Search
Search Results
Definition
German East Africa
German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a colony of Imperial Germany from 1885 until 1918. The territory, much larger than Germany itself, covered what is today Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and part of Mozambique. As in many other European...
Definition
Electrical Telegraph
The electrical telegraph was invented in 1837 by William Fothergill Cook (1806-1879) and Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875) in England with parallel innovations being made by Samuel Morse (1791-1872) in the United States. The telegraph, once...
Definition
Commission for Relief in Belgium
The Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) was an independent, international organization, sponsored by neutral governments and with the guarantees and assurances of the belligerents to alleviate the suffering of German-occupied Belgium in...
Article
Allied Bombing of Germany
The Allied strategic bombing of Germany during World War II (1939-45) involved British and U.S. bomber planes attacking industrial cities, factories, railways, airfields, and dams. Over 600,000 civilians died as a consequence. The campaign...
Article
Sydney Harbour Bridge Construction
The Sydney Harbour Bridge – affectionately known as The Coathanger by Australians – was opened to great fanfare and a touch of scandal on 19 March 1932 and was the longest steel arch bridge in the world at the time, with a span of 503 metres...
Image
England & Wales Railway Network, 1898
A map showing the railway network in England and Wales in 1898. From Pitman's Commercial Geography of the World, London, 1898. (British Library, London)
Definition
Belgian Congo - One of Africa's Most Notorious Colonies
Belgian Congo was a colony of Belgium from 1908 until 1960. Prior to that, the region had been the Congo Free State (created in 1885), which was effectively a private enterprise of King Leopold II. Often referred to as Belgian Congo even...
Definition
Edo Period
The Edo period refers to the years from 1603 until 1868 when the Tokugawa family ruled Japan. The era is named after the city of Edo, modern-day Tokyo, where the Tokugawa shogunate had its government. It is also sometimes referred to as the...
Definition
Tsar Nicholas II - Last of the Romanovs
Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917) was the last of the Romanov emperors, murdered along with his family during the turmoil of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Insisting on maintaining as far as possible the autocratic rule begun by his ancestors...
Definition
Russian Civil War - The Failed Fightback Against Bolshevism
The Russian Civil War (1917-22) began shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917. The Bolsheviks (the Reds) immediately found themselves in conflict with various opposition forces who disagreed with Bolshevik policies like abolishing...