Visitors to zoos today see animals housed in large enclosures where the creatures have room to play, exercise and interact with their own kind. This wasn’t always the case. More than a century ago, animals were kept behind bars in small cages. Sometimes the situation was even worse, as with Gunda the elephant, an inmate […]
Yes, There Really Was Cocaine in Coca-Cola
We don’t call the soft drink Coca-Cola “Coke” for nothing. The original formula contained cocaine, but how much is debatable. The beverage’s syrup was manufactured with the extract of coca leaves – the leaves contain cocaine – and the caffeine rich kola nut. The beverage was one of several coca drinks on the market in […]
5 Things I Learned While Writing A Tale of Two Nations
If you’ve been studying a subject for as long as I have, you might not think there is anything left to discover or surprise. I’ve been studying World War I and how it changed the lives of ordinary people since I was a teenager. When I embarked on writing A Tale of Two Nations, my […]
The History of Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is a holiday born near the dawn of the 20th century. It was conceived by a woman who, ironically, later degraded the holiday as too commercial and tried to end it. The holiday was not without precedent. Since ancient days, motherhood has been celebrated in some form. The Ancients celebrated their mother goddesses […]
Race to the Sea
At the beginning of World War One, the predominate view was that the war would be over soon, even as early as Christmas. And perhaps it could have if events had gone differently. In the autumn of 1914, the Allies had won the First Battle of the Marne, saving Paris from falling to the Germans, but […]
The Armenian Genocide: The Slaughter of 600,000-1.3 Million People
Decades before the Jewish Holocaust there was another slaughter of an innocent minority group, this one lesser known to history. It was the Armenian Genocide of World War One. Historians estimate anywhere from 600,000 to 1.3 million Armenians were killed during the genocide. It was the continuation of the mass murder of Armenians that have […]
The Causes of World War One: Part 5 – Assassination
The causes of World War One are varied and complicated. This week we will examine five of them, breaking them down, making them easier to understand. Alliances, nationalism, militarism and conflict would congregate in one event: The assassination of Austria-Hungary’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Ferdinand would be killed by a 19-year-old named Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian […]
Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry: Canadian Men with Previous Military Experience
The first battle the Canadian Expeditionary Force engaged in during World War One was the Second Battle of Ypres. However, a group of soldiers did participate in earlier engagements. These men were members of Princess Patricia’s regiment. Who were the Patricias? When World War One erupted, Canada had a very small army called “the permanent […]
Austria-Hungary: The Lesser Known WW1 Central Power
A larger but lesser known, but equally important, member of the Central Powers was the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The assassination of its archduke sparked World War One. The empire came into existence in 1867 when the Kingdom of Hungary and the Empire of Austria entered into a dual monarchy. The following year, the Kingdom of Croatia […]
Christmas Truce of 1914: Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men
Many Christmas carols speak about peace on earth, but rarely does it ever happen. One notable exception is the Christmas truce of 1914. It started with a declaration by Pope Benedict XV that a temporary cease fire should be called in celebration of Christmas. “Pope Benedict XV is urging that an understanding be arranged between […]