The Spanish Armada – One of Fifteen Decisive Battles (Thanks to Wikipedia) History books always tell you a lot about the era in which they were written, and never was this more true than of this classic from 1851.  Britain’s empire was at its apogee.  It would get bigger and richer, but at this point

  Jovian had given away a big chunk of the empire in his humiliating deal with the Persians.  He betrayed loyal subjects of key frontier towns in the process.  His purge of political enemies deprived the state of the services of some able administrators and soldiers.  But his army was saved.  He was in personal

As I blogged recently, I don’t follow the news very much on the grounds that I am better informed if I don’t.   But there are some stories I make a conscious effort to keep up on, one of which is what is happening in politics.  But I try to take a broad view.  I

    Planet Narnia reads a bit like a PhD thesis.  (And may well have been exactly that in fact. I haven’t done any research to find out.)  But  if you like your books full of references and with a very precise structure you are in for a treat.  And it is a double treat

The death of Julian left the Roman army in a tight situation.  They were still 200 miles deep in Persian territory and were running low on provisions.  Julian’s eccentric decision not to name a successor left them with an immediate practical problem.  Who was to lead them?  And needless to say the decision had to

  The events of 1688 have been remembered in British history as the Glorious Revolution. A tyrannical Catholic king was out of control and was destroying the country’s constitution, its liberties and its religion. In desperation William the Third was invited across to rescue the British and replace the unacceptable James the Second. William of