They're everywhere!

 As a history lover I have often heard the name Habsburg, but beyond the fact that they were monarchs, I didn't pay too much attention to them. Until recently that is. I mean we're talking about a family who has at one time or another ruled most of Europe and beyond. Check out this list of their domains:

Central & Eastern Europe (Austrian Branch / Habsburg Monarchy)

Austria (Core hereditary lands)
Hungary
Czech Republic (Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia)
Slovakia
Slovenia (Carinthia, Carniola, Styria)
Croatia (Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Poland (Southeastern parts / Galicia-Lodomeria)
Ukraine (Southwestern parts)
Romania (Transylvania and northern regions)
Serbia (Vojvodina) 

 And: 

Western & Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, and Low Countries)

Spain (Spanish Empire)
Portugal (Ruled in a dynastic union from 1580 to 1640)
The Netherlands (Austrian/Spanish Netherlands, including modern Belgium and Luxembourg)
Italy (Parts including Milan, the Mezzogiorno/Kingdom of Naples, Sicily, Tuscany, Lombardy-Venetia, and Trieste)
Germany (The Holy Roman Empire)

With: 

Global / Overseas

Mexico (Briefly ruled by Emperor Maximilian I of the Habsburg-Lorraine line from 1864 to 1867)
Colonial territories across the Americas, Asia, and Africa tied to the Spanish and Austrian empires.

Sure they were also at times stark raving mad, horribly inbred and completely out of control, but I can't simply ignore them anymore. I found a documentary that serves as a good first step to give an overview of this immense family, and although I believe it's AI voiced, it is still a good start. You can't just sit down and absorb this much history in one go. I liked it and I hope you will too.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!  

 

Masters of Rome

It's been a long journey but I have finally finished

Masters of Rome by Australian author Colleen McCullough.

I started the first book on December 23^rd 2025 and finished the seventh and last book on September 29^th this year. It took time because I mostly read in the evening when I go to bed, and the seven books have an average total page count of 5500 pages. This depends of course a bit on editions etc.

So what are the books about? The late Roman republic is the short answer. The long answer is the entirety of Rome at that time. The series starts in 110 BCE and ends in 27 BCE. We start with the Rise of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, see the birth of Gaius Julius Caesar, his invasion of Gaul, his murder and the rise of and struggle between Marc Antony and Gaius Octavian Caesar.

I have learned more about Roman customs, laws, religious rites, military and more than I ever thought I would. McCullough did over ten years of research before writing the first book and it shows. Historians have praised the books for their authenticity and attention to detail. McCullough herself admitted that she stuck to history where she could and filled in the gaps with measured imagination where necessary. At the end of the day, these books are fiction and an entertaining story has to come first, but she respects the history. I only found two instances where she changed established details, and in the end that doesn't matter too much.

Critics have pointed out that McCullough was a massive Caesar fan, and they are right. She does portray him as almost perfect, but I can't blame her too much. If there is one ancient Roman almost everyone can name it is Caesar. Her idolization also makes it easier to hate on his enemies both political and military, which again makes the fiction more compelling.

The ongoing thread in the background is the fall of the republic. The inflexibility and sheer stubbornness of the conservatives, the rise of political violence and demagogues together with the growth of Rome from a small city state to an massive empire puts the republic on a slippery slope it never got away from. The last book, Anthony and Cleopatra (2007) ends with the senate hailing Octavian as Caesar Augustus, essentially confirming him as emperor in all but name.

Something I found very compelling was seeing people be born and then suddenly realize who they would grow up to be. Names like Octavian, Brutus, Marc Anthony, Cicero, Cato the Younger and more stand tall in Roman history, and you meet them all as children. See them grow and become the famous adults they were. All super fascinating stuff.

What I found hardest to deal with in these volumes are the names. Early on there are so many families, and they all give their children the same names over and over. Take the Julii family. Almost all the boys are called Gaius Julius, and all the girls are called Julia. The Gaius Julius Caesar's father was Sextus Julius Caesar, his uncle and grandfather were Gaius Julius, his aunt was Julia and so was his other aunt but she at least was called Julilla. Now do this with more than a dozen families and it is hard to keep track of. By the mid part of book two I was somewhat familiar with them and by the end of book three it wasn't a problem any more. Handily McCullough added a long list of persons and terminology in every book, so you can check there to help you stay on track.

So, do I recommend these books? Oh yes!! They are magnificent. I learned so much and had such a great time learning. There are also many similarities with modern politics and can help the reader understand why some things are being said and done today. A massive seven part masterpiece you'd do well to read if you like ancient Rome.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Play the Role.

Last week we looked at the history of the first person shooter, and this week we'll look at the history of the CRPG, or computer role-playing game.

I myself am a life long role-player, both tabletop role-player (ttrpg) and in CRPGS's, and the genre is very dear to my heart. Of course, there is a tendency to call every fantasy game that isn't a strategy game an RPG, but nevertheless there have been so many fun games in this lovely genre. So, enjoy this history of CRPG's.

That's that and all that. Join me next time and until then, have a great week!

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o3i10OuMFQ 

 

 

Göbleki Tepe

With Midnight, the next expansion for World of Warcraft around the corner, I've been too busy to watch a movie, but I have an interesting documentary for you.

Göbleki Tepe, or Göblekitepe, is an archeological site that was occupied around 8000 BCE in Upper Mesopotamia, what is today the Republic of Türkiye. It amongst other things sports advanced stone work that was presumed to not be possible at that time. 

Göbleki Tepe is one of those sites that threaten to upend what we think we know about the past and challenges generally accepted history and archaeology. So please enjoy.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week! 

It is a mystery.

Hello and welcome to more Eccentric Spheres!

Today I want to share a documentary about historical mysteries. Every now and then I like to watch stuff like this as it tickles the imagination. Whether these are actual mysteries or creative fiction, I leave up to you. I'm keeping it short as my brain is still at leaking out of my nose. Stupid winter flu....

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week! 

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0aK1P-MpWM 

Stalin vs. Trotsky

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a documentary about Kruschev, but this time we're turning the clock back to the aftermath of the Russian revolution. 

In the aftermath Lenin was the undisputed master of the Soviet Union, but he was ill, seriously ill and soon died. Left behind were the top leaders of the party; Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, Pyatakov and Stalin.

Everyone besides Stalin were intellectuals, educated intelligent men well versed in political theory and able to debate on the subject with anyone. Stalin was essentially a thug. Little schooling to speak of, but he had funded the revolution with robberies, extortion and murder (amongst other things) when they desperately needed money, so Lenin was forced to give him something, so Stalin was made General Secretary. On the surface this was a nothing job, but Stalin for all his sins was a survivor and a natural schemer. He cleverly used his position to make himself the master of the Soviet Union, but how did this come about? Especially against the intelligent strategist Trotsky?

This is what this week's documentary is about. This is a decent documentary with mostly French historians translated to English but also some information from Trotsky's grandson. There is also really good film footage from those days, really interesting stuff. I wish it had gone deeper into the subject, but it will give you a good general grasp on the events following the death of Lenin.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week! 

 

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IcDdKkfprg&list=WL&index=13 

Krushchev

I recently watched a good documentary about Nikita Krushchev, and I thought I'd share it.

I have in my years of reading history come across his name many times. He is the one who took power in the Soviet Union after the death of Stalin. The one who built the Berlin wall, the one who stood behind the Cuban missile crisis, but who was he as a person?

Was he the funny buffoon as some saw him? The loyal but dumb peasant who did as he was told, or was there more to this man who was born a poor peasant, worked as a miner and eventually rose to supreme power?

He is depicted in Enemy at the Gates (2001) by Bob Hoskins and in The Death of Stalin (2017) by Steve Buscemi, both very different portrayals. Turns out both movies got parts of Krushchev's personality correct.

The documentary is interesting in several ways, but the inclusion of Krushchev's son and granddaughter adds a good personal touch many documentaries can't do.

So, if you are interested in history, do watch it and I hope you enjoy it.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhGHXKfOSrA&list=WL&index=9 

The Decembrists

Today we're jumping into history again, this time with the 1800's Russian revolutionaries, The Decembrists.

This is a two part documentary on The Decembrists who plotted against the Russian Tsar over at the Epic History Youtube channel.

I really don't have that much more to say except enjoy and that's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!   

 

The Battle of Algiers

I finally sat down and watched:

The Battle of Algiers (1966).

First off, this Italian-Algerian movie is black and white and apart from one line delivered by an American journalist, it is completely in French and Arabic. Unless you are fluent in these languages, you will need the subtitles. The Battle of Algiers is not a movie to have on in the background, you need to pay attention.

The movie takes place over a period of time (1954-62) in Algiers, then a French colony. We meet Ali La Pointe, a young street punk who gets by on scams. He gets sent to prison where he becomes radicalized and joins the fledgling FLN (National Liberation Front).

The FLN begins by killing French police officers and soon graduates to bombing cafes, despite checkpoints and police crackdowns. The increasing violence brings the French paratroopers to Algiers, troops who were used to fighting insurgents in French Indochina. The paratroopers, led by Lt. Col. Mathieu (Jean Martin, the only trained actor in the movie) soon turn the tide on the FLN and things get very ugly incredibly quickly. Colonel Mathieu has no qualms about using torture to crack the FLN cells, believing in the simple fact that to win, you need to do what must be done.

The Battle of Algiers is directed by Gillo Pontecorvo who also co-wrote the soundtrack with Ennio Morricone. Pontecorvo basically chose to make the movie look like a newsreel, despite there being no actual news footage in the entire film. He chose to use normal people to heighten the sense of realism, with Jean Martin being the only exception. Despite playing such a ruthless character, Martin lost his standing as a French actor for signing a petition to give Algiers its independence.

Being two hours long, The Battle of Algiers is not boring but at times it is slow. Perhaps patient is a better term for it than slow. The screenplay is based on the book Souvenirs de la Bataille d'Alger by Saadi Yasef who was a real FLN freedom fighter and has a role in the movie. With all this going on, it is no surprise that the movie was banned upon release in France. It stayed banned until 1971. Despite its controversy in France, it won several awards internationally, including the Golden Lion in Venice and three Oscars; Best Foreign Language Film in 1966 and Best Screenplay and Best Director in 1968, being the only movie to have managed several Oscars in non consective years.

The Battle of Algiers is a brutal movie. The uncut version even shows the “interrogation” techniques used by the French, which is not fun to watch. The movie was even used to teach American forces how to handle insurgencies, make of that what you will. What is interesting is that the character Ali La Pointe is a pretty unpleasant person, and Col. Mathieu is quite charming. I'm assuming that this is to illustrate that a bad person can fight for a good cause (freedom) and a pleasant person can fight for a bad cause (tyranny). I'm not educated enough to analyze such a heavy matter with any precision, you'll have to make up your own mind.

So, do I recommend this movie? Absolutely! The Battle of Algiers is a hard hitting film that pulls no punches and gives no apologies. It just shows you what went on. The Battle of Algiers only focuses on the struggle in the city, with the greater national struggle being only referenced in passing, creating a more focused narrative. I don't think I'll rewatch it, but I am very glad I saw it. The Battle of Algiers is a brilliant but unpleasant movie.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

We have ways of making you talk.

I had this whole thing planned with World of Warcraft Legion: Remix, but I got slapped with a proper flu, and my brain has been replaced with snot. Instead I'll just say, Legion: Remix is really cool and if you play WoW, give it a shot.

Instead of my planned content I want to highlight a channel: WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk.  

This channel is WW2 history with comedian Al Murray and historian James Holland who are currently talking about the Battle of Britain. I've seen two videos so far and it is really good. So, enjoy that if you like history. I'll embed the first video for you.

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week! 

Informative Entertainment.

I am officially melting. The weather in Finland has been way too hot and as a consequence my brain isn't really working properly.

When it's like this we all need entertainment, and if you can learn something while being amused, all the better.

I've mentioned OverSimplified History before, but that was a while ago. Since then he's made many amazing videos, including five about the first and second Punic Wars. They are as funny as they are amazing and I really hope you take the time to watch them. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go melt some more.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!  

 

 

 

 

The truth is out there

 For centuries, people have been obsessing over the Roanoke mystery.

In short, in  1585 Sir Walther Raleigh created a colony in Roanoke in what is today North Carolina. He returned to England for supplies but when he came back, the entire colony was missing. The buildings were there, but every man, woman and child were gone with no sign of battle or struggle. On a post someone had carved the word "Croatan".

Since then the mystery has endured. People from historians to horror writers have puzzled, speculated and dreamed about what happened, but now we finally know. 

Below is a really interesting documentary about this mystery, I highly recommend it.

Direct Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY7sYjSDT2I

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week.  

So that happened...

It's been a while since the last time we did weird trivia, so here we go:

In 1876, in Olympia Springs, Kentucky it rained strips of meat one day. There has never been a good explanation a to why it rained mystery meat, but some suspect a large flock of vultures may have gorged themselves and then vomited, which they do when they feel threatened. I don't know what is better, meat rain or vulture vomit...

Everyone knows that sport riots can cause huge damages both to people and buildings, but they are not a new phenomenon. In AD 532 a riot erupted in then Constantinople over a combination of politics and chariot racing which was super popular. This riot apparently claimed 30.000 lives and destroyed a large part of the city including the Hagia Sophia. Emperor Justinian had to deploy thousands of imperial soldiers to put a stop to the madness.

In 1932 during the Great Depression, Australian farmers grew more wheat to make ends meet, which had the unforeseen side effect of attracting hungry emus. The abundance of food made the emus breed more and soon there were huge flocks of these large birds roaming around attacking farms. An emu is pretty big and they can be dangerous. On top of that, their thick dense feathers are hard to penetrate with small arms, so the farmers asked the government for help. Soldiers were deployed and the Emu War had begun. A war Australia lost. Good thing they were emus and not cassowaries.

In July of 1518 a strange event started in Strasburg, Germany. People started dancing uncontrollably in the streets. They apparently could not stop and several died from stroke or exhaustion. Theories range from the infamous ergot poisoning to mass hysteria, but to this day no one knows why people danced themselves to death.

To be named Time Magazine Man of the Year, one has to do something that makes a huge impact. However this impact is essentially neutral, in that it doesn't have to be a positive or negative impact. This is why in 1938, Hitler was made Man of the Year. This in itself is well known, but did you know that in 1939 he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize? The nomination was made by a Swedish member of parliament, and was intended as a satirical critique. Whether that was true or not, the nomination was canceled within a few days.

From dancing to laughing. In 1962 at the University of Tanganyika in Tanzania, three girls suddenly started laughing and they couldn't stop. This strange madness spread to over a thousand students and the university had to close for several months. The theory of mass hysteria was again suggested but no one knows for sure.

Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, conqueror of Europe was defeated not only by Wellington but also by rabbits. In 1807, Napoleon wanted to celebrate the peace between France and Russia with a massive rabbit hunt. He acquired 3000 rabbits which were set loose, but the hungry rabbits attacked the people and jumped all over them looking for food, leading to the desperate retreat of the Master of France.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!

 

Rome. All of it. Sort of.

Since my day to day is still a bit chaotic, and I haven't returned to my old routines, we are continuing with historical documentaries. 

I found The Complete History of Rome, Summarized. To he honest I haven't finished it as it is three hours long (and that's just a summary), but it is really good.

So without further ado, please enjoy this excellent summary of the historical behemoth that was the Roman Empire. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week! 

BlueJay

I have something fun for you today. There are many Youtube channels dedicated to history, there are even many channels that do animated history, like the incredible Oversimplified that I have posted about before. This week we're looking at BlueJay who has a knack for both humor and odd facts, a great combo.

I chose three samples for you, How to Survive Victorian London, The Dumbest Russian Voyage Nobody Talks About and How to Become the Pirate King. 

Each video is both entertaining and funny. I hope you enjoy them, and if you do, check out the rest of his stuff.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

Historical Facts as the year draws to an end.

This year was the tenth year of me writing this blog. As 2022 draws to an end, I thought some probably true historical facts could be amusing as the next entry will be on January 2^nd 2023. So thanks for reading, have a great new years eve, as well as a safe and great week, and I'll see you all next year!

-From 1912 to 1948, the Olympic Games held competitions in the fine arts and awarded medals.

-Napoleon Bonaparte was attacked by a horde of angry bunnies during a rabbit hunt.

-The owners of the Titanic never claimed the ship was unsinkable, despite what the press said.

-Mary actually existed and she owned a little lamb.

-Nixon was a skilled musician and could play the piano, saxophone, clarinet, accordion, and violin.

-In 1830 ketchup was sold as indigestion medicine.

-Abraham Lincoln is in the wrestling hall of fame and was a licensed bartender.

-No one was burned in Salem for being a witch. Most were jailed and a few were hanged, but no one burned.

-Walt Disney was cremated, not frozen.

-Before the drink Bloody Mary was called such, it was called Red Snapper and before that, A Bucket of Blood.

-In 1917, four years before women in the U.S. could vote, one woman was elected to Congress.

-Machu Picchu was built in 1450. The Tower of London was built in 1078.

-The shortest war in history is the Anglo-Zanzibar War which happened on August 27, 1896 and lasted 38 minutes.

-Tablecloths were originally designed to function as communal napkins to be used by all the dinner guests at once.

-100 million years ago, there were galloping crocodiles in what is now the Sahara Desert.

-Oliver Cromwell banned eating pie, claiming that is was too pagan.

-It is estimated that about 97% of history is lost in time.

-Even mentioning Genghis Khan in the Soviet union was illegal.

-The year 46 BC was 445 days long and included two leap months. Julius Caesar arranged this to make his new Julian calendar sync up.

-The worlds oldest still functioning parliament in the Islandic Althing which was started in 930.

 

A simpler history

I love history but it is not always easy to study. The history of the world and humanity in general can get incredibly complex and I find it helpful to get an overview of an issue before even trying to delve deeper.

Getting a simplified version of an event or a war also helps me understand how it all hangs together.

Example: If the Ottomans hadn't closed off Byzantium and blocked Europe from Asia, then there would have been no need for Columbus to cross the Atlantic in 1492. No Columbus means no European struggle for territory to colonize, which means Great Britain wouldn't have started their 13 colonies. This means no American war of Independence, which directly lead to the French Revolution which led to Napoleons rise to power etc.

One “small” act can have enormous repercussions centuries later but since it is such a humongous subject it is really helpful to get it in smaller pieces.

This bring me to our subject for the week:

OverSimplifed over on Youtube. It is an animated channel that does just this. It breaks down things like WWI & II, the French Revolution, the American Civil War, King Henry VIII etc and it is funny as well!

So if you like history or just want to get your learn on, head on over and enjoy yourself. I've lost... well learning is never a waste, so I'll say I've spent many a happy hour over there.

Here is the direct link: https://www.youtube.com/c/OverSimplified/featured

That's that. Until next time, have a safe and happy week! Oh and keep washing those hands, Covid is far from over.

Sample:

Time to learn

Hello and welcome to another installement of Eccentric Spheres!

Today we are getting our learning on with some documentaries.

First up is The Great Escape from Alcatraz Prison:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVtaxYKk74M

followed by The Trial of Adolf Eichmann:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uANesju1B58

and finally Lost Worlds: Persia's Forgotten Empire:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3bOL8j3ypQ

Unfortunately I have to cut it a bit short today, but join me again next time. Until then, stay safe and have a great week!

The Butcher of Lyons

So, it has been a while since I did a book review, but today it's time.

Last week I finished; Klaus Barbie: The Butcher of Lyons by Tom Bower.

Klaus Barbie (1913 – 1991) was a Hauptsturmführer (captain) in the SD, subsection IV, better know as the Gestapo. This probably tells you quite a lot already.

After a short intro, the book sketches out his childhood and how he came to join the SS. This is followed by his early service culminating in Barbie being posted to Lyons. This section is a hard read as the details of the interrogation techniques he used are pretty stomach churning. But it would have been a mistake to gloss over it too much, as it's important to be aware of what these people did.

This section also details the French Resistance groups and Barbie's intelligence work to find and break them.

As the war ends, the book goes through Barbie's struggles to evade the Allies and how he in 1946-47 starts to work for the US CIC, or Counter Intelligence Corps. As relations between the Soviet Union and the rest of the Allies rapidly fell apart, and paranoia over Stalin's plans for Europe explodes, Barbie found himself invaluable to the American effort to spy on and suppress German communist parties.

Finally when pressure from the French became too much, and the CIC could no longer convincingly lie to cover for Barbie, they spirited him away to South America through Italy.

Barbie sets himself up as a businessman and intelligence officer/adviser for right wing governments in South America, particularly Bolivia. Since Bolivia's founding in 1825 they have had 190 changes of government, ususally through coups, so Barbie had no shortage of work.
Finally, thanks to the untiring efforts of the Nazi hunters Beate and Serge Klarsfeld, Barbie was extradited to France to stand trial for all the people he tortured and sent to their deaths.

This is where the book ends, as it was published in 1984 before his sentencing to life in prison in 1987. The kindle version I read is a reissue, and it would have been nice to have an addendum of post '84 events, but that is why we have Wikipedia.

As history books go, this one was a very easy read. It never got bogged down but it never loses the important details. It also manages to keep a good sense of a neutral perspective, reporting but never editorializing. This is of course not an entirely easy thing to do with this subject matter.

Finally this book gives an interesting insight in the unwillingness the Allies had in actually running down and punishing Nazi criminals. A speech by Roosevelt and later Churchill made it an unavoidable issue, but officials on both sides of the Atlantic really didn't want to meddle in that. Sure, the big-wigs had to go, but beyond that, many were content with leaving things as they were. This attitude coupled with the communist fueled paranoia really explains why and how the US came to protect a man like Barbie.

If the subject matter interests you, I absolutely recommend this book, both for the quality of research but also for being well written.

That's that. Join me again next time for more Eccentric Spheres, and have yourself a great week!

History of the entire world

The last couple of weeks have been a bit heavy, content wise. CIA... The Mafia... so today we're doing to entire history of the world in under 20 minutes.

Now, this video is hectic, so make sure you wake up before you click play. So enjoy and maybe you'll learn something, I know I did.

Join me again next Monday and until then, have a great week!

Direct link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuCn8ux2gbs