond World War
Battle of the Alps: The Failed Italian Attempt to Invade Southern France in 1940
At midnight on June 11, 1940, Italy declared war on France. This was something that had been anticipated for some time, despite a certain level of German discontent (Hitler saw the transalpine country as a more effective ally if it remained non-belligerent and feared this could disrupt his peace negotiations with the French and British), […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
The Zanj Rebellion, when slaves and Bedouins rose against the Abbasid Caliphate
In the year 869 AD, the Great Heathen Army of Danish Viking Ivar the Boneless was conquering the English kingdom of East Anglia, an earthquake followed by a tsunami ravaged the northwest of Japan, Stela 11 was erected in Tikal, and the Byzantine fleet under Emperor Basil I was struggling to expel the Muslims from […]
Posted inGeography, Modern Era
The 4 Times the United States Tried to Acquire Greenland from Denmark
In the summer of 2019, the temperature rose a few degrees in Greenland, but it wasn’t solely due to climate change; rather, it was because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s idea to buy the region. This idea was revealed by the Wall Street Journal, reporting that the U.S. government claimed it could offer Greenlanders more […]
Posted inPre-Columbian Era
The New Fire Ceremony Practiced by the Mexica to Prevent the End of the World
Letting go of the old to enter the new year is a metaphorical custom that is quite rooted in some corners of Italy, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. In the transalpine country, and more specifically in places like Naples, Calabria, or Sicily, objects of all kinds (even furniture, for which there are specific hours ad hoc) […]
