Table of contents for No. 119 in All About History

The Bauhaus movement has been described as one of the most influential art schools of the 20th century. Established in Germany in 1919, it encouraged the collaboration of artists to create rational and functional works of art that spanned across artistic disciplines. The culmination of this ideal can be seen in the Bauhaus Dessau, a building that housed an art school while being a piece of art in its own right. Designed by the movement’s founder, architect Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus building in Dessau wasn’t actually the first centre of the movement, with Gropius having established Bauhaus in Weimar. However, it was the location in which the ideals of Bauhaus were realised. Financed by the city of Dessau, the Bauhaus building became a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). The students…

Louis Brody Actor, 1892 – 1951 An actor, singer and wrestler, Louis Brody also co-founded the African Relief Organisation that openly protested the racial discrimination against Africans. Born in 1892 in the German colony of Cameroon, due to the limitations of the time Brody often found himself typecast in roles such as African chiefs. When the Nazis came to power the opportunities to work slowed down but he nonetheless continued acting. He worked tirelessly to improve the rights of Africans. LIL DAGOVER ACTOR, 1887 – 1980 One of the most famous and popular of Germany’s silent film stars, Lil Dagover is perhaps best recognised for playing Jane in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. She also worked with directors such as Fritz Lang. Unlike other silent film stars, her rich voice…

Stonehenge is a massive stone monument on a chalky plain north of the modern-day city of Salisbury, England. Research shows that the site continuously evolved over about 10,000 years and new discoveries continue to be made, revealing a complex landscape that scholars are still trying to understand. Many other ancient megalithic structures have been discovered all around the world. While many of them are thought to be older, some are bigger and a few, arguably, are more historically important, Stonehenge remains by far the most famous – a household name that attracts curious visitors from all over the planet. Technologies such as groundpenetrating radar and electromagnetic induction surveys are revealing the remains of structures located beneath the surface, allowing for new discoveries to be made about the landscape that Stonehenge…

The ancient builders of Stonehenge used other stones to hammer the sarsens and bluestones into shape. English Heritage, the charity that oversees Stonehenge, revealed that large amounts of hammered-off sarsen and bluestone material was found along with broken hammerstones in a field north of Stonehenge. The hammerstones vary in size, with the larger hammerstones being used to break off large pieces and the smaller hammerstones being used to finish and smooth their surfaces. Some stones were more finely finished then others, with the stones in the centre of Stonehenge typically having a finer finish. To connect the stones together, circular protrusions were carved into the top of the upright stones while holes were carved into the bottom of the lintels. Additionally, a mortise and tenon-like design was used at the…

After numerous failed attempts to locate the wreckage of the USS Indianapolis, sunk on 30 July 1945 in the Philippine Sea by the Japanese submarine I-58, new clues as to the location of the ship surfaced in 2016. Naval historian Dr Richard Hulver conducted research that led him to believe that the actual resting place of the Indianapolis was further west than had been previously thought. Hulver’s investigations revealed that the LST 779, a US Navy transport ship, had passed the Indianapolis on 29 July, approximately 11 hours before the cruiser was torpedoed. This new information narrowed the search area to 1,550 square kilometres of ocean (still a huge challenge) and indicated that the wreck might be around 40km away from the previously concentrated search area. On 19 August 2017…

CHARMER Witty and confident, Mesrine had a reputation for being able to charm anyone. His death left a string of mourning women in its wake, but his real coup was to charm the whole of France. By the 1970s, he had become the police’s official enemy number-one but was an icon among the people, frequently topping the charts as the most popular man in France and making regular appearances in the media, including the weekly news magazine Paris Match. BANDIT Make no mistake about it, Mesrine was a dangerous man and a coldblooded murderer. He boasted in his book of killing at least 39 – apparently they had “deserved it” and he certainly showed no remorse for any of the murders. While on the run from jail in Canada, two…

PIERRE D’AUBUSSON Elected as the grand master of the Knights Hospitaller in 1476, D’Aubusson was born in a castle in France. It was under his leadership that the repairs and reinforcement of Rhodes took place, allowing it to withstand the onslaught of the Ottoman forces who had long been expected to invade. FABRIZIO DEL CARRETTO While he would go on to become the 43rd grand master of the Knights Hospitaller, Carretto was in charge of the defence of the Tower of Saint Nicholas during the Siege of Rhodes, to whom d’Aubusson sent reinforcements in order to keep the key location from falling into Ottoman hands. GUILLAUME CAOURSIN Vice-chancellor of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Caoursin was an eye-witness to the Siege of Rhodes and one of the first…

1912-30 THE QUEEN OF THE OCEAN If Titanic had survived her maiden voyage she would have dominated the trans Atlantic passenger trade. What she would not have been able to avoid was World War I, and she would’ve been a prime target for German U-boats. After WWI she would have continued to transport passengers from all walks of life to and fro across the Atlantic for many years to come, with the comfort and reliability that the White Star Line prided itself upon. 1912-30 TAKE OFF DELAYED The first flight by the Wright brothers preceded Titanic by only nine years, and yet by her maiden voyage aircraft innovation had changed dramatically. However distance, size and cost were to keep commercial passenger-carrying aircraft very much a dream until at least two…

Book Film TV Podcast Games Other FRIEDA This 1947 classic about post-war anti-German sentiment in Britain makes its Bluray debut Certificate: 12 Director: Basil Dearden Cast: Mai Zetterling, David Farrar, Glynis Johns Released: Out now Although best remembered for light comedies such as The Man in the White Suit (1951) and Passport to Pimlico (1949), Ealing Studios also made a number of dramas and were not ones to shy away from serious social issues. Following the end of World War II, antiGerman sentiment was still high and there were questions as to whether the country and its people could ever move on. Frieda is a film that examines these attitudes in Britain shortly before and immediately after the end of the war. The film follows the title character (Mai Zetterling),…

Germany 1918-33…

Queer culture is often depicted as ‘flourishing’ during the Weimar period, how true is this? Queer culture really did take off in new and exciting ways after the end of the First World War in Germany, with new clubs, bars, magazines and political organisations. It was the era of writer Christopher Isherwood declaring in his diaries that “Berlin meant boys, ” of the glamorous Marlene Dietrich and rough-and-ready Claire Waldoff singing songs about “best girlfriends.” These years also saw some of the world’s earliest dedicated LGBTQ magazines, with titles like The Island or Girlfriend or The Third Sex, often featuring nude or semi-dressed pinups, sensuous poems as well as more political content. But we also see that queer and trans people often faced a much more threatening and violent reality…

ZHENG HE TREASURE SHIP Years: 1405-33 ♦ Length: 127m Width: 55m ♦ Masts: 6 ♦ Crew: 2,800 (estimated) SANTA MARIA Years: Unknown – 1492 ♦ Length: 19m Width: 5.5m ♦ Masts: 3 ♦ Crew: 40 MAYFLOWER Years: c.1609 – 1624 ♦ Length: 27m Width: 7.6m ♦ Masts: 3 ♦ Crew: 30 HMS VICTORY Years: 1765 – 1831 ♦ Length: 69m Width: 15.8m ♦ Masts: 3 ♦ Crew: 821 TITANIC Years: 1911-12 ♦ Length: 269m Width: 28.2m ♦ Masts: N/A ♦ Crew: 900…

INTERVIEW WITH DR AIDAN MCMICHAEL Aidan is based in Belfast and is chairman of the Belfast Titanic Society, and co-edits its magazine. He is also chair of a monthly society talk programme to an international Titanic audience. Even before a single rivet had been hammered into place, RMS Titanic was destined for fame. Her owners, the White Star Line, ignored competitor Cunard’s boasts of speed. Instead, they focussed on opulence and luxury to carry passengers from all walks of life across the Atlantic towards the American Dream. Titanic was the largest moving man-made object in the world, and public interest and expectation matched her colossal size. White Star staked its reputation on the ship – all Titanic had to do now was deliver on that promise. What different events, circumstances…

1919 SPARTACIST UPRISING Marxist leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, founders of the Spartacus League, oversee an uprising against the government. However, the revolution is unorganised and the widespread support for communism on which it relied proves non-existent. Luxemburg and Liebknecht are killed. 1919 OPENING OF THE INSTITUTE FOR SEXUAL SCIENCES Magnus Hirschfeld opens his Institute for Sexual Sciences, which seeks to provide treatment and counselling for sexual disorders as well as LGBTQ+ persons. When the Nazis come to power, the institute is closed. The institute is now remembered as an important moment in queer history. 1920 KAPP PUTSCH Named after the right-wing politician Wolfgang Kapp, this armed uprising seeks to replace the Weimar government with a new one led by Kapp. Despite successfully seizing Berlin, a general strike by…

During World War I, the value of the Reichsmark had fallen considerably. By 1919 one British pound was equal to 250 Marks, whereas in 1914 it had been equal to 20. By the early 1920s, the colossal reparations imposed by the Allies began to have an effect on the German economy and inflation rose rapidly. When the Weimar government announced that it would be unable to continue paying reparations, France and Belgium sent troops to occupy the Ruhr – the industrial heartland of Germany. Although the intention of these forces was to take what was owed in natural resources, the workers at the various factories and mines refused to cooperate. With the supply of goods now severely reduced, prices rose and the government felt compelled to print more money to…

SHELL-HAUS REICHPIETSCHUFER 60-62, BERLIN Designed by Emil Fahrenkamp, Shell-Haus (simply translating as Shell House) was built for the oil company of the same name between 1930 and 1932, but its journey began in the late 1920s. Shell’s parent company wanted an imposing and impressive new office in Berlin and opened up to offers, with Fahrenkamp from the Düsseldorf Academy of Art given his chance. He was known for more conservative designs, but this was far more adventurous. The ‘wave’ design of the building required state-of-the-art methods of construction, and the limestone used on the facade was imported from Italy. It was one of the first steelframed high-rise buildings in Berlin. Like many buildings in Berlin from this era, it was badly damaged during WWII and left in disrepair for some…

There have been many wild ideas proposed about how Stonehenge was built and what it was built for, and one far-out idea was put forward by Geoffrey of Monmouth (1095-1155). In his book Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) he claimed that Stonehenge was commissioned by a king named Aurelius Ambrosius, who had prevailed in a war against the Saxons. The king wanted to build a memorial to the fallen and contacted Merlin, who advised him to use the ‘Giant’s Dance’ – a series of stones from a mountain in Ireland that giants had brought from Africa. Merlin claimed the giants used the stones to make baths and that the stones had mystical and medicinal powers. The king sent his army to Ireland and, after defeating an…

Truly one of the more unique depictions of a witch, the Baba Yaga is a popular figure from Russian folklore and fairy tales. Traditionally the Baba Yaga lives in the forest in a hut that stands on chicken legs, and she travels around in a large mortar, pushing herself along with a broom or flying through the air. She is depicted as hideous and terrifying, with a huge nose and large drooping breasts, and is said to cook and eat children. However, the Baba Yaga is relatively complex for a fairy tale figure and is not always the villain of the story. Sometimes she appears as a maternal benefactor of the hero or heroine, a slightly sinister version of the fairy godmother. In a number of stories there is not…

I never in my wildest dreams imagined I’d be a documentary maker going around the world and telling stories, so I suck up every location. Picking a favourite is pretty hard but I’ve had two iconic moments recently. I made a film about Knossos while lockdown was on. There was this moment where I knew they were going to do a drone shot over the palace of Knossos and the only time where it’s totally deserted is about seven o’clock in the morning. We got there and they gave me a walkie-talkie and sent me up onto the cliff top by myself. I walked around Knossos by myself as the sun rose and it was absolutely magical. The shots that came out of it at the end showed a tiny…

Kidnapping was nothing new to the international fugitive and stick-up merchant Jacques Mesrine. By 1979, his career as a professional criminal stretched back more than 20 years, and alongside murder and robbery he had a considerable amount of experience holding wealthy individuals against their will for substantial ransoms. Born in 1936, Mesrine had always sought out action and notoriety, inspired by the US crime fiction and box office hits that he lapped up as a child and, perhaps in some small way, the atrocities he had witnessed the Nazis inflicting on France during World War II. Despite his respectable upbringing in a middle-class amily, he was a disruptive pupil and was expelled from several chools before being drafted into the French Army for his national service. The camaraderie under pressure…

MESIH PASHA While Mesih Pasha was a vizier to Mehmed II and later a grand vizier under his successor, he was born into the Byzantine Empire’s ruling dynasty and converted to Islam under the Ottomans. His failure at Rhodes saw him temporarily stripped of his influence as vizier, but he continued to act as governor of Gallipoli. MEHMED II The famous conqueror of Constantinople at the age of 21, Mehmed made the decision not to lead the Ottoman military in his attempt on Rhodes, another important step on his way to challenging the great powers of Europe. Some believe he was on his way to attack Rhodes again when he fell ill and died in 1481.…

1912 TIME FOR LUXURY Having opted out of the speed race for crossing the Atlantic, White Star Line concentrated on luxury and the comfort of its passengers. The Olympic and Titanic were fitted to the highest standards, and not just for the wealthy. It was noted by 3rd class passengers that the facilities and finish below decks were far from basic and much more comfortable that many of White Star’s competitors. Such an investment by White Star was not a coincidence: the rush to find new opportunities in the New World made 3rd class a very profitable enterprise for the company. 1911 LATE TO THE PARTY It is ironic that the captain of Titanic, Edward Smith, was responsible for causing the delay of the ship’s completion while he was captain…