Author Archives: mwcraig11

On 28 May 1828, Kaspar Hauser appeared in the centre of Nuremberg in Bavaria. He was standing in the town square holding two letters. The first was addressed to Captain von Wessing of the 4th squadron of the 6th cavalry … Continue reading →

The Great War, unlike previous conflicts, was the first total war in which whole nations were engaged not just professional armies. This required propaganda to mobilise hatred against the enemy and to convince the population of the justness of the … Continue reading →

Charles Rennie Mackintosh is known world wide as the designer from Glasgow who rejected the Revival and Beau Arts style of architecture and decorative arts and developed his own distinctive style. What is less well now is the influence he … Continue reading →

The beginnings of Vienna start with the dream-like name of Vindobona. Arising from the celtic tribes that settled the area BCE, Vindobona would move through several incarnations before becoming the city it is today. After its Celtic beginnings, Vindobona was … Continue reading →

Menahem Mendel Beilis was born into a hassidic family in Kiev in 1874. He married his wife Esther relatively young and they had five children. He served in the army and by 1911 was working as a superintendent at the … Continue reading →

Well I’ve not posted here for a couple of months because my biography of Mata Hari, ‘A Tangled Web’ has just been published.  I have been busy with a few final details working with the great team at The History … Continue reading →

Musing over who I would like to sit down and talk to from history and so … Catherine the Great: ruled as Queen of Russia from 1762 until her death. Under her leadership, Russia was revitalised as a major European … Continue reading →

The First Battle of Custoza was fought on July 24 and 25, 1848 during the First Italian War of Independence between the armies of the Austrian Empire, commanded by Field Marshal Radetzky, and the Kingdom of Sardinia, led by King … Continue reading →

Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh was born in Kent on the 29 October 1875. At her birth, few would have predicted that a British royal princess and granddaughter of Queen Victoria would work tirelessly as a nurse during the … Continue reading →

Karl Franz Joseph Ludwig Hubert Georg Otto Marie was born on 17 August 1887. The last ruler of the Dual Monarchy of Austria and Hungary, the last Emperor of Austria, the last King of Hungary (as Charles IV), the last … Continue reading →