The utensils we use for eating today seem so common sense that we can hardly imagine eating without them. But the table fork is a surprisingly new invention once thought superfluous and vulgar. The History Guy recalls the forgotten history of one of humankind’s most common tools.
The Second battle of Villers-Bretonneux represented a critical turning point in the Great War. While most fans of military history recall the first battle between tanks, the fate of the A7V “Mephisto” tells the story of tank warfare in the First World War. The History Guy recalls the story of the only surviving A7V.
John Hay was President Lincoln’s personal secretary, a position that began nearly five decades of public service. A diplomat who served multiple Administrations from Lincoln to Roosevelt, he was a central figure in defining the U.S. foreign policy that would be the basis of the United States role on the world stage in the twentieth century.
Different cultures have been roasting meat over a fire since prehistory. But the practice took on special meaning in the United States. The History Guy remembers a brief history of American barbecue.
The Victoria Cross was created because of a confluence of a complex and nearly forgotten conflict and developments in technology.
Boudica of the Iceni has become a British folk heroine for her dramatic, but brief, stand against the might of the Roman Empire. But all we know of Boudica comes from two Roman historians. The History Guy tries to disentangle legend from history in “Boudica: The Woman Behind the Legend”.
The Battle of Okinawa was the largest and deadliest battle of the Pacific campaign. But the terrible battle on the island was only part of the fight, as the ships of the Navy faced an onslaught of Kamikaze attacks. The History Guy recalls the many desperate actions to save the ships of the Okinawa armada.
As the North Vietnamese army approached Saigon, government and private relief organizations engaged in a massive humanitarian program to evacuate war orphans. The History Guy tells the forgotten history of a program that was well intended, but also flawed, reminding us that history can be complex.
Jefferson “Soapy” Smith was one of the most skilled, and infamous, confidence men in United States history. He was “so dirty he made a crime out of soap”. His life of crime is a ripping yarn and a cautionary tale that deserves to be remembered.
Most Americans don’t seem to realize that the American Revolution sparked a broader war that engulfed the world, not just in North America, but in Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, India, and the island of Jersey. The 1781 Battle of Jersey only lasted about half an hour, but it represented the breadth of the empire that Britain had to protect. The competing needs of the empire helped America win its independence.