Peter the Great-the Tsar that Europeanized Russia

Tsar Peter I, the Great (1672-1725, Emperor/Tsar 1682-1725) truly deserved the title "Great" as he was both a powerful ruler that brought Russia into the modern World and was, at 6 feet 8 inches tall, also a giant for the time period.  He was a man of immense energy, ruthless, when need be, cruel when crossed and a lover of power and war. His vision to make Russia a World power led to a cultural change that was not popular with many Russian nobles and commoners alike.  After visiting Western European countries as a young man, he decided to modernize his military, his government and even build a new capital, appropriately named after himself-St. Petersburg.  It was a small matter that the land for his new capital belonged to Sweden at the time, war would settle that problem.  Dealing with his own people was a challenge in itself, he passed laws enforcing a variety of Western European ideas such as clothing, building a modern navy, reorganization the army and the like.  He even made a law that encouraged shaving by taxing beards. 

Through war Peter enlarged the Russian Empire, through politics he reorganized and streamlined the government, forced the Orthodox Church hierarchy to obey him and increased his already near total power over the state.  To further Russia's claims in Siberia and the Pacific Coast, he sent both settlers and explorers to the East.  The most famous of the latter was Captain Vitus Bering whose explorations gave Russia a claim to the lands bordering the sea that bears his name. 

By the end of his reign with his death in 1725, Tsar Peter I had forever changed the face of Russia and the political power system of European Nations.  Russia was now one of the major powers, although her importance would often be enhanced or diminished by the quality of the Tsars and Tsarinas who held the autocratic power.  Yet Peter had set the nation on the path to greatness, after him there would be no going back to the old ways.  Other powerful Russian leaders would build upon his foundations, Russia was now a major player on the World stage.

Death to the Middle Ages Knights

This early style handgun was the beginning of the end for the heavily armored knights.  It was fairly simple to use, somewhat inexpensive to produce and deadly at close range.  A hit would punch through most armor, giving common infantry a deadly way to deal with expensive knights. Cheap and fast to learn (hand gunners could be trained in weeks vs the five or more years it took to train a longbowman) were added bonuses.  Soon armies would begin to rely on improved matchlocks that would take control of the battlefield. 

This heavier "hand cannon" gave the Middle Ages infantry brutal killing power, at close range.  The dawning of the age of gunpowder was at hand.  Warfare would never be the same.

Deadly Poem

Ring-a-Ring o'Rosies
A Pocket full of Posies
"A-tishoo! A-tishoo!"
We all fall Down!

A simple children's nursery rhyme with a much more sinister (although some sources point to other interpretations) meaning-the massive deaths from the Bubonic Plagues of the 14th to 17 centuries. 

Ring-a-Ring o'Rosies: represented the blotches and sores of the disease. 
A Pocket full of Posies: was the attempt to ward off the disease by smelling fresh herbs and fragrant flowers to counter the "poisonous vapours." *
"A-tishoo! A-tishoo!": the sneezing that took hold of the victim's in the final stage of the disease.
We all fall Down!: the sick drop dead.

(or is it-Modern revisionists doubt the story while many Old English historians believe it)

Results of the "Black Death" in the 14th century Europe are estimated to be in excess of 25 million in less than five years (1347-1352).  Thus the plague killed a third of the European population in general and more than fifty percent of the people of many communities such as the City of Venice.  So many died that the entire economy and social systems of Europe were radically changed.  The individual was now more valuable as there was often a great shortage of labor. The plague would continue to revisit Europe for the next three hundred years. At its height in the outbreak of 1666, the pandemic was killing more than 5000 people a day just in London. The plague's last great Asian outbreak at the start of the 20th century killed over 10 million alone just in British Colonial India.  The disease is still found throughout the World today, but luckily for all it is treatable with modern medicine.

*The belief that sight and smells could carry and spread the disease led to another saying, "Seeing the World through rose-colored glasses."  Doctors and others would wear a mask that had rose colored glass eyepieces that they believed would prevent them from getting the disease.  As an added protection the nose of the mask would be filled with herbs and sweet flowers to defeat the deadly vapors.  The concept that deadly diseases such as Yellow Fever, Cholera, Malaria and the like were transmitted by "Deadly Vapors" lasted into the early 20th century.

Justinian and Theodora-Greatest Rulers of the Eastern Roman Empire

Justinian I the Great, Emperor (527-565) of the Eastern Roman Empire, the most successful of the emperors after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. His Justinian Code of Laws so revolutionized the legal system that the term "Code of Justice" is derived from his name.  He also had the largest domed cathedral in the World, the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) built.

Empress (527-548) Theodora was one of the greatest female leaders of the Roman Empire. During the Nika Riots of 532, she is credited as being the power, through her personal courage and convincing arguments, that kept Justinian from abandoning the throne (at the cost of up to 30,000 rioters' deaths).  Afterwards she was his most trusted advisor and with her support they reformed Constantinople and the Empire into a wonder of the World that would continue to keep alive the glories of the Romans for centuries to come. A strong supporter of the rights of women, she worked tirelessly to improve their status and legal standing in the Empire.

Thailand Buddha

Buddha in the distance belies its size. 

94% of Thailand follows the Theravada school of Buddhism and it is a major aspect in the lives of the people of the nation.

The golden reclining Buddha is a huge statue and very popular among tourists.

Statues of Buddha are everywhere in the country and are beautiful works of religious art.

Miracle on the Battlefield-First Marne

One hundred years, ago one of the most important battles of the 20th century was fought Northeast of Paris by the Marne River.  Throughout the month of August and first days of September 1914, the Imperial German Army marched from victory to victory, crushing Belgium, smashing through Northern France and forcing the French and British Armies into a near month long retreat. The German Schlieffen Plan for the conquest of France seemed to be on the verge of victorious conclusion, while the French war Plan XVII proved to be such a

disaster that by September 3, the French Government had fled Paris and the World waited for a swift German victory, just as they had done in 1870.

But the British and French regrouped and used a new addition to war, air recon, to reform on favorable terrain and attack the Germans in their weakest positions.  The German advance was halted, Paris was saved, and the war continued...the soldiers would not "be home before the leaves fall" (Kaiser Wilhelm II, August 1914).  The victory so changes the momentum of the war that the battle was soon called the Miracle on the Marne.  What none of the combatants could for see was that this was but the opening volley of a long, bloody war that would leave ten million soldiers dead, tens of millions more wounded, empires destroyed (Russian, Ottoman, German and Austro-Hungarian) and be the cause of an even greater conflict-the Second World War.

Wattle and Daub-Elizabethan Style

While not common, wattle and daub houses did not have to be whitewashed.

Wattle and daub were a fairly inexpensive way to build homes from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance.

The walls between the large timbers of a structure were made of wattle (sticks woven in a loose pattern) and daub (a mixture of mud, straw and animal manure that was packed onto the wattle) then covered in plaster.

The upper story of the house to the right is a traditional style while those to the left have more wood detailing for decorative rather than structural reasons.

The Elizabethan Era was the high design point for wattle and daub buildings as by the end of her reign brick became the favored building material in England.

The sagging is a common aspect of many two or more-story wattle and daub structures.

 

All these houses are in Ludlow, UK whose castle (to the left of the photo) was a major structure on the border with Wales and retained its importance until the late 17th century.