Conservative History Journal

In Paris Tory Historian was told by two separate and very different people, both of whom are Parisians, that Sarkozy’s most popular move was his marriage to Carla Bruni. Oddly enough, our own media seems to think otherwise.Indeed, Peter Allen of the Daily Telegraph has found an article with a delightfully historic parallel: “Carla Bruni is ‘modern day Marie Antoinette’”. Well, not quite, one has to say, if one remembers the scandalous and...

The trip to Paris was very enjoyable, with plenty of excellent food and drink but also many long walks through Parisian arrondissements. In between all this activity the reading matter was a book by Professor Colin Jones, entitled "Paris - Biography of a City".It is an excellent introduction to the history of this fascinating city and any comparison one might make with a "biography" of London gives one furiously to think as a certain Belgian detective used to say.One interesting aspect of Professor Jones's book is the reminder...

A short break in postings while Tory Historian travels to France to investigate ... well, many things, though not necessary historical ones. However, staying in the Marais district in Paris should yield some adequate photographs for this blog. Back on Saturday evening.In the meantime, let us remember that tomorrow is the anniversary of the start of the Korean War, that sometimes appears to be the forgotten war of the twentieth century in Britain. Too many people know nothing about it, not even the fact that British forces took...

To be quite precise, the question should be what is it about Ayn Rand’s followers? Supposedly libertarian, freedom loving, objectivist individuals they tend to be the angriest, most intolerant branch of the right or the conservative movement both in Britain and in America (and probably everywhere else, if they exist).I was a little stunned by the reaction some Randroids (oops, one mustn’t call them that as they get really upset) displayed...

Every now and then the Daily Telegraph publishes some truly important stories. Yesterday was such a day when we could read that Dante's "infernal crimes" were now forgiven. Actually, the sub-editor got a little carried away there. It is true that Dante Alighieri was sentence to death in 1302 but it was merely the outcome of the civil war in Florence turning against him and his side.Dante was born into a noble Florentine family in 1265 and...

Tory Historian found the following wonderful quotation by the great German statesman, Otto von Bismarck: People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.There was a man who understood human nature. One can only sigh that he did not remain in charge for some years long...

Thomas Jefferson maintained that The loss of the Battle of Waterloo was the salvation of France.That is probably true but one wonders how many French commentators would be honest enough to admit ...

The story of the Staute of Liberty, a gift from France to the United States of America for the centennial of the Declaration of Independence, is long and complicated. Wikipedia gives a good summary as does the National Park Service.Tory Historian's first sight of it in real life, as opposed to pictures, newsreeels and the unforgettable sequence in Hitchcock's 1942 film "Saboteur" (not to be confused with the earlier "Sabotage", a rather...

Today's anniversary is one of the least happy ones in English history. On this day in 1667, the Dutch fleet sailed up the Medway and raided Chatham.The Dutch, under nominal command of Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, bombarded and captured Sheerness, went up the River Thames to Gravesend, then up the River Medway to Chatham, where they burnt three capital ships and ten lesser naval vessels and towed away the Unity and the Royal Charles,...

Here is a less frequently seen picture of the D-Day invasion. Paras on their w...

Well, to be quite precise, time for another quote from the great Lord Acton. This one is extraordinarily apt for all ages: If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. Nothing in the paper today, we sigh. How true, how very tr...