Queen Elizabeth I is considered by many to be one of Britain’s greatest leaders. Her strength and resolve in the face of overwhelming odds, as the Spanish fleet entered waters with the threat of land invasion, remains one of the Empire’s most enduring stories. The attack of the Spanish Armada of 1588 began in mid May and was the culmination of conflicts between Britain and Spain.

Catholic Spain was led by King Philip II who had at one time been married to Mary, the sister of Queen Elizabeth, with the hopes of making England a country of Catholicism. In the heat of the Reformation, Elizabeth chose Protestantism for her country which better suited her socialistic leanings and belief in the ability of her subjects to think for themselves. The contention between the former allies grew.

The rebellion against the Roman Catholic faith was widespread with rioting and destruction of popish artifacts taking place in Europe’s major cities. King Phillip was Dutch but leaned towards his Spanish possessions which had only increased after the abdication of Charles V and the break up of the Hapsburgs territories. It was a tumultuous time across Europe as old and new ideas clashed, often violently. When Philip sent troops to the Netherlands to quash the rebellion, he only created more resentment and confused loyalties.

Elizabeth had funded the rebellion for some time but didn’t want direct open conflict with Spain. But problems with the Dutch had split the nation. Elizabeth sent troops to prevent a total collapse of the area. By 1586, small run ins, pirateering and growing hostilities resulted in both England and Spain building up their navies.

The 16th century was a time of discovery and expedition, especially by the Spanish and English. The Spanish fleet, or armada, was financed totally by the gold “retrieved” during visits to the Americas but the choice of vessel although new was no match for what would become the Royal Navy. Britain was an island country and therefore of a seafaring mind. Their ships were great and, coupled with the assistance of their Dutch allies, the armada could only win by careful planning and a lack of confidence by the British. Fortunately for history and England they had neither.

The Spanish set sail for Britain in May of 1588 accompanied by their German and French allies. The armada consisted of approximately 130 ships and they were making straight for British waters with the plan to invade the country. But the Spanish fleet was a miss match of vessels from cargo ships to small boats and many never made it to English waters. After rough weather and the loss of several ships, the Spanish went to harbor only to sail again in June. They reached Calais in July where they anchored making ready to attack England.

England’s highest military advisors held counsel with the Queen to determine the best course of action given the circumstances. The British Navy had increased its strength in the previous months and needed now only the rallying cry of a Queen to get them motivated for the fight. It was Elizabeth’s words to her troops that helped spur the British fleet onto victory and have gone down in history as one of the world’s greatest speeches.

“And therefore I am come amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all; to lay down, for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honor and my blood, even the dust.” –Elizabeth I

Duly inspired by a determined queen, the British attacked. They began by sending eight ships covered with ignited pitch (tar and straw on fire) into the Spanish fleet causing chaos and a number of other fires. Then the guns began to boom. Both sides were heavily armored but the rumored 190 British ships carrying 17,000 men quickly claimed victory. Although Spanish vessels weren’t captured by the British navy, they were forced to flee and hopes of a respite, rendezvous and return attack quickly fell from favor. The British were determined to win and the British Isles remained free of foreign invasion then and to this day.

“I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms.”-Elizabeth I

There never was another great fleet of ships attempting to pull down the crown, nor was there another royal like Elizabeth I. The victory of 1588 did not end Spanish aggression and conflict between the two nations went on for several more years but Phillip did not try his luck again. Today, every British school child is told the story of the Spanish Armada when Britain was tested and not found wanting. And although this once global empire would go on to invade, plunder and colonize the world, that night in July of 1588 will always remain a positive victory.

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At the end of the 18th century as France was suffering through the Revolution (1789-99), changes in fashion were as dramatic as the change in the political order. What had characterized French style up until the Revolution had been costume resonant of the lavish, exquisite lifestyle of the French nobility and monarchy. By the late 1780’s France was severely in debt and the monarchy, enjoying its absolute power, along with the nobility and their feudal retentions were unable to align themselves with the majority of the population.

The peasant class as well as the more and more prominent bourgeoisie were no longer willing to tolerate the advantages given to the nobility, the clergy and monarchy and their excessive displays of privilege. What characterized the fashion of Louis XVI’s and Marie Antoinette’s court at Versailles was excessive adornment and exaggeration of form. Women at court would wear wide-spread pannier skirts, fitted and corseted tops with low-cut necks decorated with ribbon and lace, and the quintessential powdered white wig that would often reach improbable heights and be embellished with narrative touches. The fashion for men of the aristocracy during this period was not so distinct from previous periods, characterized by a well-fitted, tailored coat with skirts at back, tight breeches usually combined with stockings, and the white wig that was comparable to the woman’s wig in its distended form.

In a radical shift, all this gave way to a more simplified form of dress during the revolutionary period. People moved away from the costume that had been representative of the Ancien Regime and chose to do away with the full skirts, flurry of ruffles and bows and the pompous wigs that had been so popular. Men’s clothing was curtailed slightly, too, with pant legs lengthening slightly and the look becoming generally more severe. Women relieved themselves of the tight corset and favored the classically-reminiscent high-waisted dress with a freer form and wigs were discarded in favor of natural hairstyles also influenced by neo-classical aesthetic.

The dramatic change from the flagrantly opulent clothing so popular in Louis XVI’s reign to the more subdued and discreet neo-classical forms was neatly parallel to the political reclamations occurring at the same time. The dissatisfied populace, bolstered by the arguments of the Enlightenment, sought a return to classical ideals as applied to the political sphere and, peripherally, dressed themselves in those ideals to a certain degree as well.

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*image–Portrait of Marie Antoinette by Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, 1779 *image–Madame Raymond de Verninac (Portrait of Madame de Verninac), born Henriette Delacroix, elder sister of Eugène Delacroix. Oil on canvas, 1798–1799 Visit the History Store for historical gifts and museum quality replicas representing the most significant historical eras. We offer Museum Reproductions, Replica Guns, Replica Swords

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One can imagine what it is to be barefoot outdoors and how extreme the need to protect one’s feet becomes when weather becomes inclement or the ground we walk on becomes forbidding.  We would find what we could from the surrounding environment and fashion some type of covering to keep the feet dry, using materials that could withstand a certain amount of wear and, ideally, provide a small amount of comfort.  Humans are able to withstand punishment to their feet and we can pull examples from cultures present and past where shoes were not always worn but still we can appreciate how welcome the invention of shoes has been for human culture.

Early specimens of shoes reveal that they were created from natural materials such as animal hides and various animal furs, as well as, in warmer regions, natural fibers such as papyrus or reeds or other woven fabrics.

The mummified remains of a man discovered buried in ice in the Alps show that even at around 3300 B.C. shoes woven together with a fair degree of sophistication existed.  The shoes found on this well-preserved mummy were made of bearskin and deer hide and were shaped with a wide platform that would have been suited to walking in snow.  The shoes were also found to have a form of insulation, being lined with grass on the interior and with shredding from tree bark surrounding the exterior.

In turn the Egyptians, who inhabited a much warmer climate than that of the Alpine ice man, had footwear made from the natural fibers abundant to them.  Flat sandal-like shoes made of vegetable fibers were suited to the middle and upper classes, with distinctions in design appearing in the shoes made for the pharaohs.  The pharaohs would have sandals peaked at tips that curled upwards and would be decorated with jewelry and precious metals, for example.

The Greek and Roman civilizations, too, used sandals as protective footwear.  The Greek made shoes that also relied on a basic open-form construction although there was also a preference for closed shoes on special occasions.  The use of different shoe styles was determined by the event being attended or by the social status of the wearer.

Roman sandals are perhaps typified by the Roman Caliga, the leather sandal used predominantly by Roman military up until the first century C.E. when it became popular in civic society as well.  It was a design that combined the open-form of the sandal with a boot-like construction, with leather strapping binding to the foot that would not allow the trapping of water and separate inner and outer soles.  The soles would be heavily nailed to allow greater traction and durability.  Early Rome also saw the creation of a shoemaker’s guild, reflecting the importance that shoe manufacture had in a growing population.

*image- Egyptian shoes, natural fibers, from about 1400 B.C.
*image- drawing, Roman caliga
*image- detail images of sandals–Roman copy after Greek original, the Apollo Belvedere, and Alberto Canova’s sculpture of Perseus

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The Manhattan Project is infamous throughout the world as the spark that ignited irreversible change. It was a change that would end a world conflict and make nations wary of nuclear energy for all time.

Nuclear fission was first discovered in Germany in 1938, although several European scientists had been exploring the potential of the atom for years. Nuclear fission occurs when the nucleus of a single atom is split, cutting the atom in half and emitting deadly neutrons. A series of nuclear fissions is commonly known as a chain reaction and has the ability to produce or destroy, depending on the motives of its operators.

On December 2, 1942 the first successful nuclear fission experiment took place at the University of Chicago underneath the college stadium.  Enrico Fermian Italian Nobel prize-winning scientist was the first physicist to experiment with the capabilities of neutrons. Once on American soil, Fermi partnered with Niels Bohr a fellow scientist who proffered the idea of a nuclear chain reactionThey worked together for the University of Chicago.

By 1939, Fermi, Bohr, Einstein and others were actively working on the consequences of nuclear power. There had been no successful experiment to date, but it seemed to all involved only a matter of time. As World War II engulfed the world in a violence it could hardly contemplate, the band of physicists realized just how dangerous their work on atoms, neutrons and chain reactions could be in the hands of Nazi Germany. What they had discovered could change warfare forever. They decided to inform the president.

Albert Einsteinbeginning in 1939, wrote at least four letters to President Roosevelt explaining the implications of the experiments in America and in Europe on the properties of uranium and atomic division. As Einstein expounded on the possibilities of atomic energy to give the world new fuels, he simultaneously emphasized the potential harm of the same energy in the wrong hands.

The Depression still dominated FDR’s administration and finding funds for aiding and supervising the Manhattan Project seemed temporarily unnecessary. That is until the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 and America’s entry into the war. Funding for the Manhattan Project fueled experiments at colleges around the United States as scientists raced to stay ahead of the Nazis. So here then was the beginning of the arms race.

On a cold winter day in Chicago, unbeknownst by the majority of the world, the scientists set up their equipment under the racquetball courts of the college and were witness to the first self-sustained nuclear chain reaction. In those moments of brilliant light and scientific progress, a new darkness descended upon the planet: the possibility to destroy millions of people in the blink of an eye.

Today, at least eight countries admit to holding nuclear weapons: China, France India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, UK and the USA. These are the countries that admit to harnessing the violent potential of nuclear energy. There is no way to know for certain if these are the only countries with nuclear arms. Those few brilliant scientists on December 2, 1942 could not have known how dangerous their research would become.

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