History Books

REPLY OF MR. FILLMORE.[From official records in the State Department.]WASHINGTON, July 9, 1850. To the Hons. JOHN M. CLAYTON, Secretary of State; W.M. MEREDITH, Secretary of the Treasury; T. EWING, Secretary of the Interior; GEO. W. CRAWFORD, Secretary of War; WM. BALLARD PRESTON, Secretary of the Navy; J. COLLAMER, Postmaster-General; REVERDY JOHNSON, Attorney-General. GENTLEMEN: I have just received... more...

PREFACE The Mesopotamian War was a side-show, so distant from Europe that even the tragedy of Kut and the slaughter which failed to save our troops and prestige were felt chiefly in retrospect, when the majority of the men who suffered so vainly had gone into the silence of death or of captivity. When Maude's offensive carried our arms again into Kut, and beyond, to Baghdad, interest revived; but... more...

INTRODUCTION Diderot, writing to the Princess Dashkoff in 1771, thus analysed the spirit of his century: Chaque siècle a son esprit qui le caractérise. L'esprit du nôtre semble être celui de la liberté. La première attaque contre la superstition a été violente, sans mesure. Une fois que les hommes ont osé d'une manière quelconque donner l'assaut à la barrière de la religion,... more...

CHAPTER I. OUR HERO'S HOME—GUERNSEY. Off the coast of Brittany, where the Bay of Biscay fights the white horses of the North Sea, the Island of Guernsey rides at anchor. Its black and yellow, red and purple coast-line, summer and winter, is awash with surf, burying the protecting reefs in a smother of foam. Between these drowned ridges of despair, which warn the toilers of the sea of an... more...

The present work is intended for such students as have already an elementary knowledge of the main facts of English history, and aims at meeting their needs by the use of plain language on the one hand, and by the avoidance, on the other hand, of that multiplicity of details which is apt to overburden the memory. At the close of the book I have treated the last eleven years, 1874 to 1885, in a manner... more...

CHAPTER I ATTACK ON BELGIUM The first great campaign on the western battle grounds in the European War began on August 4, 1914. On this epoch-making day the German army began its invasion of Belgium—with the conquest of France as its ultimate goal. Six mighty armies stood ready for the great invasion. Their estimated total was 1,200,000 men. Supreme over all was the Emperor as War Lord, but... more...

FUNNY ADVENTURE OF THE CHAPLAIN POUSSATIN—THE STORY OF THE SIEGE OF LERIDA—MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF YORK, AND OTHER DETAILS ABOUT THE ENGLISH COURT. "Sir," said the Chevalier de Grammont, "the Prince de Conde besieged Lerida: the place in itself was nothing; but Don Gregorio Brice who defended it, was something. He was one of those Spaniards of the old stamp, as valiant as the Cid, as... more...

CHILD LIFE From the hour when the Puritan baby opened his eyes in bleak New England he had a Spartan struggle for life. In summer-time he fared comparatively well, but in winter the ill-heated houses of the colonists gave to him a most chilling and benumbing welcome. Within the great open fireplace, when fairly scorched in the face by the glowing flames of the roaring wood fire, he might be bathed and... more...

CHAPTER I Cuba for Cuba must be the grateful theme of the present volume. We have seen the identification of the Queen of the Antilles with the Spanish discovery and conquest of America. We have traced the development of widespread international interests in that island, especially implicating the vital attention of at least four great powers. We have reviewed the origin and development of a peculiar... more...

BETWEEN THE LINES THE ADVANCED TRENCHES 'Near Blank, on the Dash-Dot front, a section of advanced trench changed hands several times, finally remaining in our possession.' For perhaps the twentieth time in half an hour the look-out man in the advanced trench raised his head cautiously over the parapet and peered out into the darkness. A drizzling rain made it almost impossible to see beyond a... more...