The Code of the ‘Pirate Round’: Madagascar Base
Beyond the Caribbean, the late 17th century saw pirates embark on the 'Pirate Round' to the Indian Ocean. This article explores how the remote island of Madagascar became their ultimate…
Tag: rebellion & revolution
The ‘Guerrilla’ Warfare of Francis Marion
Nicknamed the "Swamp Fox" during the American Revolution, Francis Marion became a legend for his mastery of guerrilla warfare. Leading a band of irregular militia, he used the impenetrable swamps…
History of the Scythe: From Farming Tool to Weapon
The long, curved blade of the scythe is synonymous with the harvest, a tool that brought life-giving sustenance for millennia. Yet, when re-forged in the fires of rebellion, this instrument…
The Eruption of Laki: A Global Catastrophe
In 1783, a massive volcanic eruption in Iceland unleashed a toxic fog that spread across the globe, causing mass death and climate chaos. Largely forgotten today, this single event disrupted…
The ‘Slighting’ of Castles in the English Civil War
What did Parliament do with a captured enemy castle during the English Civil War? The answer was often 'slighting'—the systematic demolition of its fortifications to render it militarily useless. This…
History of the Color Red: From Cochineal to Communism
The color red has a dramatic history, tracking humanity's greatest conflicts over power, faith, and freedom. Its story journeys from the ancient world, where it was a precious luxury derived…
The ‘Social War’ of the Roman Republic
One of the Roman Republic's most devastating conflicts was not against a foreign power, but against its own Italian allies in the Social War. This brutal clash over the rights…
Japan’s ‘Kirishitan’ Century (1549-1639)
For nearly a century, Christianity flourished in samurai-era Japan, converting powerful lords and commoners alike in a dramatic encounter between East and West. Discover the fascinating story of this "Kirishitan"…
The Physiocrats: France’s First Economists
Before Adam Smith, France's first economists, the Physiocrats, offered a radical vision for a kingdom on the brink of collapse. They argued that all wealth came from the land and…
The Hussite Wars and the War Wagon
Discover how the execution of reformer Jan Hus ignited a revolutionary war that pitted Bohemian rebels against the might of crusading knights. This is the story of the Hussites and…
The Batavia Shipwreck: A Tale of Mutiny
When the Dutch ship Batavia wrecked off Australia in 1629, the survivors' ordeal had just begun. A charismatic but psychopathic mutineer, Jeronimus Cornelisz, seized control and unleashed a reign of…
The Battle of the Golden Spurs
In 1302, the social and military order of medieval Europe was turned on its head near the city of Kortrijk. A disciplined militia of Flemish peasants and artisans, armed with…
The St. Scholastica Day Riot
What began as a dispute over a bad pint of wine in a 14th-century Oxford tavern quickly erupted into a three-day armed conflict between university students and local townsfolk. This…
The Nika Riots: A Byzantine Bloodbath
In 532 AD, a riot between rival chariot-racing fans in Constantinople exploded into a political insurrection against Emperor Justinian I. The Nika Riots engulfed the city in flames, nearly toppled…
The Triple Alliance Before Cortés
Before the Spanish arrival, the "Aztec Empire" was not a single, unified kingdom but a complex confederation of three city-states: Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. Known as the Triple Alliance, this…
The Sicilian Vespers of 1282
On Easter Monday 1282, a single act of defiance against a French soldier ignited a bloody, island-wide revolt known as the Sicilian Vespers. This explosive uprising saw thousands of French…
The Zanj Rebellion: A Slave Revolt
In the 9th century, tens of thousands of enslaved East Africans rose up against the mighty Abbasid Caliphate in one of history's most successful and brutal slave revolts. For 14…
The Rise of the Samurai Class
The samurai are iconic figures of historical Japan, but they weren't always the ruling elite. Their story is a dramatic rise from humble origins as provincial bodyguards for the Heian…
The Bagaudae: Peasant Rebels of Rome
In the dying light of the Roman Empire, shadowy figures known as the Bagaudae rose from the fields of Gaul and Hispania. Were these desperate peasant rebels fighting crushing injustice,…
The Praetorian Guard: Rome’s Kingmakers
The Praetorian Guard were an emperor's most elite soldiers, an ornate and privileged force meant to be the ultimate protectors of the Roman state. But in a profound irony of…