American History
Benjamin Franklin: The Man of Public Affairs
Franklin had transformed himself, as befitted a gentleman, into a man of public affairs. He had to face a lot of criticism and scorn in his career of public affairs. […]
World History
American History
The Early Life and Success of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin had worked harder throughout his life to make himself into an object of honor, especially considering how low was the rung of the ladder on which he had been born. By 1740s, he had become a gentleman in the American society. […]
History
Imperial China: The Rise and the Fall of the Taipings
The Manchu rule in the 19th century was fatally weakened by the Taipings. They posed the most serious internal threat to the dynasty. […]
History
The Peasant Rebellions in China
The peasant rebellion in China was sparked by a series of natural disasters that began in the early 1850s. Coinciding with the Western assault, the Manchu dynasty became fatally weak. […]
History
Rural Life in Imperial China
In imperial China, the rural population lived in clustered villages, each of which had its own distinctive local customs, festivals, deities, and temples. And, There were substantial social class distinctions both between and within lineage groups. […]
European History
The Black Death: Europe’s First Contact with the Plague
In 1345, the Mongol army was ravaged by the plague. The Mongol forces recognized that they were defeated and that the siege was over. But before they withdrew, they engaged in what microbiologist Mark Wheelis has described as “the most spectacular incident of biological warfare ever”—they loaded up their trebuchets with plague-infected corpses and launched them into the city. […]
European History
Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP
There was a relative recovery of the German economy from 1924 to 1928. This was also the time when Hitler re-established the NSDAP and attempted to create a network of propaganda cells all over Germany. […]
European History
1923: The year of Hyperinflation and Hitler’s Coalition
The hyperinflation in Germany was the result of the unpragmatic policies of the Weimar authorities. Amidst these turbulent times in 1923, Hitler found a perfect opportunity to overthrow the German government. […]
History
East Germany’s Stasi Surveillance: Tactics and Impact
From monitoring phone conversations to taking odor samples, East Germany’s surveillance system left no stone unturned to spy on its population. […]
History
Germany’s Surveillance System in the Nazi Era
Prior to the Cold War standoff between Eastern and Western Europe, there was, of course, significant state surveillance in Germany during the Nazi regime leading up to—and throughout—World War II. […]