THIS WEEK IN HISTORY Archives

This week in history: Caligula

by David Tollen | Jan 25, 2020 | Ancient History, Roman Empire, Classical Civilization

This week in 41 CE, a faction Roman leaders assassinated their emperor, Caligula. The emperor had oppressed the nobles and the Senate (though not necessarily the common people), so this was not the first plot against his rule. The trigger for this final and successful...

This week in history: Encyclopaedia Britannica

by David Tollen | Dec 12, 2019 | The Early Modern Age

This week in 1768, Colin Macfarquhar and Andrew Bell of Scotland published the first edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica. It had just 3 volumes—quite a contrast to the thirty-two volumes of the fifteenth and final edition, published in 2010. Despite small...

Magellan: This Week in History

by David Tollen | Sep 10, 2019 | The Early Modern Age

This week in history, in 1522, the Spanish carrack Victoria returned home with just eighteen crew-members. She had completing the first circumnavigation of the globe. The expedition had begun in 1519 with five fully-crewed ships under the command of Ferdinand...