Magdeburg: another claim to fame

Earlier this month, Magdeburg, capital of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, found itself again at the centre of world attention, as the Far Right AfD emerged as the biggest party in state elections. The city, part of the former East Germany, was the victim of a terrorist attack in 2024, when a 51 year old man from Saudi Arabia, drove his car into crowds at a Christmas market, killing six people. 

But the worst moment in Magdeburg's history came during the Thirty Years War. The population were nearly all Protestants, but in May 1631, after a six month siege, it fell to the army of the Catholic League.   

The League's soldiers wrought havoc. In the words of the great German writer Friedrich Schiller: 'Neither innocent childhood, nor helpless old age; neither youth, sex, rank, nor beauty, could disarm the fury of the conquerors.'  

After burning the city to the ground, the soldiers carried off thousands of women to their camp. One of the generals sent priests to tell their men to do the decent thing, and marry those they had abducted or give them up for a reasonable sum.   

A few of the surviving Magdeburg men were able to scrape together enough to ransom themselves and buy back their women, but those who could not had to march off with the Catholic troops as their servants. Perhaps 20,000 people were killed, and the atrocity caused such horror throughout Europe that victory celebrations were called off.  

As the war dragged on for another 17 years, many a Catholic soldier crying for quarter to his Protestant enemy would be met with the retort "Magdeburg quarter!" and shot down.

The Thirty Years War killed perhaps ten million people across Central Europe. For the full story, see A Disastrous History of the World published by Piatkus Books.

Fireworks: the missing Whistler picture

I went to the James McNeill Whistler exhibition at Tate Britain in London, hoping to see his famous (notorious?) Nocturne in Gold and Black: the Falling Rocket (1875) (above) but it had obviously decided not to make the journey from its home in Detroit.

The picture, showing a firework display at the Cremorne Pleasure Gardens near Whistler's fashionable Chelsea home, became the centre of a celebrated court case. The distinguished critic, John Ruskin, hated it and accused Whistler of 'throwing a pot of paint in the public's face' when he put a price of 200 guineas (£210) on the work. Whistler sued for libel.

Perhaps the most famous exchange came when the painter was asked how long it had taken him to paint the picture, and he replied a couple of days. The Attorney-General was incensed and said; 'The labour of two days is that for which you ask 200 guineas?' Whistler replied: 'No. I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime.'

The good news for Whistler was that he won the case. The bad news was that he was awarded the deliberately insulting damages of one farthing (c 0.1p). The legal fees broke him and he had to leave his Chelsea home.

The exhibition does feature another fireworks picture Nocturne: Black and Gold. The Fire Wheel, which is well worth a look. If you want to know more about fireworks in art and the arts, there's a chapter in my book A History of Fireworks from Their Origins to the Present Day (Reaktion Books).

 Another American publication, Stndrds, has interviewed me about fireworks, having spotted my book A History of Fireworks from their Origins to the Present Day (Reaktion). 

I told the writer about their mysterious origins back in ancient China, about how they came to Europe and featured in all manner of important occasions - church services, royal occasions, celebrations of military victories and the ends of wars.

I revealed their first known appearance in Britain, and in America, where they were used to overawe native Americans. Then we went on to how they helped to mark American independence and other significant celebrations, as well as covering the chemical and technological innovations that have created the great global displays we now all see on television.

You can find the article here https://www.stndrds.com/cultivate/how-fireworks-became-an-american-fourth-of-july-tradition

July 4! 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. A busy fireworks night beckons

July 4, America's biggest fireworks night, draws on apace and my book 'A History of Fireworks from their Origins to the Present Day' (Reaktion Books) is drawn on heavily in this article for the American educational magazine 'Science World'. This year being the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the displays will probably be bigger than ever.

I-spy Paris. Montmartre Cemetery highlights

Montmartre Cemetery is Paris's 3rd biggest. This is the last resting place of Emile Zola, Stendhal, Degas, Pierre Cardin, Jeanne Moreau, Francois Truffaut, Berlioz, Delibes, Offenbach, Theophile Gautier, Can-can dancer La Goulue, Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone, among other big names. 

But the prize for the grave with most flowers must go to the singer Dalida, Egyptian-born, of Italian descent and France's biggest selling recording artist from 1957 to 1961.

Thank you Boundless! History of assassination talk

Great to talk to people from the Boundless organisation last night about 'Assassins' Deeds', my history of assassination. It featured the famous ones - Julius Caesar, Good King Wenceslas, Thomas Becket, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Abraham Lincoln, JFK. But also the less well know, such as the only British prime minister to be murdered.

Then there were the weird ones - the booby trapped statuette, the assassination dressed up as a tv reality show, the killer disguised as a bear. And the ones that got away - Napoleon, Queen Victoria, Fidel Castro (more than 600 times), Adolf Hitler. Some good questions at the end too - which assassination would I have most liked to prevent, which assassin was the most misunderstood?

https://www.boundless.co.uk/events/online-events/a-history-of-assassination-from-ancient-egypt-to-the-present-day

I-Spy Cascais: a memorial to four of Portugal's wars

Cascais is a charming historic town along the Tagus estuary from Lisbon. Its war memorial, pictured above, commemorates four of Portugal's wars.

First, the War of Roussillon and Catalonia (1793-5) when, following the French Revolution, they landed troops in Catalonia to join up with Spanish forces and tried to attack France in the Pyrenees. It did not go well.

 The second was the Peninsular War (1808-14) in which British troops joined the Portuguese and Spaniards to drive out the French who had occupied the Iberian Peninsula. The war turned the tide against Napoleon in Western Europe and made the reputation of the Duke of Wellington, who went on to become the victor of Waterloo.

The third commemoration is of a Portuguese auxiliary division that fought in one of Spain's civil wars in 1837.

And the fourth is the First World War, or Great War (1914-18). Portugal had been Britain's ally since 1377, but approached the conflict cautiously. It had been hoping to remain neutral, but there were clashes in Africa where German South-west Africa bordered Portuguese Angola. 

Britain was at the time Portugal's most important overseas market, and when German U-boats tried to impose a blockade, Portugal seized German ships in its ports, so in 1916 Germany declared war. More than 12,000 Portuguese servicemen were killed in the conflict.