Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 155 i All About History

The development of scientific thinking, curiosity and advancement in the late Middle Ages led to a new way of exploring and learning about the human body. Studying anatomy became a key component of medical education and dissection was seen as the best way to understand how the body worked. Traditionally, anatomy had been learned through the examination and study of ancient medical texts rather than through dissections, but all this changed with the establishment of Europe’s first anatomical theatres. Scholars at the University of Bologna in northern Italy had been known to perform anatomical dissections as early as the 13th century and this method of teaching students gradually became more widespread throughout Europe. In teaching scenarios, dissections were usually performed by one person as a group of students watched. The…

What developments had been made in the field of plastic surgery by 1914? Plastic surgery pre-dated the First World War. In fact, the term ‘plastic surgery’ was coined in 1798 by the French surgeon Pierre-Joseph Desault. At the time, the word referred to an object that could be shaped or sculpted; in this case, a person’s skin or soft tissue. But efforts in earlier periods to rebuild, repair or alter the appearance of the face were typically confined to small areas such as the nose or the ears. It wasn’t until the American Civil War [1861-65] that attempts were made to reconstruct large sections of faces. Going under the knife for an experimental form of surgery, however, posed serious risks in terms of infection and could lead to further disfigurement…

With a hereditary monarchy in Britain, the kings and queens of the United Kingdom have all tended to be preoccupied by one thing – having children. Marriages were judged by how quickly a royal couple became pregnant, and courtiers waited with bated breath to discover the gender of the monarch’s children. Royal wives were shamed for their inability to conceive or birth a living child. And while the creation and survival of legitimate royal children was a matter of interest for the public, so too was the fate of children who were born out of royal wedlock. Many of Britain’s kings have fathered illegitimate children. In fact, it would be more pertinent to ask which of England’s historical kings did not have at least one child outside of their marriage.…

Jesse Woodson James was born in Clay County, Missouri, on 5 September 1847, to Zerelda Elizabeth Cole and Robert James, a preacher and hemp farmer. The middle child of three, born to his Kentucky-native parents, he grew up in a small three-bedroom cabin in ‘Little Dixie’, an area in Western Missouri now known as Clay County. The vast plains on the Missouri River provided ample economic prospects for hemp and tobacco farmers selling supplies to passing merchants, who funnelled into the region to seek cotton farms and workers. Robert James was also a respected preacher at New Hope Baptist Church, and founded William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, in 1849. The family kept six slaves – five young children aged two to 11 and a woman aged 30. The 1850…

It’s one of the most enduring, intriguing and hotly contested mysteries in English history. What really happened to the princes in the Tower of London in 1483? A young King Edward V (although he had yet to be officially crowned) and his younger brother Richard were imprisoned then murdered by their ambitious and heartless uncle, Richard of Gloucester, to make the throne his own. That is the story accepted by many over the centuries, but the actual fate of the two boys has never been confirmed beyond all doubt and the debate continues today. Had things been different, and the young Edward V had ruled England, what seismic changes would there have been for the royal lineage and English history? Could Richard III have been the ‘power behind the throne’…

18-19 April 1956 GRACE KELLY MARRIES PRINCE RAINIER OF MONACO After meeting the previous year at the Cannes Film Festival, Hollywood actress Grace Kelly tied the knot with Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. As dictated by the sovereign principality’s tradition, the royal wedding took place over two days: a civil ceremony at the prince’s Palace of Monaco was followed by a religious service at the Cathedral of St Nicholas the next day. The wedding was televised around the world and watched by an estimated 30 million people. 29 April 1992 LOS ANGELES RIOTS BREAK OUT In March 1991, African-American Rodney King was severely beaten during his arrest by Los Angeles Police Department officers. The incident was captured on video camera by an onlooker and the four policemen were charged with…

1 MUSEUM VROLIK AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS Father and son Gerard and Willem Vrolik were anatomists practising in mid-19th century Amsterdam. They built up a collection of anatomical preparations – preserved specimens that the pair used to teach the inner workings of the human body. The collection was subsequently purchased by a private group of wealthy locals, who bought it with the intention of donating it to Amsterdam Athenaeum Illustre, the precursor to Amsterdam University. Since then other anatomists have gone on to add to it, and the collection now numbers around 25,000 specimens. The Vroliks also acquired a number of human skulls from across the globe, using these to help support their controversial theories on the supposed differing physical and mental qualities of various races, ideas which the museum now…

Born in 1917 in an India still under British rule, Indira Gandhi was the only child of India’s founding father Jawaharlal Nehru — a central player in India’s independence movement and the nation’s first prime minister after it won its freedom from the British Empire, serving continuously from 1947 to 1964. Gandhi’s rise to the top was written in the stars, and seems almost coincidental and circumstantial. Many believe she was destined to rule India, that her rise to power was inevitable. Gandhi studied at Somerville College at the University of Oxford and joined the Congress Party in 1938, ascending to its working committee in 1959. From here she continued to climb higher and higher up the ranks of the party. Then, in 1964, everything changed. Following her father’s death,…

From 193 to 211 CE, Emperor Septimius Severus ruled the Roman Empire with an iron fist. During his reign he was able to expand the empire, conquering Parthia and parts of Africa, construct architectural marvels and obliterate several would-be usurpers. Born in Leptis Magna in North Africa, Severus seems unusually overlooked compared to other Roman rulers such as Nero and Caesar. Dr Simon Elliott has written a new biography of Severus, due to be published later in the year, and we spoke to him to find out about the achievements and legacy of the ‘African Emperor’. Tell us about Rome prior to Severus becoming emperor? Severus became emperor in 193 CE when Rome was at the height of the Principate, which lasted from 27 BC to 284 CE. In effect,…

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN Director: James Mangold Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro, Edward Norton Country: USA Year: 2024 Does this biopic of the legendary singer handle with care? Or does it leave the facts blowin’ in the wind? VERDICT: Playing to its own tune, A Complete Unknown sacrifices numerous facts in the name of entertainment. 01 The film depicts the rise of Bob Dylan (Chalamet), with Elle Fanning playing his fictitious girlfriend Sylvie Russo. Her character is based on Suze Rotolo, with the real-life Dylan requesting the name change. As in the movie, they had an on-off relationship. 02 A key relationship in the film is Dylan’s friendship with folk singer Pete Seeger (Norton). Dylan appears on Seeger’s TV show but in reality he was never a guest. This sequence also…

1750 BCE ANCIENT MALPRACTICE Among the many laws set out by the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi are rules for the practice of surgeons. These include regulations for their conduct, rules around malpractice and guidance for compensation for victims of surgical errors, based on the social status of the patient. 1540 BARBER SURGEONS The Company of Barber-Surgeons is established as a trade guild by an Act of Parliament defining the roles of each type of travelling salesperson. Neither barbers nor surgeons are permitted to perform the role of the other, although both may pull teeth. Surgeons finally break away in 1745. 1867 DISINFECTANT PROMOTION On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery is published by Joseph Lister in the British Medical Journal. It explains the importance of cleanliness in the…

Dominique Jean Larrey French, 1766 – 1842 A military surgeon during the Napoleonic Wars (1799 – 1815), Dominique Jean Larrey has been hailed as ‘the father of military medicine’ and ‘the father of emergency care’. Larrey is perhaps best remembered for inventing the concept of the ambulance. At the time troops were expected to find their own way to field hospitals, but he advocated the use transport to speedily remove wounded soldiers from the battlefield. He also created the modern triage system, stating that the wounded should be seen in accordance with the seriousness of their injuries as opposed to rank. Napoleon Bonaparte said Larrey was “the most virtuous man” he had known. AMBROISE PARÉ FRENCH, 1510-90 Paré is considered one of the foremost surgeons of the English Renaissance, and…

“My dear friends, this is your hour. This is not [the] victory of a party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole” Winston Churchill’s words to the crowd in London on 8 May 1945 are a neat summation of the moment of unity that was being felt by very nearly everyone in Britain after he had officially announced the end of the war in Europe. On 7 May, in Reims, France, German General Alfred Jodl had signed the surrender of all German forces, ordering a ceasefire and bringing the fighting to an official end at 23:01 on 8 May, Central European Time. Negotiations for the end of the war had been ongoing since Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz had succeeded Adolf Hitler as…

In 1527, Huayna Cápac, the third of the three great Inca conquerors, lay dying. Ruling over an empire five times the size of France — comprising more than 500 tribes spanning modern-day Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and Chile — was no trivial affair. Succession planning was a delicate matter; neither Huayna nor his father Topa had been their own father’s first choices. Yet Huayna had left it too late to ensure a smooth handover of power and was in no state of mind to do so. Although his first choice was his son Ninan Cuyochi, when the high priest inspected a set of llama entrails, he found the omens were not good. Another son, Atahualpa, was popular with the soldiers but had fallen out of his father’s favour after leading…

July 1936, and chaos reigned in the streets of Madrid. The Republican government, for so long attempting to avoid open war, was on the verge of destruction at the hands of Francisco Franco’s military coup. Fighting had broken out in major cities across the country, and for a moment it seemed as though the capital would fall to the rebels. Instead, it held out until the spring of 1939 thanks to popular resistance. Communists, democrats and anarchists united against the Francoists, rallying around Dolores Ibarruri’s famous radio broadcast “¡No pasarán!” (“They shall not pass”) and banners reading: “Madrid will be the tomb of fascism!” Popular resistance to fascism was far from the centre-left Republican government’s first instinct as the Army of Africa rumbled towards Madrid from July to October 1936,…

RIEFENSTAHL A masterful and profound documentary about personal and historic blindness Certificate: 15 Director: Andres Veiel Cast: Leni Riefenstahl, Horst Kettner, Ray Müller Released: 9 May How to solve a problem like Leni Riefenstahl? Andres Veiel’s new documentary about the troublesome life of the German filmmaker, infamous for the Hitler-worshipping Triumph of the Will (1935), addresses the issue and ultimately suggests we will never solve the problem; that it’s a fool’s errand to try. Her goose-stepping Nuremberg rally extravaganza was a sickening hagiography – whether she accepted the charge or not – to a poisonous regime. Documentary or propaganda? It’s clearly the latter, despite Riefenstahl’s protestations. She was never a member of the Nazi Party, sure, but her camera deified Hitler and the Third Reich. After the Second World War…

In a time of food rationing in Great Britain during the Second World War, carrots were often used as an alternative sweetener for recipes because sugar was harder to come by. Carrots were readily available and relatively cheap. From this we most famously got carrot cake, which is a rare survivor from this era of enforced frugality that has continued to be enjoyed without too much variation, save for the fact that you can now use frosting and icing, which was considered wasteful in the 1940s. As is widely known, carrots were the focus of a lot of wartime propaganda. As well as being a good food source during the conflict, they were also used by the British government to throw German intelligence off the scent of radar technology. Poster…