Europe
History of August: Who Is It Named After?
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF AUGUST hat’s in a name? The name of this month was not always August; previously, the Romans referred to it as Sextilis. Because the calendar then started in March, this was the sixth month. This was back in the days of Romulus in 753 B.C., when there were originally ten months (… Sept,…
Read MoreHistory of William Wilberforce: Champion of British Slavery Abolition
Reading Time: 6 minutesHISTORY OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE ne hundred ninety-three years ago today, on July 26, 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act passed its third reading in the House of Commons, ensuring the end of slavery in the British Empire. William Wilberforce had championed the cause for nearly half a century. This article, published on the anniversary of the…
Read MoreHistory of St. James Day: and El Camino de Santiago
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF ST. JAMES DAY: AND EL CAMINO DE SANTIAGO uly 25 is the Feast Day of St. James, and Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and some Protestants accordingly celebrate St. James Day. For Orthodox churches that follow the Julian calendar, it’s on April 30. Each summer, pilgrims walk the Camino de Santiago, or the Way…
Read MoreHistory of Bastille Day: Its Relation to the French Revolution
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF BASTILLE DAY ach year on July 14, Bastille Day commemorates the Storming of the Bastille in Paris in 1789, an important date in the French Revolution. Also known as French National Day, it features feasting, fireworks, public dancing, and an address by the French President. However, the center of this celebration is the…
Read MoreHistory of John Calvin: The Genius of Geneva
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF JOHN CALVIN 🎙️Podcast version n July 10, 1509, in Noyon, France, Jehan Cauvin, known to us as John Calvin, was born. Of all the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, none was more significant in forming biblical theology or ecclesiastic thought than this one man. Calvin’s teaching and tradition penetrated more of the world…
Read MoreHistory of Memorial Day: Why We Fight
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF MEMORIAL DAY: WHY WE FIGHT As we celebrate Memorial Day, the world is different from what it was two and a half decades ago. We have troops in countries that we didn’t have then, and after 9/11, we now remember why we fight. The History Channel often reruns the HBO series Band of…
Read MoreHistory of Memorial Day: Which War?
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF MEMORIAL DAY: WHICH WAR? Memorial Day was not universally recognized as a shared American Holiday until after World War I. But that’s not how it started in the United States. When did it begin? Civil War and Memorial Day Following the American Civil War, or the “War Between the States,” as it…
Read MoreHistory of VE-Day: End of WWII in Europe 81 Years Ago
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF VE-DAY ighty-one years ago today, World War II ended in Europe with the Allies accepting the unconditional surrender from Germany on VE-Day. Or did it? May 7, 1945, VE-Day Adolf Hitler had committed suicide in his Berlin bunker a week earlier on April 30, 1945, as I describe in my article on…
Read MoreHistory of the Liberation of Dachau: Present Day. Part 3
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF THE LIBERATION OF DACHAU: Present Day. Part 3 n Part 1, I discussed the Nazi Concentration Camps and Dachau. In Part 2, I talk about my father’s involvement in the liberation as part of the 42nd “Rainbow” Division and his subsequent capture of the Nazi general in charge of Munich’s anti-aircraft artillery. …
Read MoreHistory of the Liberation of Dachau, Part 2: April 30, 1945
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF THE LIBERATION OF DACHAU: APRIL 30, 1945. Part 2 n Part 1, I discussed the Nazi Concentration Camps and the initial movement of US Army divisions into Dachau. Dachau: The Camp As my father and the 42nd “Rainbow” Division moved into the Dachau Concentration Camp, of the 32,000 survivors still alive in…
Read MoreHistory of the Liberation of Dachau, Part 1: April 29, 1945
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE LIBERATION OF DACHAU, PART 1: APRIL 29, 1945 remember what my father had told me of his participation in the liberation of Dachau shortly before he died in 1976. Some of his war buddies discovered the tribute site I’d created for my father and called or emailed me to recount stories I’d…
Read MoreHistory of the Diet of Worms: Martin Luther on Trial Over 500 Years Ago
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE DIET OF WORMS: MARTIN LUTHER ON TRIAL, OVER 500 YEARS AGO Podcast version ver five hundred years ago, on April 17, 1521, Martin Luther was tried before the most powerful ruler in Europe, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. While the name may sound unappetizing, the Diet of Worms was a…
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