Category: History

The first question arising from the phrase “the English Civil War” is which one?  Scholars may debate what constitutes a discreet English civil war, but there have been around eleven since the Norman Conquest in 1066.  Most of the civil wars were between rival barons and royal houses.  A succession crisis typically sparked conflicts after…

The American Revolution was the first successful, large-scale revolt against autocratic rule.  There have been small-scale examples of people who ruled themselves, but nothing on the size of the 13 American colonies.  The Dutch Revolt in 1566 and the English Revolution in 1640 were uprising against oppressive autocratic rule, but both were half-measures.  While they…