For my Courland timeline, a question nagging at me has been how fast one can travel on roads in the 17th century, depending on being on foot, on horseback, and changing horses et cetera. And what do you know, a shockingly great (though incomplete) dynamic map of such travel in Europe exists: Viabundus. Happily for me, Courland roads are shown.
You can make roads, bridges, or ferries appear and disappear from the map based on what year your purported travel occurs in. I'm already thrilled this resource exists.
Now, if anyone can point me at a source that might clarify how much faster travel might be on a better road of the era, and what was involved in making a road better, I'd be much obliged. It feels as though advances in road making that happened in the 1800s might have just as easily occurred in any of the thousand years prior, in the right circumstances.
Rather than me list a giant tranche of books, if anyone wants some good books on either mid-18th century naval warfare or the naval side of the Seven Years War, I can certainly recommend some
Rather than me list a giant tranche of books, if anyone wants some good books on either mid-18th century naval warfare or the naval side of the Seven Years War, I can certainly recommend some
If anyone does know of an affordable recent work that covers the whole thing I'd like to know too!
Corbett is the traditional answer, but that's an old 2-volume history, which most writers on individual aspects of the war have had problems with - i.e. a writer a Byng, a writer on Anson, a writer on Hawke, they have all taken issue with some of Corbett's generalisations. He's probably still fine for the actual facts.
There are books that cover the 18th century, or cover from the late 17th to mid 18th that are good overviews, but finding ONE book that covers ALL of the naval history of the Seven Years War has evaded me. Even just doing a quick look-up now, I DO find a book that purports to be this, but it is 70 quid, only 250 pages, and is reviewed as being "informative" but short!
So I'm doing a little Lincoln Lives mini-project that involves Ben Wade winning the 1868 election, and was doing some light research to write the thing and figure his Cabinet out when I chanced upon this line from Britannica:
Unfortunately I can't find Britannica's sources section, so I have no ability to make any further research from there, and Google searches come up empty. I'm also not sure if Wade's papers are available online. Does anyone know where they could have possibly gotten this from, and even better, if said source says who Wade's choices were? Or an online copy of Wade's papers?
Does anyone have suggestions for a good biography of Napoleon III or single-volume history of the Second French Empire? Along the lines of Zamoyski's or Roberts' biographies of his more famous uncle, Napoleon I?
Similarly, could anyone recommend the same for Oliver Cromwell and/or the long interregnum in Britain?
Both of these are subjects I'd like to explore in greater detail than I've gotten through general European history reading.
The 3rd book in Peter Ackroyd's series 'The History of England' is 'Civil War' and covers the period from the accession of James VI to the English throne (hence James VI & I) to the overthrow of James VII and II in 1688 (the 'glorious revolution').
Full disclosure: I haven't actually finished this volume yet, but if it continues to be as good as it is so far (I'm only a couple of chapters in) then it should be a very good history of the period. (The first volume in the series, 'Foundation', was excellent - I haven't read the 2nd yet, as it's about the Tudors which I'm not as interested in.)
Here's the 'blurb' from Amazon (spoilered to save space). It's currently £8:99 for the Kindle version, £14:29 for paperback.
In Civil War, Peter Ackroyd continues his dazzling account of England's history, beginning with the progress south of the Scottish king, James VI, who on the death of Elizabeth I became the first Stuart king of England, and ends with the deposition and flight into exile of his grandson, James VII/II.
The Stuart dynasty brought together the two nations of England and Scotland into one realm, albeit a realm still marked by political divisions that echo to this day. More importantly, perhaps, the Stuart era was marked by the cruel depredations of civil war, and the killing of a king.
Ackroyd paints a vivid portrait of James VI/I and his heirs. Shrewd and opinionated, the new King was eloquent on matters as diverse as theology, witchcraft and the abuses of tobacco, but his attitude to the English parliament sowed the seeds of the division that would split the country in the reign of his hapless heir, Charles I. Ackroyd offers a brilliant – warts and all – portrayal of Charles's nemesis Oliver Cromwell, Parliament's great military leader and England's only dictator, who began his career as a political liberator but ended it as much of a despot as 'that man of blood', the king he executed.
England's turbulent seventeenth century is vividly laid out before us, but so too is the cultural and social life of the period, notable for its extraordinarily rich literature, including Shakespeare's late masterpieces, Jacobean tragedy, the poetry of John Donne and Milton and Thomas Hobbes' great philosophical treatise, Leviathan. Civil War also gives us a very real sense of the lives of ordinary English men and women, lived out against a backdrop of constant disruption and uncertainty.
For another viewpoint of the Cromwell period, I can highly recommend 'Sword of State: The Remarkable Story of George Monck' by Richard Woodman. Gen Monck was a pivotal figure of the period, first a Royalist, then loyal to Cromwell, then spearheading the restoration of Charles II (Monck founded the Coldstream Guards, who marched south from Coldstream to London to ensure the capital was safe for the king's return). I got it as a compilation from Amazon, but I think it's only available as a trilogy now - try this link.
Does anyone have any sources for ancient Mesopotamia, for the period between about 1200 to 1000 BCE? Also Anatolia for the same period. (Not so much Egypt. I have plenty of info for the Two Lands.)
Does anyone have any resources for common names in specific (usually obscure) ancient regions? Say I wanted the name of an average Joe in Roman Cilicia, for example. This has been troubling me for a while
