Category: History

A revolution against the Austrian Netherlands produced the seceding country of Belgium in 1830, a year that also saw another revolution in France. Unrest was in the air. The 1830 Belgian Revolution led to the establishment of an independent, Catholic, and neutral Belgium under a provisional government and a national congress. The November Uprising (1830–1831)—also […]

Rebellions broke out across Europe during 1848, inspired by the success of the French in abolishing their monarchy in February. The Habsburgs faced rebellions in Hungary and in the Italian cities of Milan and Venice, which were supported by Piedmont. Although the revolutions in Italy, Germany and Hungary were all defeated, the liberal constitutions, unification […]

“Rzeź galicyjska” by Jan Lewicki (1795-1871) Some critical observers such as Count István Széchenyi (1791–1860) in Hungary blamed Hungary’s political weakness and economic poverty precisely on a shortsighted nobility that gave little thought to the economic welfare of the larger society and fought only to maintain its class privilege. Nobles in Galicia learned the hard […]

When assessing the overall effectiveness of Roman frontier defense, therefore, it is necessary to factor into the equation that substantial economic losses to outside raiding were also part of the picture, since it took a fair amount of raiding to trigger a response. How substantial that raiding might have been has emerged from an exciting […]

Battle at Tápióbicske (4 April 1849) by Mór Than In 1848 revolution broke out in Paris. As the news from Paris reached Hungary, Kossuth went on the political offensive at the Pozsony Diet with his liberal-radical program, which was soon relayed to Pest. The Opposition Circle drafted the ‘demands of the Hungarian nation,’ the famous […]

United States marines with the captured flag of Augusto César Sandino in 1932. “Gunboat diplomacy” refers to a foreign policy that relies on force or the threat of force. To some extent, such an approach to foreign policy has always existed between empires and nations. But in the American political lexicon the term is most […]

Suspect insurgents held by British troops, during the Mau Mau rebellion, 1954. In the period between 1945 and the end of the 1960s, the “colonial moment” came to an end across most of Africa, and did not last much longer even in those areas which proved rather more resistant to change. In some places, indeed, […]