Richard de Clare, nicknamed Strongbow invaded Ireland to continue the earlier Norman invasion of 1169. Diarmait Mac Murchada was ousted as king of Leinster by a coalition led by the High King, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair. He fled Ireland and sought military assistance as he wanted to be King of Leinster, and ultimately Ireland, but had to […]
Mickey Devine was the last man to die on the hunger strike started by Bobby Sands in early March. As a young man Bloody Sunday had a deep effect on him, he was there with this brother-in-law who remembered Mickey rhetorically ask “How can you sit back and watch while your own Derrymen are shot […]
In 1874, a letter was sent to John Devoy, a leader with the Fenian Irish Republican Brotherhood who was living in exile in the USA. He was planning a rebellion in Ireland when informers altered the British authorities and Devoy was arrested, convicted of treason and sentenced to 15 years labour on the Isle of […]
Gaius Octavius was the nephew of Julius Caesar, and his heir apparent, when the latter was brutally murdered by conspirators on the Ides of March, 44BC. At the time, Octavian (as he was then known) was twenty years old, and studying in Greece. Within 18 months, the young man had maneuvered himself into becoming one […]
On this day, in 1940, the so-called “hardest day” battle was fought, as part of the battle of Britain. On that day, the Luftwaffe made an all-out effort to destroy RAF Fighter Command. But German intelligence was faulty: They believed that the British had only about 300 fighters left in service, but the RAF actually […]
On March 21st, 1612, a young girl called Alizon Device encountered a merchant called John Law, from Halifax, on the road to Pendle. She begged him to sell her some pins, but he refused, because she did not have the money. Privately, she cursed him. As luck would have it, within a few minutes, he […]
An Irish force led by Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill ambushed Sir Conyers Clifford and his men though a pass in the Curlew mountains near the town of Boyle in Roscommon.
ON THIS DAY: 12 AUGUST 1652: English Parliament under Cromwell passes the Act for the Settlement of Ireland (1652) Cromwell was in Ireland from 15 August 1649 to 26 May 1650. As Olivercomwell.org – a charity founded to advocate for Cromwell writes: “He accomplished a more complete control of Ireland than had been achieved under […]
From the 9th to the 11th of August 1971, ten civilians, including a 13 year old boy and a Catholic priest, were shot dead by members of the Parachute Regiment of the British Army in the Ballymurphy area of West Belfast. The three days of terror became known as the Ballymurphy Massacre. Just days after […]
J. Thomas Schipp and Abraham Smith were lynched in Indiana, on this day, August 7th, 1930. To date, they are the last known victims of lynching in the United States. Arrested on suspicion of murder, rape, and robbery the night before, Schipp and Smith were taken from their jail cells by an angry, all-white mob, […]
The Holy Roman Empire, founded in the 700’s, was formally dissolved on this day in 1806 by the Austrian Emperor Francis II. It had dominated European politics for a thousand years. The Empire was founded by the Carolingian dynasty of Charlemagne. In modern terms, it was not really an Empire at all, but a federation. […]
The great heathen army that invaded England (and Ireland) in 865AD came, according to legend, in response to the execution of Ragnar Lothbrook by King Aelle of Northhumbria. Whether that is true, or false, it was the largest invasion that these islands had seen since Roman Times. For 45 years the Vikings dominated Northern England, […]