Tea at Trianon: The Great Wall of China Is Coming Down

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, October 6, 2022

The Great Wall of China Is Coming Down

From History of Yesterday:

The building of the wall started during the 7th century BCE by the ancient Chinese state known as Chu which ruled during 770–223 BCE. When the state was formed, its leaders wanted to build a new type of defensive system that would not only protect a village or a simple settlement but a whole region without the need for a large army. It is believed that this was the first time someone in human history had thought of using walls to create borders. Therefore they started building a large fortified wall around the whole prominence of Hubei, with guard posts every 10 kilometers.
During the 6th century, other states within China soon followed this tactic. They all understood that this would help defend their own regions from their neighbors throwing a surprise attack. Another vital point of building the great wall was to protect China from nomadic tribes that attempted raids and invasions from the north. Until the 2nd century BCE, all the sections of the walls were separate, not connected from one region to another. (Read more.)