Thomas Davis was an Irish writer who was the chief organiser of the Young Ireland movement, who was born in Mallow to a Welsh father and an Irish mother. Through his mother he was descended from the Gaelic noble family of O’Sullivan Beare. His father died one month after his birth and his family moved […]
Two new laws were passed in Germany, on this day, September 15th, 1935. The first replaced the flag of Germany with the Nazi Party swastika. The second was a package of measures, known as the Nuremburg laws, that deprived Jews of German citizenship. The laws also made it illegal for a Jew to marry a […]
The Grand Armee of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte entered Moscow and captured it on this day, September 14th, 1812. It was the culmination of the biggest – and ultimately fatal – mistake of Napoleon’s brilliant career. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was a major miscalculation. At the time of the invasion, he dominated Europe, with only […]
ON THIS DAY: 12TH SEPTEMBER 1919 Dáil Éireann was declared illegal by the British Parliament when Sinn Féin TDs refused to sit in Westminister and set up their own parliament in Dublin, Dáil Éireann The British authorities called it a ‘dangerous assembly, because of this the first Dáil had to meet in secret at different […]
On the 10th of September, in 1649, Oliver Cromwell sat encamped outside the city of Drogheda with his 12,000-strong army and 11 siege cannons. They had already opened two large breaches in the town’s walls, as they were thin medieval structures and not designed to withstand cannon fire. Poised to attack the city, Cromwell wrote […]
The people of Gibraltar voted to remain British, and against unification with Spain, on this day, September 10th, 1967. The result was overwhelming: 12,138 votes were cast to remain British. Just 44 people in all of Gibraltar voted to become Spanish. Gibraltar has been under British rule since 1704, when it was captured by Anglo-Dutch […]
“Quinctilius Varus, where are my eagles?!!!” is what Brian Blessed’s Emperor Augustus exclaims, in the BBC Classic “I Claudius”, upon hearing of the battle of the teutoburg forest, which took place on this day, September 9th, 9AD. The battle was the most catastrophic defeat the Roman Empire would suffer for several centuries. Three Legions, and […]
Newspapers report a potato blight has hit Ireland. High rents imposed by absentee landlords meant that most people could only afford to live on small tenant farms with inferior soil that only potatoes could grow on; but the potato crop was prone to disease and the farmers did not have extra land to rotate crops. […]
Rugadh Ciarán i gContae Ros Comáin sa bhliain 516. Siúinéir agus déantóir carbaid ab ea a athair Uaireanta tugtar ‘Ciarán Óg’ air chun idirdhealú a dheánamh idir é féin agus Ciarán an Seanóir a bhí ina easpag ar Osraighe sa 5ú haois. Airítear é ar dhuine de ‘Dháréag Aspal na hÉireann’. Seo an bealach a […]
Michelangelo’s “David”, probably the most famous sculpture in the world, was first unveiled to the public on this day, September 8th, 1504, in the Piazza della Signoria, in Florence. The statue, as the name suggests, represents the David who defeated Goliath in the bible. David was a favourite of the Florentines because, as a small […]
The Legion of Mary, which remains the largest lay organisation in the Roman Catholic Church, was founded in Dublin on this day, September 7th, 1921, by Frank Duff, and celebrates 99 years in existence today. Almost a century after it was founded in a small room on Francis Street, Dublin, the Legion of Mary has […]
After the Treaty of Limerick and the Battle of the Boyne, the Irish and English parliaments brought in draconian measures to crush the Catholic population. Even though Catholics had retained ownership of a mere 22% of the land which was further reduced to 14%, the penal laws attempted to ensure that no Irish Catholic would […]