On this day, August 19, in 1953, the Americans and British overthrew the democratically-elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh. Mossadegh ended (BP) British Petroleum’s monopoly over Iranian oil, and *gasp* nationalized their oil fields so that Iranians would benefit from their own resources. The Western powers, angry at being cut out of the oil … Continue reading “This Day In History, U.S. Overthrows Iran Gov’t”
Dick Cheney in 1994: Invading Iraq Would Create Quagmire WOW. He made the exact same arguments the Dems made. He couldn’t have been more right. I wonder what caused his 180 degree turn after he became CEO of Halliburton then VP….
Discovery of Middle Asia Cities Recasts Ancient History LiveScience.com Thu Aug 9, 11:05 AM ET New discoveries at dig sites in Middle Asia are rocking the archaeological world and redefining the origins of modern civilization. Numerous sites in modern-day Iran and the surrounding region suggest that a vast network of societies together constituted the first … Continue reading “New Civilizations Discovered”
One always must be very careful with historical parallels; they are frequently used and abused to score political points.I’ve heard anti-immigration people saying “Rome collapsed ’cause they let in too many illegal aliens who turned on them!” Please! The Roman Empire succeeded because it was so intensely multicultural, not in spite of it. Often the … Continue reading “"Are We Rome?" Part VI: The Final Chapter”
There were many wars between the Romans and the Iraqis / Persians, too many wars to adequately describe here, one time a Roman general even defected to the Parthians and invaded Syria, but suffice it to say, neither side ever gained much territory long-term. The wars continued into the era of the Byzantines vs. the … Continue reading ““Are We Rome?” Part V: The Spoils of Ctesiphon”
Did you know that for nearly 150 years off and on, the Roman Empire fought to conquer Mesopotamia? At the time, the area that is now Iraq, Iran (Persia) and more was ruled by the Parthian Empire. What was the Parthian Empire like, and how did they collide with mighty Rome? The Parthians formed from … Continue reading ““Are We Rome?” Part IV: The First Roman Invasions of Iraq”
American architecture isn’t even subtle in saying that we’re like Rome. The White House The Temple of Hercules Victor in Rome The Washington Monument in DC (left) and Trajan’s Column in Rome (right) U.S. Supreme Court Building Roman Temple of idolatry, built 19-16 BC. Still standing in Southern France. The Colosseum in Rome Los Angeles … Continue reading “"Are We Rome?" Part III: Architecture”
From David Horsey, the Pulitzer-winning cartoonist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Read the rest at Empire Rising: A Satirical History, Part V
“Are We Rome?” the book, by Cullen Murphy If you didn’t catch it, this is the video of Stephen Colbert interviewing Cullen Murphy, author of the new book “Are We Rome?” Stephen comes out in full centurion armor, with an American flag cape, which is hilarious, and the interview is fascinating. It is great someone … Continue reading “"Are We Rome?" Part I: Cullen Murphy”
Some Jews are offended by the Ride of the Valkyries, and any music by Wagner, because it was revered by Hitler, and used heavily in Nazi propaganda. I get that… But it’s still a musical masterpiece. For some reason, whenever I hear the Ride of the Valkyries, and those famous (almost Darth Vader Imperial March-esque) … Continue reading “When Zeppelins Attack”
I love maps. Here’s a map of who controlled things in 820 AD: States and Empires in 820 The most powerful nations at this point were the Chinese, who controlled or vassalized everything from the Caspian to the Pacific, and the Abbasid Caliphate, who in 820 invented algebra. This was the Islamic Golden Age. By … Continue reading “Political Map of World, 820 AD”
Blogging History: China’s Islamic Christopher Columbus Decades before Christopher Columbus was even born, 18 years before Europeans began their “Age of Discovery,” an Admiral from the Chinese Empire sailed west, explored unknown lands, visited with strange “barbarian” peoples, and projected Imperial might as far away as Africa, covering more than 50,000 kilometers in his 7 … Continue reading “China’s Age of Discovery: The Voyages of Zheng He”
Here’s a fun history tidbit I gleaned from the latest Hardcore History podcast: The Black Plague and the drastic changes it wrought on society, on supply and demand, on everything, had an incalculably deep impact on history. One thing it spurred was the English Peasants’ Revolt, aka the Great Rising of 1381, the 626th anniversary … Continue reading “The Serfs Are Getting Restive”
In my last post, I talked about the Spanish-American War.I think the best parallel to the current Bush wars is not Vietnam, but the Spanish-American War, which was also fought with an all-volunteer military, and justified by an incident (Remember the Maine!) that the target of the war (Spain) may not have actually been responsible … Continue reading “Spanish-American War Coming Up on History Channel”
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” — Ecclesiastes 1:9-14I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Are the events shaping the U.S. just a part of an inexorable repeating cycle of history? In the 1920s the wealth inequality grew to … Continue reading “Inexorable Cycle of History?”
I thought this was a great photo. A camel crossing in Dubai. In the Mideast, the new world is colliding with the ancient. Nick
In my post, Why did they create the new nation of Iraq? I discussed T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and his vision of the Middle East’s borders after WWI, which would’ve amounted to the Shias getting their own state in the Mesopotamian Basin, a single state for most of the Sunnis of what are now … Continue reading “What The U.S. Can Learn From “Lawrence of Arabia””
After World War I destroyed the Ottoman Empire, why did the British decide to create the new nation of Iraq out of the 3 different Ottoman provinces? The British divvied up the Ottoman Empire’s holdings and created Iraq out of the three Ottoman “vilayets” (regions) of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. Why would they do this? … Continue reading “Why did they create the new nation of Iraq? UPDATED”
I whipped up this simple, amateur animation to make a point. India and Europe are roughly the same land area, but India is considered a subcontinent. Why is Arabia dubbed a “peninsula” and not a subcontinent? These are all pretty arbitrary designations based on little but cultural history. We forget that about 40% of humanity … Continue reading “Of Continents and Subcontinents (animation by Nick)”
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Is Constitutional Government Dead? A Look Back At That Quiant Document While I’ve recently been ranting against “mainstream American culture” as being evil, because it’s become dominated by Fox News and Britney Spears, I do love this country. I love America because it’s based not on shared origins or royal blood, but on wonderful ideas, … Continue reading “Is Constitutional Government Dead?”
What You Need To Know About The Middle East “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” — George Santayana Steven Pressfield recently wrote an in-depth piece on Iraq, Why We Will Never See Democracy in the Middle East. His main thesis that we are operating in Iraq while largely ignorant of … Continue reading “What You Need To Know About The Middle East”
Government Sanctioned Immorality Reaching Scary Proportions Okay, we have a President of The United States of America, leader of the free world, who is pulling out all the stops to get a bill allowing more leeway on torture through Congress. This should be incredibly shocking to all of you. This post is Nick ranting about … Continue reading “Compromise On Torture?”