Australia’s Owen sub-machine gun is one of the little-known weapons stories of the Second World War. But the more we look at this story, the more we are amazed by its details. It was produced solely in Australia, and used solely by the Australian military. It was probably the best sub-machine gun of its era, and stayed in use until the Vietnam War.
Clovis I was one of the three truly foundational figures in French history, along with Julius Caesar and Charlemagne. As king of the Franks–rex francorum–he was the first sovereign to bring all of the recalcitrant tribes of the region under one dynasty and one regal roof. He founded a new dynasty and ruled for thirty years in all: not reigned, but actually ruled. He was not a man to be trifled with, and he was what he had to be considering the times and circumstances of his environment.
The worst military defeat that Roman forces suffered after the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest in 9 A.D. was the disaster at Hadrianople in 378. Both of these crushing defeats occurred at the hands of Germanic tribes. In the former battle, the emperor Augustus was haunted by the loss of three entire legions in the swampy German forests. He could never really bring himself to accept it.
The first modern, comprehensive biography of St. Patrick was written by the scholar J.B. Bury, who was a professor of history at Cambridge University for many years. As usual in a work by this great author, it is thoroughly sourced and documented, and yet retains a readability and freshness that makes it timeless. He relates this fable that supposedly happened during the foundation of Armagh in A.D. 444.
The current political crisis in Brazil sharply divides the opinions of those who are interested in such matters. To some, Dilma is more sinned against than sinning. In this view, she is the victim of a shadowy (possibly US-inspired) desire for “regime change light.” Journalist Pepe Escobar is an insistent exponent of this view.
Julian (A.D. 331-363) was one of the most fascinating emperors of the later Roman empire. While a full description of him and his reign is beyond our scope here, a few words may be said. He spent a great deal of time and energy trying to revive paganism, only to see his hopes dashed on the rocks of reality. He was an ascetic personality, subsisting on little food and many books; and it is said that he preferred the salons of the philosophers to the intrigues of the palace.
I much prefer to be in a country that has a strong sense of nationalism than one which does not. One tends to respect those who respect themselves. One also tends not to respect those who have no sense of tradition, heritage, or pride in their nation’s past. Societies infected with the globalist ethic have a few things in common: excessive deference to English, obsequious worship of Americanism, and mindless parroting of liberal talking points. You get the idea. Even if the nationalism happens on occasion to make mistakes, it is still better to have that than the alternative.
[To read the rest of the article, click here.]
The first Western thinker to come up with a comprehensive theory of “progress” was Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757). His importance today rests on the fact that he was a promoter and popularizer of the ideas of Rene Descartes in the face of the sustained attacks that Cartesian ideas came under from established religious and academic circles. Descartes was one of the true visionaries of the Western tradition, and is rightly considered to be one of the fathers of modern philosophy and science.
The visage of Ernesto “Che” Guevara has graced countless t-shirts, posters, and other kitsch memorabilia. He has assumed the status almost of a secular saint, the supposed defender of the poor and marginalized. Few who concern themselves with such things, however, know much about the man himself, or about his murderous legacy.
Nations that have been victorious in war like to talk about their triumphs, but less often their failures. It is for this reason that the Allied raid on the French port city of Dieppe remains an obscure incident of the Second World War. But it should not be. For it can be argued that in war, like much else in human endeavor, failures are far more instructive than successes.
Quintus Curtius 
You must be logged in to post a comment.