A Spencer Klavan review of “The Golden Thread” by Allen C. Guelzo and James Hankins, a two volume “History of the Western Tradition”.
Solo or not, rock climbing is more risky than jumping out of an airplane with a parachute! Or so the actuaries tell us.
Thus, in my time in Colorado, this was one sport I put on the back burner for every other type of mountain and mountaineering advanture.
There’s free solo, and there’s cave diving. Completely avoidable danger, and even people who are careful, good at it, and experienced die.
Do they then climb down the same way? Seems that would be harder.
I get vertigo just watching the video
I thought this was somehow appropriate:
The Moth
Archy and Mehitabel (styled as archy and mehitabel) are fictional characters created in 1916 by Don Marquis, a columnist for The Evening Sun newspaper in New York City. Archy, a cockroach, and Mehitabel, an alley cat, appeared in hundreds of humorous verses and short stories in Marquis’s daily column, “The Sun Dial”. Archy wrote the columns at night by climbing up on Marquis’s typewriter and diving to hit the keys.
“The CIA tried to remove a sitting United States President.
“The evidence has been released. The issue is no longer a matter of opinion or debate.
“Now, watch the silence…”— https://instapundit.com/789942/
+ Bonus:
Free climbing has been around for a very long time.
Alexander the Great’s army had a small highly elite unit of Macedonian mountaineers. He used them to assault a seemingly impregnable and unaccessible citadel situated at the top of sheer rock cliffs. The mountaineers free-climbed the cliff wall, which the citadel’s defenders left unguarded. They did this at night, in utter darkness. Using only the knives with which they were armed, they quickly overcame the defenders guarding the main entrance of the citadel and threw open the gates to Alexander’s waiting army. The Macedonians made short work of the citadel, killing everyone inside.
We may well assume that Alexander rewarded the mountaineer lavishly. That was his style.
@IrishOtter49:Alexander the Great’s army had a small highly elite unit of Macedonian mountaineers.
He also used mountaineers in another way. Oxyartes had retreated to the Sogdian Rock (now in Uzbekistan) and his messengers told Alexander that he would need winged soldiers to attack him there. The mountaineers climbed up above the fortress, waving cloths to look like wings, and Alexander informed Oxyartes that the winged soldiers were now in place. Oxyartes surrendered. His daughter was the famous Roxana.
Thanks sdferr, I’d have missed that.
The death by the rogue wave isn’t really a free climbing death, that could have happened to someone who approached the cliffs from the top as well.
Death is close to us all, all the time, of course. We’re all just one slip or trip, one malfunctioning appliance or whatever, away from death, all the time. But the odds do matter. You won’t catch me free climbing, or rope climbing, unless it’s a matter of life and death. That is, I might try it if fleeing from murderer or something.
One particularly scary thing that can happen to anyone in high terrain, not just free climbers, is the danger of steepening descending slope. The thought of this always gave me the shivers.
How it works is that you’re on the way downhill. It can be a hiker, a climber, anyone in that terrain. You start descending what is initially a gradual slope, but getting steeper as you go down. The problem is that it’s easier to go down than up.
If you’re not careful, you can find yourself at a point on such a slope where it’s too steep to keep going down…but also too steep to climb back to safety. Trapped. That’s why you have to keep a careful eye on steepening descending slopes.
The climber who worked so hard to maintain peak physical ability and then died at 52 might be an example of denial about the effects of age.
It’s possible to be in excellent physical shape at 52, of course, but you still won’t be as capable at 52 as you were at 32, assuming peak training at both ages.
I don’t know that that was a factor in his fall, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it was.
And then there was the one who died climbing an easy face after ‘leaving a pub’. One suspects a possible contributing factor.
Nice video.
For those who are interested in this, I’d recommend the Valley Uprising (2014) documentary.
One of my favorite local cover bands has this great female singer, and band leader. For a Halloween performance she was dressed up as a roller skating car hop girl. Being on roller skates for the whole performance really showed off her muscular legs and I mentioned her fitness. She said she’s a runner. But later when there was some silly contest about famous people we’ve met, she said she’d met a number of famous climbers. Steck, Honnold, and one other I forget.
The video claims there is this “pattern” of failures and death. Well, … Their point is that it only takes one mistake or unfortunate event to end it all. I don’t think I’d call that a pattern.
I decided to take up shooting back in 2015, and after a few years had accumulated a few handguns. One of my initial thoughts was that I’d like to know all the details of their characteristics and to become familiar and comfortable with handling and using them.
As the early months progressed, and I was reading & youtubing a lot, in particular about firearms accidents and ND’s (negligent discharges), it dawned on me. (And this a point in the video…) Familiarity breeds complacency. Taking that idea a small step further, I do NOT want to become very comfortable around firearms. (Or rock climbing, by analogy.)
I like watching documentaries on airliner or engineering disasters and what caused them. An obvious point is that especially with these potentially dangerous public use activities, you never want there to be a single point of catastrophic failure. You want there to be a backup for all expected points or items of failure. Maybe more than one backup in some cases.
@hC68:If you’re not careful, you can find yourself at a point on such a slope where it’s too steep to keep going down…but also too steep to climb back to safety. Trapped. That’s why you have to keep a careful eye on steepening descending slopes.
Something like this can happen to small planes in canyons. The floor starts ascending and the plane cannot turn or ascend fast enough to avoid the collision.
I remember once misjudging my swimming fitness and getting tired out halfway to where I needed to be. I thought I’d had it then. Fortunately I was not alone.
@TommyJay: For those who are interested in this, I’d recommend the Valley Uprising (2014) documentary.
Second that!
Valley Uprising gets into the nitty-gritty of a special libertarianish 70s subculture devoted to a single-minded quest which went under the radar of the rest of society.
Reminded me of the early personal computer revolution in the 70s. I’m glad I signed up for that subculture instead!
What Went Wrong to Cause the Russian Revolution of 1917?
The Russian Revolution of 1917, the details of it, and why it came about is, I’m sure, a very complex subject.
Not an expert in this area, by any means but, the basic idea, as I understand it, appears to be pretty simple.
Russia, the largest country on Earth, and with a deep history going back over a thousand years to the foundation of the state of RUS in 862 A.D. –covered an enormous landmass, stretched over 11 time zones, contained a myriad of different ethnic groups, and had enormous potential.
Pre-revolutionary Russia contained an enormous, and generally oppressed and suffering peasant base, ruled over by an essentially out of touch, indifferent, and incompetent Royal house, and an economic ruling elite.
These Royals and the elites were—from the few old pictures I’ve seen–an enormously handsome group of people, they lived extremely well, indeed, and while there were a few notable members of this ruling group who were humanitarians, and concerned about the condition of the peasantry, the Romanovs and the elite class was generally parasitical; it was a powder keg, just waiting for a spark.
As the time of the Revolution approached, Russia, I’ve read, had been rapidly industrializing, but at the same time these promising economic developments were taking place, you had, paralleling these developments, deep and apparently growing peasant dissatisfaction, and the dissatisfaction won out.
And these conditions enabled a small, essentially unpopular band of ruthless revolutionaries to stage a coup, eliminate the Romanov family and, in the bloody course of things, eventually take over the state.*
Today, Trump says 35 ships have transited the Strait of Hormuz. Things are going well.
For Iran, not so much. Officials from Iran declared to the Pakistani President that government collapse for the Terror Regime is just weeks away! SOURCES here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKq5uCLqAaY
P.S.
I guess the reason for the above post was that, it seemed to me that, while the Russian rulers admittedly had a lot of problems–many of them ancient and deep seated, looking at the resources the Russian rulers had to work with—both natural resources and human resources—if they had been conscientious, somewhat enlightened, and truly dedicated to the welfare of their entire population and nation, and had played their cards right, they probably could have avoided the Revolution, and gone on to become a mighty world power, perhaps, eventually, the premier world power.
But autocracy has always been their downfall.
Trump’s likely to inspire a new Iranian Revolution to do regime change and give up the uranium, tho I suspect the IRGC will claim they are willing to do so after it’s clear they are losing.
A huge question is whether the Iraqi Arab Shiites are willing to both kill unarmed & poorly armed Persian protesters, rebels. Sadly, I fear a Civil War.
P.S.S.
But, I’ve seen the excuse/argument made that with countries like Russia and China–with their enormous extent and multiplicity of ethnic groups, customs, languages, and interests-i.e. North vs South, rice vs. wheat, a focus on coastal trade vs interior trade–only a strong man, an autocrat, will have the power and control needed to take the steps necessary to hold these disparate parts together.
Certainly, in the case of ancient China you can see how the different regions of the country, and their various rebellions have demonstrated how hard it was for Chinese Emperors to make them into one, cohesive nation.
I join in being unable to watch the video.
I did manage to make it through the documentary movie Free Solo; a scene, or rather a scenario, that stuck with me was the guy’s failure, in repeated attempts, basically to jump from one hold horizontally to another in his practice runs, while he was harnessed. He jumps sideways, misses, swings from a line.
In the movie, it’s implied that he NEVER succeeded in making that jump during any practice climb – but he nailed it in his one free solo attempt. I don’t know if that’s true or just dramatic tension, but if I hadn’t carefully stewarded my bladder beforehand, I probably would have peed my pants.
Neo, what are you trying to do to us?
Snow on Pine – another key factor preceding the Russian Revolution was that the Romanov’s Russian blood had over time become increasingly diluted through intermarriage to other European dynasties. If there is any justification for monarchy it is that the rulers symbolize the nationhood of those they rule. The Romanovs lost that and along with the other things you mentioned it left an enormous vacuum that could be exploited by a small determined group with the will to power.
FOAF–If the bloodline of the Royals in a country should be that of the natives of that country, what about the current ruling family in the UK?
Aren’t they genetically related to all of the other Royal families in Europe?
Wasn’t this line originally of German extraction–the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha–until they anglicized their unpopular Germanic house name to Windsor during WWI?
Late here, but growing up in Detroit, I was aware of speedboat (hydroplane) racing because of a major race held every year in the Detroit River. The death toll in that sport was astonishing back in the 60s and 70s. There was one racer–I still remember his name, Bill Muncey, a local guy–who was probably the greatest ever. He too was killed in a race back in 1981 at the age of 53. I’m not sure if the sport has taken steps to make it safer.
@ Snow > One of the oddities of World War I is that the three major combatants were (or had been) headed by first cousins, all descended from the children of Queen Victoria of England.
King Edward VII of England, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia/Germany, and (before the Revolution), Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
Pictures taken of the three of them show nearly identical features, although that may be mostly because of the beards and mustaches.
Almost every other Royal in Europe was related to her as well.
And yes, the royal family of England is most recently descended from the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha princes, allied with the Hanoverian line already on the throne. There was another imported Germanic ruler in the more distant past, William of Orange, who was a grandson of the English King. He married his first cousin Mary of England.
Keeping it all in the family, as FOAF suggested, even if they appeared to be from different countries.
https://historycooperative.org/queen-victoria-family-tree/
Queen Victoria was also connected to the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha families through her mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. This German duchy was significant in European royal politics. Victoria’s maternal uncle, Leopold I, became the first King of Belgium in 1831.
Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha further solidified this connection. The marriage took place on February 10, 1840, and was both a love match and a political alliance.
https://historycooperative.org/house-of-hanover-family-tree/
Why did the house change from Hanover to Windsor?
The British House of Hanover did not change from Hanover to Windsor. First, Hanover became Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the German family name of Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. The royal family’s name was changed from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor by King George V during World War I to distance the family from Germany.
How did Hanover become British?
Hanover became connected to Britain in 1714 when George Louis, the Elector of Hanover, inherited the British throne as King George I after Queen Anne of Britain died without an heir. George was her closest Protestant relative, meeting the requirements of British succession laws.
This site gave a nice primer on the the English monarchy, a timeline of the various reigns, and highlights of the most prominent rulers.
Also pictures.
I haven’t seen anything about Archy and Mehitabel in years, thank you so much!
Also apropos current events are the epigrams at the website hosting Marquis’s writings. They are in a box on the right side, and are not copy-paste-able, and rotate through a series, so I didn’t try and quote any of them, but you will find them very current in outlook, even after a century.
Nothing is constant but death, taxes, and political rivalry, although I think our era has sunk to a low unseen since sometime in the Byzantine courts (see Barry’s Insty link).
The English could get pretty rough sometimes as well (to wit, the War of the Roses, and see any play by Shakespeare, which are the substance of this column that chronicled the first missive from Archy the Cockroach).
Speaking of Russia, what is the status of the war in the Ukraine?
This war has gone from being front page news and having 24/7 coverage to just about disappearing from the news.
Whatever the current status is, what seems to be true is that Russia—already suffering from a large decline in population, and not likely to recover from this demographic catastrophe—has lost, some say, 1.2 million soldiers killed and wounded, most of them young and carrying Russia’s future with them to the grave.
Not only that, but Putin has also blown through enormous stocks of weapons—both old and new, other military equipment, food, and petroleum.
Bottom line, by his reckless actions, Putin has likely made it very difficult, if not impossible, for Russia to maintain its status as a major military power, one able to easily fight major land or sea wars in the near future.
Russians are known for being able to endure hardship and torment, but this?
Good for us, bad for them.
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I could not watch that video. Scares me just to think about it. Not my sport.
https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/the-renegade-academy/
A Spencer Klavan review of “The Golden Thread” by Allen C. Guelzo and James Hankins, a two volume “History of the Western Tradition”.
Solo or not, rock climbing is more risky than jumping out of an airplane with a parachute! Or so the actuaries tell us.
Thus, in my time in Colorado, this was one sport I put on the back burner for every other type of mountain and mountaineering advanture.
There’s free solo, and there’s cave diving. Completely avoidable danger, and even people who are careful, good at it, and experienced die.
Do they then climb down the same way? Seems that would be harder.
I get vertigo just watching the video
I thought this was somehow appropriate:
The Moth
Archy and Mehitabel (styled as archy and mehitabel) are fictional characters created in 1916 by Don Marquis, a columnist for The Evening Sun newspaper in New York City. Archy, a cockroach, and Mehitabel, an alley cat, appeared in hundreds of humorous verses and short stories in Marquis’s daily column, “The Sun Dial”. Archy wrote the columns at night by climbing up on Marquis’s typewriter and diving to hit the keys.
Tax day idea (a powerline Pick today):
https://issuesinsights.com/2026/04/15/a-modest-proposal-on-tax-day/
Also, I’m with F on the video.
Lots of stuff coming out.
(Nothing really new for those who’ve been paying attention…but still…)
“Fauci Deputy Who Refused COVID-19 Vaccine Feared Retaliation…”
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/fauci-deputy-who-refused-covid-19-vaccine-feared-retaliation-emails
In the same vein…
“The CIA tried to remove a sitting United States President.
“The evidence has been released. The issue is no longer a matter of opinion or debate.
“Now, watch the silence…”—
https://instapundit.com/789942/
+ Bonus:
Free climbing has been around for a very long time.
Alexander the Great’s army had a small highly elite unit of Macedonian mountaineers. He used them to assault a seemingly impregnable and unaccessible citadel situated at the top of sheer rock cliffs. The mountaineers free-climbed the cliff wall, which the citadel’s defenders left unguarded. They did this at night, in utter darkness. Using only the knives with which they were armed, they quickly overcame the defenders guarding the main entrance of the citadel and threw open the gates to Alexander’s waiting army. The Macedonians made short work of the citadel, killing everyone inside.
We may well assume that Alexander rewarded the mountaineer lavishly. That was his style.
@IrishOtter49:Alexander the Great’s army had a small highly elite unit of Macedonian mountaineers.
He also used mountaineers in another way. Oxyartes had retreated to the Sogdian Rock (now in Uzbekistan) and his messengers told Alexander that he would need winged soldiers to attack him there. The mountaineers climbed up above the fortress, waving cloths to look like wings, and Alexander informed Oxyartes that the winged soldiers were now in place. Oxyartes surrendered. His daughter was the famous Roxana.
Thanks sdferr, I’d have missed that.
The death by the rogue wave isn’t really a free climbing death, that could have happened to someone who approached the cliffs from the top as well.
Death is close to us all, all the time, of course. We’re all just one slip or trip, one malfunctioning appliance or whatever, away from death, all the time. But the odds do matter. You won’t catch me free climbing, or rope climbing, unless it’s a matter of life and death. That is, I might try it if fleeing from murderer or something.
One particularly scary thing that can happen to anyone in high terrain, not just free climbers, is the danger of steepening descending slope. The thought of this always gave me the shivers.
How it works is that you’re on the way downhill. It can be a hiker, a climber, anyone in that terrain. You start descending what is initially a gradual slope, but getting steeper as you go down. The problem is that it’s easier to go down than up.
If you’re not careful, you can find yourself at a point on such a slope where it’s too steep to keep going down…but also too steep to climb back to safety. Trapped. That’s why you have to keep a careful eye on steepening descending slopes.
The climber who worked so hard to maintain peak physical ability and then died at 52 might be an example of denial about the effects of age.
It’s possible to be in excellent physical shape at 52, of course, but you still won’t be as capable at 52 as you were at 32, assuming peak training at both ages.
I don’t know that that was a factor in his fall, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it was.
And then there was the one who died climbing an easy face after ‘leaving a pub’. One suspects a possible contributing factor.
Nice video.
For those who are interested in this, I’d recommend the Valley Uprising (2014) documentary.
One of my favorite local cover bands has this great female singer, and band leader. For a Halloween performance she was dressed up as a roller skating car hop girl. Being on roller skates for the whole performance really showed off her muscular legs and I mentioned her fitness. She said she’s a runner. But later when there was some silly contest about famous people we’ve met, she said she’d met a number of famous climbers. Steck, Honnold, and one other I forget.
The video claims there is this “pattern” of failures and death. Well, … Their point is that it only takes one mistake or unfortunate event to end it all. I don’t think I’d call that a pattern.
I decided to take up shooting back in 2015, and after a few years had accumulated a few handguns. One of my initial thoughts was that I’d like to know all the details of their characteristics and to become familiar and comfortable with handling and using them.
As the early months progressed, and I was reading & youtubing a lot, in particular about firearms accidents and ND’s (negligent discharges), it dawned on me. (And this a point in the video…) Familiarity breeds complacency. Taking that idea a small step further, I do NOT want to become very comfortable around firearms. (Or rock climbing, by analogy.)
I like watching documentaries on airliner or engineering disasters and what caused them. An obvious point is that especially with these potentially dangerous public use activities, you never want there to be a single point of catastrophic failure. You want there to be a backup for all expected points or items of failure. Maybe more than one backup in some cases.
@hC68:If you’re not careful, you can find yourself at a point on such a slope where it’s too steep to keep going down…but also too steep to climb back to safety. Trapped. That’s why you have to keep a careful eye on steepening descending slopes.
Something like this can happen to small planes in canyons. The floor starts ascending and the plane cannot turn or ascend fast enough to avoid the collision.
I remember once misjudging my swimming fitness and getting tired out halfway to where I needed to be. I thought I’d had it then. Fortunately I was not alone.
@TommyJay: For those who are interested in this, I’d recommend the Valley Uprising (2014) documentary.
Second that!
Valley Uprising gets into the nitty-gritty of a special libertarianish 70s subculture devoted to a single-minded quest which went under the radar of the rest of society.
Reminded me of the early personal computer revolution in the 70s. I’m glad I signed up for that subculture instead!
What Went Wrong to Cause the Russian Revolution of 1917?
The Russian Revolution of 1917, the details of it, and why it came about is, I’m sure, a very complex subject.
Not an expert in this area, by any means but, the basic idea, as I understand it, appears to be pretty simple.
Russia, the largest country on Earth, and with a deep history going back over a thousand years to the foundation of the state of RUS in 862 A.D. –covered an enormous landmass, stretched over 11 time zones, contained a myriad of different ethnic groups, and had enormous potential.
Pre-revolutionary Russia contained an enormous, and generally oppressed and suffering peasant base, ruled over by an essentially out of touch, indifferent, and incompetent Royal house, and an economic ruling elite.
These Royals and the elites were—from the few old pictures I’ve seen–an enormously handsome group of people, they lived extremely well, indeed, and while there were a few notable members of this ruling group who were humanitarians, and concerned about the condition of the peasantry, the Romanovs and the elite class was generally parasitical; it was a powder keg, just waiting for a spark.
As the time of the Revolution approached, Russia, I’ve read, had been rapidly industrializing, but at the same time these promising economic developments were taking place, you had, paralleling these developments, deep and apparently growing peasant dissatisfaction, and the dissatisfaction won out.
And these conditions enabled a small, essentially unpopular band of ruthless revolutionaries to stage a coup, eliminate the Romanov family and, in the bloody course of things, eventually take over the state.*
* See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJQDr9_jQFs
see also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_GaTNjvy54&t=436s
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk6hoQW3ppY&t=261s
Today, Trump says 35 ships have transited the Strait of Hormuz. Things are going well.
For Iran, not so much. Officials from Iran declared to the Pakistani President that government collapse for the Terror Regime is just weeks away! SOURCES here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKq5uCLqAaY
P.S.
I guess the reason for the above post was that, it seemed to me that, while the Russian rulers admittedly had a lot of problems–many of them ancient and deep seated, looking at the resources the Russian rulers had to work with—both natural resources and human resources—if they had been conscientious, somewhat enlightened, and truly dedicated to the welfare of their entire population and nation, and had played their cards right, they probably could have avoided the Revolution, and gone on to become a mighty world power, perhaps, eventually, the premier world power.
But autocracy has always been their downfall.
Trump’s likely to inspire a new Iranian Revolution to do regime change and give up the uranium, tho I suspect the IRGC will claim they are willing to do so after it’s clear they are losing.
A huge question is whether the Iraqi Arab Shiites are willing to both kill unarmed & poorly armed Persian protesters, rebels. Sadly, I fear a Civil War.
P.S.S.
But, I’ve seen the excuse/argument made that with countries like Russia and China–with their enormous extent and multiplicity of ethnic groups, customs, languages, and interests-i.e. North vs South, rice vs. wheat, a focus on coastal trade vs interior trade–only a strong man, an autocrat, will have the power and control needed to take the steps necessary to hold these disparate parts together.
Certainly, in the case of ancient China you can see how the different regions of the country, and their various rebellions have demonstrated how hard it was for Chinese Emperors to make them into one, cohesive nation.
I join in being unable to watch the video.
I did manage to make it through the documentary movie Free Solo; a scene, or rather a scenario, that stuck with me was the guy’s failure, in repeated attempts, basically to jump from one hold horizontally to another in his practice runs, while he was harnessed. He jumps sideways, misses, swings from a line.
In the movie, it’s implied that he NEVER succeeded in making that jump during any practice climb – but he nailed it in his one free solo attempt. I don’t know if that’s true or just dramatic tension, but if I hadn’t carefully stewarded my bladder beforehand, I probably would have peed my pants.
Neo, what are you trying to do to us?
Snow on Pine – another key factor preceding the Russian Revolution was that the Romanov’s Russian blood had over time become increasingly diluted through intermarriage to other European dynasties. If there is any justification for monarchy it is that the rulers symbolize the nationhood of those they rule. The Romanovs lost that and along with the other things you mentioned it left an enormous vacuum that could be exploited by a small determined group with the will to power.
FOAF–If the bloodline of the Royals in a country should be that of the natives of that country, what about the current ruling family in the UK?
Aren’t they genetically related to all of the other Royal families in Europe?
Wasn’t this line originally of German extraction–the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha–until they anglicized their unpopular Germanic house name to Windsor during WWI?
Late here, but growing up in Detroit, I was aware of speedboat (hydroplane) racing because of a major race held every year in the Detroit River. The death toll in that sport was astonishing back in the 60s and 70s. There was one racer–I still remember his name, Bill Muncey, a local guy–who was probably the greatest ever. He too was killed in a race back in 1981 at the age of 53. I’m not sure if the sport has taken steps to make it safer.
@ Snow > One of the oddities of World War I is that the three major combatants were (or had been) headed by first cousins, all descended from the children of Queen Victoria of England.
King Edward VII of England, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia/Germany, and (before the Revolution), Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
Pictures taken of the three of them show nearly identical features, although that may be mostly because of the beards and mustaches.
Almost every other Royal in Europe was related to her as well.
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a26193545/queen-victoria-descendants-on-the-throne/
“She was known as the grandmother of the continent for a reason.”
And yes, the royal family of England is most recently descended from the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha princes, allied with the Hanoverian line already on the throne. There was another imported Germanic ruler in the more distant past, William of Orange, who was a grandson of the English King. He married his first cousin Mary of England.
Keeping it all in the family, as FOAF suggested, even if they appeared to be from different countries.
https://historycooperative.org/queen-victoria-family-tree/
Queen Victoria was also connected to the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha families through her mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. This German duchy was significant in European royal politics. Victoria’s maternal uncle, Leopold I, became the first King of Belgium in 1831.
Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha further solidified this connection. The marriage took place on February 10, 1840, and was both a love match and a political alliance.
https://historycooperative.org/house-of-hanover-family-tree/
Why did the house change from Hanover to Windsor?
The British House of Hanover did not change from Hanover to Windsor. First, Hanover became Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the German family name of Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. The royal family’s name was changed from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor by King George V during World War I to distance the family from Germany.
How did Hanover become British?
Hanover became connected to Britain in 1714 when George Louis, the Elector of Hanover, inherited the British throne as King George I after Queen Anne of Britain died without an heir. George was her closest Protestant relative, meeting the requirements of British succession laws.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_England
This site gave a nice primer on the the English monarchy, a timeline of the various reigns, and highlights of the most prominent rulers.
Also pictures.
https://historycooperative.org/the-kings-and-queens-of-england/
@ Cap’n Rusty > “The Moth” by Don Marquis
I haven’t seen anything about Archy and Mehitabel in years, thank you so much!
Also apropos current events are the epigrams at the website hosting Marquis’s writings. They are in a box on the right side, and are not copy-paste-able, and rotate through a series, so I didn’t try and quote any of them, but you will find them very current in outlook, even after a century.
Nothing is constant but death, taxes, and political rivalry, although I think our era has sunk to a low unseen since sometime in the Byzantine courts (see Barry’s Insty link).
The English could get pretty rough sometimes as well (to wit, the War of the Roses, and see any play by Shakespeare, which are the substance of this column that chronicled the first missive from Archy the Cockroach).
http://donmarquis.com/archy-and-mehitabel/introducing-archy/
Speaking of Russia, what is the status of the war in the Ukraine?
This war has gone from being front page news and having 24/7 coverage to just about disappearing from the news.
Whatever the current status is, what seems to be true is that Russia—already suffering from a large decline in population, and not likely to recover from this demographic catastrophe—has lost, some say, 1.2 million soldiers killed and wounded, most of them young and carrying Russia’s future with them to the grave.
Not only that, but Putin has also blown through enormous stocks of weapons—both old and new, other military equipment, food, and petroleum.
Bottom line, by his reckless actions, Putin has likely made it very difficult, if not impossible, for Russia to maintain its status as a major military power, one able to easily fight major land or sea wars in the near future.
Russians are known for being able to endure hardship and torment, but this?
Good for us, bad for them.