Content tagged with “history” under “Stuff I Looked Up”

“ This is a historic name for the island of Great Britain. It might come from the Latin word for ‘white,’ referring to the white cliffs of Dover. ”

“This was a group of creatives that would meet for lunch at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City during the interwar period of the 1920s. Many of them were newspaper writers and columnists, and the subjects of their conversations were often printed in the papers of the day. Later, several actors and…”

“Anarchism rejects any type of hierarchical government or authority. It believes in ‘free association,’ which means humans coming together voluntarily to solve problems, rather than being forced by the state. I’ve always wondered how someone committed to anarchy would create a society, since…”

“This technically refers to the English people of the Middle Ages. Saxony is a German state. The ‘Saxons’ of the Middle Ages were seafaring people, like the Vikings of Scandinavia. Some of them migrated to England, where they combined with the ‘Anglos’ of that region (who had also migrated from…”

“ This literally means ‘before war’ in Latin. It’s most often used to discuss the period of Southern life prior to the American Civil War. Less known is the antonym ‘postbellum,’ which means the period after a war. ”

“ This technically means ‘before the Great Flood.’ ‘Diluvial’ means ‘related to a flood.’ But, over the years, it’s become a synonym for ‘old’ or ‘ancient,’ when used to refer to non-historical things. ‘Diluvian’ means ‘related to or brought about by a flood’ and ‘ante’ is the prefix for ‘before.’ ”

“This is a general term meaning ‘the era of Mankind,’ or the period of Earth’s history where humans have existed and have had an impact on the planet. It’s often used in an environmental context to encapsulate the changes humans have had on the planet. The term is not totally accepted as a formal…”

“This was a very important road in Ancient Rome. It was named after a guy called ‘Appius.’ It was a technologically advanced road for the time (300s BC). It was paved with interlocking stones, and was crowned to run water off to gutters on the sides. It was about 350 miles long, and in one section,…”

“ Arabic Numbers are the common, base-10 numeric system most people in the world use: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. They’re not from Arabia specifically, but they were brought to Spain in the 900s by Arabic speakers from North Africa across the Straight of Gibraltar. ”

“It’s Portuguese for ‘act of faith.’ In most cases, it refers to a series of events during the Inquisitions of the 1500s through the 1800s. These were public punishments and executions of those believed to be heathens or witches. Prisoners were whipped, hanged, or burned at the stake in front of…”

“It is just south of present-day Baghdad, Iraq, about 50 miles, along the banks of the Euphrates. It no longer exists as a major population center, but there are significant ruins of the ancient walled city remaining. Here it is on Google Maps. Babylon was no longer a ‘city’ by about the 900s – was…”

“ This comes from Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry. In some context, it has a sexual subtext, used to describe and orgy or indulgent sexual performance. Humorously, one of the top search results for the word is the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas . ”

“This was a 1917 letter from the British Foreign Secretary (their Secretary of State, basically) to a leader of the British Jewish community which expressed support for a Jewish homeland in the area of (then) Palestine. It was the first open acceptance and validation of Zionism . The letter was both…”

“This refers to the fragmentation of something into smaller units that are hostile to each other. So, if a country were to break down into smaller regions, all of which went to war with each other, this would be an example of balkanization. I was familiar with the term from context, and from the…”

“There are multiple contexts here, but it’s most often used to refer to a specific German art and design school which operated in the 20s and 30s, and the aesthetic which emerged from it. It was a specific organization, but has become a general movement and approach to design. The Bauhaus school and…”

“Bebe Rebozo was a close friend, confidante, and adviser of Richard Nixon. ‘Bebe’ was a nickname – it’s Spanish for ‘baby’ as he was the youngest of 12 in a Cuban family. Rebozo was often suspected of criminal activity, but nothing was ever proven, other than a minor tax penalty. Rebozo was also…”

“In the Old Testament, several people are stated to have lived almost 1,000 years. Is this literal, figurative, or a mistake? One theory says that a simple translation error caused months to be counted as years. If someone was said to have died at 950 years, it was really 950 months , which is 79…”

“In the context I decided to investigate, it refers to the starting defense of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers. To differentiate players during practices in the 1960s, the Nebraska coach put his defenders in black jerseys, and the name stuck. When Nebraska keeps opponents to a low score, it…”

“Lots of people have been killed on Sundays, and the phrase is used to describe lots of mass killings. Wikipedia shows 20+ events that are connected to the phrase. The most recent event and the one most clearly associated with the phrase from this generation is a 1972 shooting of protesters in…”

“ The more modern term in use today is ‘Afrikaners,’ though their are subtle differences. ”

“‘Bohemia’ was an actual place – it was the western end of the current Czech Republic, though it’s not technically named this anymore. The word ‘Bohemian’ has come to refer to a carefree, counter-cultural, often traveling lifestyle. This usage comes from a French reference to the Romani people of…”

“A ‘vanity’ is some physical object that’s considered sinful or promoting of sinfulness (e.g. alcohol, pornography). So a ‘bonfire of the vanities’ is a burning of these objects as a symbolic act to promote holiness and rid the world of temptation. The original ‘bonfire of the vanities’ was an…”

“The Cambrian Period was an evolutionary timeframe occurring about 541 million years ago, and lasting for about 55 million years. It was named for the Latin name for Wales (‘Cambria’), which is where considerable fossil evidence was discovered. The Cambrian Explosion was an event during that period….”

“William Bligh was the (purportedly) ruthless and cruel captain of the HMS Bounty , the crew of which famously mutinied in 1789. Bligh and his loyalists were set adrift in a small boat, and the Bounty continued on to the Pitcairn Islands , where the mutineers settled with some Polynesian women they…”

“In general, this refers to something that can be linked back to Rene Descartes, the French scientist, famous for uttering the phrase, ‘I think, therefore I am.’ There are several scientific, mathematical, and philosophical branches that are named for Descartes: Cartesian geometry Cartesian…”

“ It may stem from a Turkish word to describe an ancient ruling dynasty. Marco Polo used the word quite often when describing his travels. ”

“A British businessman and politician who operated mainly in Southern Africa in the late 1800s, where he moved as a child. Rhodes is known for several things: One of the governors of the main British imperial presences in Southern Africa – the Cape Colony (now South Africa) Creator of the De Beers…”

“Neither. Both the actor and the city were named (indirectly) for a medieval English hunting ground. The actor, who was born in 1943, is actually named Cornelius Chase. ‘Chevy’ is a childhood nickname. (Apparently, he was also indirectly named after the English land, not the city.) The city in…”

“This was a political movement in China in the late 1960s. Chairman Mao Zedong had lost power due to the failure of the The Great Leap Forward, and he was concerned that he was losing his grip on the Communist Party. He began the Cultural Revolution by stirring up fears that capitalists had…”

“He was the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, and is considered one of the greatest diplomats in world history. He served from 1953 to his death in 1961. He was killed in a plane crash in Congo. There are conflicting reports of the cause, and it was still being investigated into the…”

“ Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Dutch theologian and philosopher in the 1500s. ”

“This a period of American history at the end of the 19th century. Opinions differ on when it started – certainly post-Civil War, but various accounts have it starting in the 1860s or 1870s and running through the end of the century. The period was characterized by enormous post-bellum economic…”

“George Gipp was a football player at Notre Dame in the late 1910s. His nickname was ‘The Gipper.’ He died of an infection during his senior year. In the 1940 film, Knute Rockne, All-American , he was portrayed by Ronald Reagan. In his deathbed scene, Reagan implores his teammates to ‘…win just one…”

“No, this wasn’t a specific place. It was technically the name of the Soviet agency that managed the forced labor camps of the Lenin and Stalin eras. In the Western world, the term ‘gulag’ came to refer to the generic Soviet system of camps, regardless of where they were. There were hundreds of…”

“This is the discipline of studying history. It doesn’t refer to the actual study of history, but rather to the practice, process, and tools that we use to study history. Wikipedia makes an interesting point: The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic by…”

“John Maynard Keynes was a British economist. He had a lot of theories about economics, but it basically boils down to this – The government has to intervene in the economy . In a rescission, government has to increase spending to increase demand. During a boom, the government needs to reduce…”

“This is a view of history that attempts to paint the Confederacy and its role in the American Civil War in the best possible light. It emerged sometime after the war, when southerners were trying to recover from the damage of the war and rationalize why it was fought. The ‘lost cause’ means that…”

“This was the 1939 agreement between Hitler (Germany) and Stalin (Russia) where they agreed to non-aggression and to divide Poland between them. (It was named for the Foreign Ministers of both countries.) The areas of Poland that were invaded ended up with Russia after the war, and are now in…”

“ This was the region of Asia that eventually became Russia. It was named for the Moskva river, which borders the area to the west. From that grew the city of Moscow, which became the center of Grand Duchy of Muscovy. It was first mentioned in the 1200, and they fought off the Mongols in the 1300s. ”

“Chicago’s largest airport is named for Edward ‘Butch’ O’Hare. He was a Naval aviator during World War II. He’s most known for single-handing attacking nine bombers who were threatening his aircraft carrier. He shot down five of them. O’Hare was awarded the Medal of Honor. He was shot down by the…”

“This is a description or name applied to any painting from an known painter in Europe before ‘about 1800,’ according to Wikipedia . Merriam-Webster says: a work of art by an established master and especially by any of the distinguished painters of the 16th, 17th, or early 18th century But what’s an…”

“O’Hare is built on what used to be an airfield complex called ‘Orchard Field.’ It served a Douglas manufacturing plant and an Air Force service depot. That’s where the ‘ORD’ comes from: ‘Orchard.’ When the city of Chicago needed more capacity than the original airport (now Midway), they purchased…”

“This was a communist government that seized control of Paris for two months in 1871. France was concluding the Franco-Prussian War at the time, and the only reason the uprising succeeded is because the army was outside of Paris. In fact, when the war concluded, the army marched back to Paris and…”

“It’s an alternative name for Iran. The term ‘Persia’ is considered a relic of ancient times by most, and usage of it usually implies a historical reference to Iran. In 1935, the reigning shah announced that the country would henceforth be referred to by its modern name of ‘Iran.’ This wasn’t…”

“This is known mainly as a political scandal. Teapot Rock is an rock formation in Wyoming that (supposedly) resembles a teapot. It sits on top of an oil field that was discovered early in the 20th century and became known as Teapot Dome. The oil field was owned by the government as a Naval oil…”

“This is a holy site in Jerusalem. It’s actually several overlapping sites, important to all three Abrahamic religions. The Template Mount itself is the claimed former site of Solomon’s Temple, which was destroyed twice – the last time in the years just after Jesus died. It’s a raised plaza – kind…”

“This has two common meanings, one depending on the other. Just after World War 2, ten veterans and their commander went to work at Ford. They had all served in the Army during the war in a unit called Statistical Control, which broke new ground in information management for logistics. After the…”