Showing results by narrator "Daniel Houle" in All Categories

During the 12th century, the people of Ireland came under the sway of the English, who had extended into their domain. With every subsequent century, English dominion in the land gradually expanded, leading to the exceedingly harsh treatment of native Irish populations at the hands of English settlers. The Tudor period was especially tumultuous, with Elizabeth I waging a notoriously expensive conquest against the Irish in the waning years of her reign.

The Bishops’ Wars: The History of the Religious Conflicts that Engulfed Britain and Led to the First English Civil War examines one of the most tumultuous periods in England’s history. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Bishops’ Wars like never before.

The Lombards originated in Scandinavia before migrating slowly through central Europe, and as the Western Roman Empire collapsed and the Byzantine successor state in Constantinople attempted to reestablish order, the Lombards took advantage of the chaos and planted themselves firmly on Italian soil.

Despite the fact that Marius’ achievements, both personally and as a leading statesman, far outweigh the vast majority of Rome’s emperors, Marius is not a well-known figure outside academic circles. Gaius Marius: The Life and Legacy of the General Who Reformed the Roman Army chronicles how Marius rose through the ranks, his reforms of the military, and his lasting legacy.

Despite all the accomplishments, widespread victories, and conquests that the ancient Romans accrued over the centuries, one of their most critical failures was the inability to subjugate Germany. Indeed, historians have singled out this one failure as central to the ultimate downfall of Rome, as the constant wars against the Germanic tribes and the need to defend the frontier on the Rhine helped bring the Roman Empire to its knees. There are elements of truth in such a conclusion, but the reality was far more fluid than is often realized.

Standing around 10 feet tall and weighing several tons, woolly mammoths seem like the stuff of legend, but ancient cave art indicated that unlike dinosaurs, woolly mammoths were contemporaries of early humans, with the last ones going extinct only about 4,000 years ago. All of that explains why people have long been fascinated by woolly mammoths and have even envisioned bringing them back to life via genetics sometime in the future.

Ancient Yamhad: The History and Legacy of Syria’s First Great Kingdom chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Syrian dynasty and what life was like during Yamhad’s era. You will learn about Yamhad like never before.

Riots are an aspect of American history that do not show up much in history textbooks, except for famous disturbances like the Boston Tea Party or the infamous New York City draft riots of 1863. The reality is that the country has experienced thousands of riots, from early colonial times through to the present, and the issues leading up to some of the riots may seem quite peculiar to modern Americans. Americans have rioted over who was the best actor and to free pirates from jail.

Bombs have been around for centuries, and terrorism in the United States has a longer history than many people realize, going back to the Revolutionary era. Listen to the stories of many lesser-known attacks in this intriguing history of a troubling topic.

Somewhat ironically, the one aspect of the Middle Ages that has been romanticized is medieval warfare. What is generally forgotten is that medieval warfare was constantly adapting to the times as leaders adopted new techniques and technology, and common infantry became increasingly important throughout the period. The changes became most evident at the beginning of the 14th century, when the French army fought rebellious forces from Flanders in the Battle of the Golden Spurs on July 11, 1302.

Soon after dawn on July 1, 1916, British and Commonwealth troops climbed out of damp, muddy trenches in the Somme valley and began to advance across no-man’s land toward German positions. The British commander, Field Marshal Douglas Haig, was certain that this battle would lead to a decisive victory. However, by the time that night fell on that day, 57,000 British troops had become casualties, including more than 19,000 killed, the highest number of British casualties in a single day of combat.

Rome's complex relationship with animals goes right back to its foundation myth, and even today, the wolf remains a symbol of the Eternal City, forming part of the logo for the capital's football team, A.S. Roma. According to tradition, the city of Rome was founded by Romulus, who, with his brother Remus, was nursed and sheltered by a she-wolf. A detailed analysis of Roman attitudes toward animals reveals a great deal of information about Roman society in general, particularly its sense of morality and ethics.

The United States and Canada today share the longest undefended border in the world, encompassing 5,525 after the US purchased Alaska, and though they have long been allies, the border has not always been peaceful. The sole danger of invasion from a Canadian enemy has always come from south of the border - from the United States.

The “Golden Age” of American film that began in the pre-World War II years has never truly ended, moving from its early connection with “film noir” to the epics of the 1960s and beyond. Similarly, movie stars still enjoy a degree of exoticism they have possessed since the days of silent film. However, in the modern day, the screen actor is not so narrowly constrained by public image as to prevent the leading of a double life, once impermissible for powerful studio heads.

The powerful forces of the United States Navy (USN), Marine Corps, and Army advanced inexorably against Imperial Japan in 1944. Following massive interdiction of Japanese merchant shipping by American submarines and multiple naval victories, the Americans stood poised to liberate the Philippines, then move on to locations closer to the Japanese home islands.

Mesoamerica is a cultural area including central and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and El Salvador. In this area, Prehispanic societies developed over thousands of years before coming into contact with Spanish conquistadores in the early 16th century. Mesoamerican civilizations flourished, developing complex social, political, and economic systems-based, to a certain extent, on their knowledge of nature.

Athletics in Central and North American societies go much further back than most people realize. The native peoples took their sports just as seriously as any of today’s most fervent soccer fans. One major difference between modern sports and these aboriginal games is that the native people's sports often had strong religious content, and games were sometimes seen as literal substitutes for war, played to resolve disputes between towns or tribes.

The fight for civil rights was at the forefront of inspirational, high-octane movements that took 20th century America by storm. One of the most common complaints minorities had centered on the use of police brutality, an issue that remains at the forefront of the conversation today. While protests emerged after the death of George Floyd in 2020, perhaps the most notorious example of police brutality in modern American history was the beating of Rodney King, whose arrest was caught on video.

At the end of 1941, it seemed to many people, especially in Germany, that the war was virtually over. Some began to consider what a postwar Europe would look like after a Nazi victory. With nothing to stop them, the Nazis became the most rapacious looters of art the world had ever seen, to the extent that it has been estimated that the Nazis may have acquired up to 20 percent of all art in Western Europe. Some works were returned after the war, many disappeared, and still others have become the subject of intense speculation.

The biblical-era Kingdom of Moab was located primarily in modern Jordan, but we do not know precisely when it came into being. However, by the tenth century BCE, a proto-Moabite kingdom was extant. We are also not sure about the roots of the Moabite name. The etymology of the name Moab is not completely clear and according to Jewish tradition, the name stems from the Semitic word for father, "abi". Therefore, the name means "from my father".