History – Telegram
History
1.03K subscribers
2.97K photos
36 videos
148 files
1.43K links
Join for content related to world history, archaeology, and historiography.

Run by @its_just_b - feedback and messages welcome.
Download Telegram
Thank you for your attention to this live account of VE Day and the day afterwards.

Europe and the world begins to enter the post-war era. However, there is still much to be done. The war with Japan looks likely to grind on for a long time; even with their cities firebombed, the Japanese government stubbornly holds out. Europe is starkly divided between East and West. Some Allied commanders are even considering "Operation Unthinkable:" an assault against the Soviet Union...

In spite of widespread expressions of joy, it is noted that many people in the west are actually quite sad. People obviously do not want to be bombed and terrorised again, but there it is possible that the end of a shared community struggle prompts a sort of melancholy - something known also to the many soldiers, who are aware their time with their comrades is coming to an end.

Europe is in ruins, rationing is still in place, and it is clear the old world is dead. It is time to win the peace...
On the 4th of September, 925, Æthelstan was crowned King of the Anglo-Saxons. Wearing a crown for the first time instead of a helmet, and holding a ceremony in the Frankish style, his rule marked a shift in identity and the balance of power in Northwestern Europe; he would go on to become the first King of England and one of the most consequential rulers in British history.
27 September 1825: Locomotion No. 1 sets off on the Stockton and Darlington railway, built by George and Robert Stephenson. This is the first ever public railway journey, and this date is considered to be the beginning of the Railway Age.
Over the next few decades, a railway boom would engulf first Britain and then the world, fuelling the industrial revolution and shrinking travel times. Poor families who had not left their village in generations would soon be able to travel great distances.
On this occasion, amid great fanfare, the engine transported around 600 people 8.7 miles - at an average of 8 miles per hour.
Forwarded from History (Tau'ma)
Krampusnacht in Mitterndorf, Austria (1949).
Krampus is an old alpine folk creature that seems to have arisen out of various pagan traditions, and been mixed with the Christian devil. He comes out just before the Feast of St. Nicholas and swats naughty children with his birch branches. And later, on Christmas Eve, he return, puts them in his basket, and vanishes...
Forwarded from History (Tau'ma)
History
Krampusnacht in Mitterndorf, Austria (1949). Krampus is an old alpine folk creature that seems to have arisen out of various pagan traditions, and been mixed with the Christian devil. He comes out just before the Feast of St. Nicholas and swats naughty children…
Krampus has not been popular; Krampus traditions were repressed by the church and by Austrian fascism because of their pagan roots. In the 1950s, it was speculated that he may harm the mental health of children, and pamphlets were distributed warning parents about him. Nonetheless, Krampus perseveres.
Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, England, on the 16th of December 1775 - 250 years ago. She is considered one of the great writers of the English language. Her six novels explore, often through wit and ironic prose, the lives and loves of the English upper class, often highlighting societal hypocrisy and the search for genuine love against the grain of family and class expectations.

Virginia Woolf wrote - in praise of Austen's subtlety - that "of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness."

Unfortunately Austen died "just as she was beginning to feel confidence in her own success," as she is believed to have had Addison's disease. Nonetheless her writings, which are available free online, are now considered rivals to the likes of Dickens and Shakespeare.
A nativity scene from the court of Mughal India (1620-30).
Wassailing in Devon (1861).
Wassailing is a traditional practice in Anglosphere countries on Twelfth Night (night of Jan 5th-6th). It originated from the Old English Waes Hael (meaning "be well" or "good health).
It involves folk ceremonies at orchards, singing to the trees and making lots of noise to wake them up. Wassails are traditional songs used at these events, often with local flavour. Recently, the tradition has also returned to the U.S. east coast.
Wassailing also used to involve going door-to-door singing and offering drink, but this has been largely superseded by carol singing. This second practice hints, though, at wassailing's greater purpose: a community event to bring cheer in the depths of winter.