Showing results by author "Hourly History" in All Categories

The name Pocahontas is one of the most recognized in the world, and many think they know the story of how she met and fell in love with a European colonist meddling in her Native American affairs. But is this really what happened? It certainly has been a popular theme, and whole Disney movies have been made celebrating this narrative, but besides these conveniently glossed-over tales, what is the real story?

It is no secret that Mary Todd Lincoln is one of the least popular first ladies in American history. She was considered a shrew, a spendthrift, and her own son had her declared insane. The truth behind Mary Todd Lincoln lies in the fact that she was unable to conform to the feminine expectations of her times. Well-educated and filled with opinions, she defied conventions and incurred the wrath of the public who hated her for it.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first battles of the American War of Independence, an introduction into years of combat that would pit the forces of the Thirteen Colonies against the world’s mightiest empire - Great Britain. The events of April 19, 1775, have been commemorated in poetry and have become part of the sweeping legend of the American fight for independence.

Hudson Taylor was a man always on the move. Born in Britain, he toured the world spreading the gospel, but it was in China in particular that Hudson would carve out his biggest legacy in Christ. It was here that he pushed the limits, going deeper and farther than any other Christian had gone before. Reaching the hearts and minds of the Chinese that lived there, he preached a gospel that they had not yet heard.

Discover the remarkable life of Hernan Cortes. Hernán Cortés, the famed Spanish conquistador, had always dreamed of becoming the next Christopher Columbus. Little did he suspect that he would surpass his hero as he settled various islands and marched into the heart of Mexico to conquer the Aztec empire for Spain. Cortés discovered more gold and riches than could be imagined in the New World, but greed soon became his driving passion.

As the heir to the Spanish Empire of his father Charles V, Philip II came into this world with some rather big shoes to fill. Eventually, Philip would prove himself in his own right even though he turned out to be a much different ruler than his father. He won a life or death struggle against a resurgent Ottoman Empire, he consolidated Spanish dominion in the Americas, and he fought to maintain Spanish holdings in Europe. He also used a ruthless Spanish Inquisition in order to keep his subjects in line with his own version of the Catholic faith.

Discover the remarkable life of Geronimo...The legendary Geronimo led one of the last great Apache uprisings against American expansionism. The lands of the Apache tribe comprised what is today part of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, and Geronimo was one of the last who dared to stand up to the powers that encroached on the Native American way of life. In the end, even the cunning and might of Geronimo had to surrender to the wayward expansion of the west.

The German Revolution of 1918-1919 told the story of a bruised nation attempting to overcome its military defeat at the hands of enemies who wanted to punish Germany for starting the war. Because Germany was caught in the vise of such irreconcilable political philosophies between the left and the right, the Weimar Republic, although it was the ruling power following the German Revolution, was destined to have a doomed, short life in Germany’s tragic 20th-century history.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Jefferson Davis Timeline and for a short timeline of Jefferson Davis.

If any of the great composers have a staying power that defies genre and time period, Frédéric Chopin was most certainly one of them. You can find his work being played with cherished delight by any budding pianist, and his music serves as a constant backdrop and mainstay for piano concertos worldwide. But what do we really know about Frédéric Chopin? A child prodigy, Frédéric Chopin was a transplant from Poland who took the artistic world of Paris by storm.

The Aztec Empire dominated Mesoamerica for a relatively short time — less than 100 years — but it is remembered today more than other ancient cultures in the region which sustained for much longer. Partly that is because this was a relatively recent culture which was widely reported by the first Europeans to make contact with it.

This is a short timeline of Brian Boru.

This audiobook is a short timeline of Ada Lovelace, a mathematician and writer, born to the English poet Lord Byron and Anne Isabella Byron.

An early feminist, Louisa May Alcott fought for women’s rights throughout her life and became the first woman in Concord, Massachusetts to register to vote. Her most famous novel, Little Women, was a semi-biographical version of her life with her three sisters and how they grew up. While her father, the educator Amos Bronson Alcott, could make her life exasperating, her beloved mother, Abigail, always supported her daughters’ right to chart their own course in life, whether society approved or not.

The Mahdist War took place at the end of the 19th century between Sudanese rebels and their Egyptian colonizers. A religious leader claiming to be the Islamic Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad, raised an army and led a movement to guide not only Sudanese Muslims, but Muslims worldwide. He and the Mahdists envisioned a future in which they would live by the teachings of the Qur’an. However, larger global forces, especially those of global imperialism, would stand in their way. From the Mahdist grassroots movement to independence to reconquest, this is the story of the Mahdist War.

Thomas Aquinas is known as a great theologian, and his treatises and theories are studied by clergy all over the world. He is celebrated for his words of wisdom as well as the alleged miracles that he performed while he was still alive. Yet as large as his acclaim may be, Aquinas has also had his fair share of detractors both during his lifetime and long thereafter. Casting all accolades and critiques aside, in this book, you will find the raw, bare bones of the man who Thomas Aquinas came to be.

What makes a shooting a massacre? If a mob of hundreds is facing down eight soldiers, and five citizens are killed, is that the Boston Massacre or the Incident on King Street? As was the case with so many of the tumultuous events in America’s colonial history, the answer depended upon whether one regarded oneself as a British subject or a free American.

After the shock and devastation of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the Americans were determined to take their revenge on the Empire of Japan. The Japanese were just as determined to become the dominant power in the Pacific, a goal they were well on their way to achieving as they occupied China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaya, Burma, Northern Borneo, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines.

The son of the second president of the United States, John Quincy Adams was prepped and primed from his youth to be the quintessential statesmen. At just 14 years of age, he was given a diplomatic post in St. Petersburg, Russia. This was the beginning of a political career that would last until his last breath. Adams became a one-term president thanks to the populism of his archrival Andrew Jackson, but even after being ousted from the White House, the unsinkable John Quincy Adams came right back to the fore, getting himself elected as a Congressman in the House of Representatives.

Discover the remarkable life of Brian Boru.... Ireland is a country steeped in history, myth, and legend. During ancient times a long line of kings reined over this fairytale land, and one of those kings was a man named Brian Boru. Ruling the Emerald Isle from 1002 to 1014, Brian’s tenure is indeed so immersed in mythology that it is sometimes hard to glean the fact from the fiction. But Brian Boru himself was not the product of a fanciful tale - he did indeed exist in the flesh.