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Review - The Hussite Movement in Bohemia

Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Hussite Movement in Bohemia; Second, Enlarged Edition by Josef Macek

Jan Hus was a Czech priest in Bohemia. He grew concerned with the direction the Church was taking. He became a believer in some of the writings of English reformer, John Wycliffe. Hus would continually come into conflict with the Church, “[t]hey well knew that in demanding complete poverty for the Church [Hus] was endangering their positions and their material interests.” (Macek p.22) Wycliffe’s teachings were banned and his writings burned. Hus still believed and defended the teachings.

In 1412 the Pope was at war with the King of Naples and was in need of revenues to pay for the war. The Pope decided to publicly sell indulgences. Hus was very critical of this practice even going as far as to demand that the vendors of these indulgences leave Prague. However this struggle eventually led to Hus leaving Prague and being excommunicated.

Finally in 1415 Hus was placed on trial and asked to recant his teachings. He replied: “The prime endeavour of all my preaching, teaching and writing and of all my deeds has been to turn people from their sins and this truth I have written, taught and preached in accordance with the word of God and the teaching of the holy doctors I willingly seal with my death today.” (Macek p.25)

The death of Jan Hus lead to a revolution in Bohemia. The peasants and low ranking nobility turned on the Church and the Emperor.

Death of Jan Hus

Death of Jan Hus

The Four Articles of Prague 1420:
1) Freedom to the Word of God
2) We all take the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Almighty God, in awe, devotion, and reverence…
3) We direct the clergy toward the life of the Son of God and to the life of the Apostles, and stop and do away with their enrichment and simony.
4) We stop, suppress, and destroy all sins; first in ourselves, after that in the kings, the princes and lords, the townsmen, the craftsmen, the peasants, etc.

Multiple Crusades against the Hussites failed mainly due to a growing sense of nationalism amongst the Czech. The foreign mercenaries sent into Bohemia would quickly break against the determined natives who were fighting for their lives, land, and souls.

The Hussite Wars lasted from 1419 to 1434 and did much to shape the the region. Despite the ultimate failure of the uprising it was by far the most successful rebellion against the Church up to that point. The memory of it would inspire many people for centuries to come.

Overall this book had some good information in it. At times it was very pro-Hussite in its tone and everything was written from the point of view of Czechs, nothing from the Church’s or King’s point of view. Despite this lopsidedness it touches on a topic that isn’t as well explored by many other texts.

The book is also on the short side, a little over a hundred pages. I wish a little more time and detail was given on the wars, fifteen years is a long fight. Right now I’m searching Google Books for copies of the other books listed in the references to try to learn some more details of the wars and the Hussite movement in general.

Image Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Spiezer_Chronik_Jan_Hus_1485.jpg

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The Accidental Hero

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Tonight I went to the Downtown Cabaret Theatre here in Rochester to see a show called “The Accidental Hero.” It is a one-man performance by Patrick Dewane about his grandfather’s participation in World War II.

His grandfather’s grandparents managed to escape terrible lives in Czech lands to America. They created a life for themselves in a Czech community in Wisconsin where they still spoke Czech even decades after arrival in the US. Mr. Dewane’s grandfather was one of the first of family to become fluent in English and life eventually led him to service of his country in the Army.

With the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor he found himself at Omaha Beach, fighting in an important action during the Battle of the Bulge, and finally volunteered for an important mission behind German lines in Czechoslovakia where he confronts his heritage.

The performance was outstanding, the story is incredible. It was even accompanied by films made by his grandfather during the war.

There is humor, drama, and a great scene described where a Nazi gets punched in the face. What more do you need. There is even a funny story about him being captured as a German spy during the Battle of the Bulge. English not being his native language left him with an accent and his smart-ass attitude didn’t help matters.

He never talked about his war experiences with his family, even when asked by his curious grandchildren. Thankfully he did write his memoirs and kept them with his souvenirs so that they could one day be found and explored by Mr. Dewane and his family and this amazing show being the result of it.

Turns out that his grandfather wasn’t just a hero during the War. Decades later he made trips into Soviet dominated Czechoslovakia and did what he could to help keep hope of freedom alive in his people despite the dangers that entailed. He died in 1983, but he knew it was only a matter of time until the Czech were free again.

After the show Mr. Dewane was asked if he was going to publish a book about his grandfather. Perhaps some day if there is enough of a demand, but he enjoys communicating the story in its current format. While I enjoy reading history books myself seeing this performance was much better than just reading about the events in a book. The film clips and most importantly the actual blood relationship with the subject makes it infinitely better.

It was a great story to hear, especially on the holiday weekend where America celebrates its own freedom. Check out the website at AccidentalHero.net for more information and show dates & locations.

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2011 Vintage Base Ball Season Begins

Sunday, June 19, 2011
Entry to Silver Base Ball Park

Entry to Silver Base Ball Park

Things have been crazy the last few months. Posting has been very sparse. Now that work is quieting down a bit and I’ve finished a couple of other projects I can now devote more time to posting here.

I’ve finished reading Pity of War and I am now doing some follow up research on that work. This weekend I made my way to the central library to look for additional material. I got it, but most of the books I was looking for were in storage. The poor librarians had to do a little extra work to dig those out for me.

The vintage base ball 2011 season at the Genesee Country Village & Museum began today. Reporting on those games will help boost my posts this summer. Being the first day of the season, two games were played so all four teams would participate.

The first game was the Rochesters against Flower City. Results were as follows:
Final Score

TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TOTAL
Rochesters 1 0 2 1 0 3 0 0 0 7
Flower City 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5

In the first game I was rooting for the Rochesters. One reason is that the members of that team were wearing black armbands and had an empty uniform on their bench in honor of Stuart Bolger, one of the main driving for the museum over its life. He was a fan of the Rochesters and they honored him in this first game. Flower City made me a little nervous after the second inning with their five runs, but they failed to score anything else for the rest of the game.

The second match-up was between Live Oak and Victory BBC:
Final Score

TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TOTAL
Live Oak 0 2 0 0 1 4 0 1 2 10
Victory BBC 2 0 0 2 0 0 3 1 0 8

The Victory BBC replaces last year’s Knickerbockers. Odd that the Knickerbockers were dropped since they won last year’s Mayor’s Cup Championship. I was rooting for Victory BBC since they were the new team. Unfortunately despite an early lead they lost in the bottom of the 9th.

Both games were played using the rules of 1865. More information can be found at the Vintage Base Ball Association.

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Visit to Fort Niagara

Saturday, April 30, 2011

I’m back. Batteries recharged after a long and grueling tax season.

Today I made my way out to Fort Niagara. This fort was once one of the most important sites in the New World. It was built by the French, taken by the British, and finally captured by the United States. It’s location gave it control over the growing trade routes in the New World.

A very interesting museum now. Here’s a few photos:

The "French Castle"

The "French Castle"

Model of the Fort

Model of the Fort

The North Redoubt

The North Redoubt

The South Redoubt

The South Redoubt

It was interesting exploring the fort.  There were some reenactors dressed as French, British, and some Iroquois.  It was also a chilly day which made me think to how hellish it must of been back in the day especially during the dead of winter.

If you are ever visiting Niagara Falls be sure to swing up and visit the fort even if for just a couple of hours.

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Happy Birthday to Frank Buckles

Monday, January 31, 2011

This February 1st will be the 110th birthday of Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last surviving American serviceman from World War I. At the age of 16 he decided to join the military. He had some trouble doing so since he was not 21. After failing his first few attempts he was able to get into the Army. Wanting to get to France as quickly as possible he followed some advice to join the Ambulance Service. After being stuck in England for a short time Frank finally made his way to France. In France he worked on several assignments until he returned home in January 1920.

Twenty years later another World War started. Frank was working for American President Lines in Manila when the Japanese invaded. He was a prisoner of the Japanese for three and a half years.

After the second war he married and raised a family. In recent years he has been the Honorary Chairman of the World War I Memorial Foundation. This foundation wants to refurbish the District of Columbia War Memorial as the National World War I Memorial.

Frank wants to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery when he dies. At first it was not going to be allowed because he didn’t meet some of the requirements. Intervention by numerous people on his behalf including Ross Perot allowed him to get special approval for underground burial.

A film is being produced about his life, Pershing’s Last Patriot. I’m not sure how big of a release it will get but is should be sometime in 2011. I’ll keep an eye out for it. Being a smaller production they have something set up on Kickstarter.com, but I’m not sure if they will be able to reach their fundraising goal there. I could be wrong.

Here is a video of an interview with Frank in 2008:

Anyway, I hope Mr. Buckles has a great day to-morrow. I also hope that he survives long enough to see dedication of a National World War I Memorial.

EXTERNAL LINKS & SOURCES
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Buckles
Pershing’s Last Patriot: http://pershingslastpatriot.com/frank/
Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frankbuckles/americas-last-ww-1-survivor-the-story-of-frank-buc?ref=users

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A Century Ago Today: 20 December 1910

Monday, December 20, 2010

Sorry about large gap in my posts recently.  I’m starting to get back into posting mode.  Today will be a small update.

As I did some looking into aviation history I wanted to look for something important that happened on this date 100 years ago.  On 20 December 1910 Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Pablo Dartnell submits a report that suggests the creation of the Servicio de Aviación Militar en Chile (Military Aviation Service in Chile) which is an early forerunner of the Fuerza Aérea de Chile (Chilean Air Force).

This has also gotten me thinking about the history of South America at bit.  That’s an area that has been ignored by schools in the United States.  Back in high school the most we were taught about South America was which country was which on a map and some basics about early Spanish and Portugese colonization.  With millions of people over a period of 500 years things are a lot more involved.  I’m going to start looking into some of the details of the history of our neighbors in South America.

It shoud be interesting.

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The Galveston Giant

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Jack Arthur Johnson was the son of a former slave born on 31 March 1878 in Galveston, Texas. His parents made sure he, and all of their children, could read. He eventually dropped out of school to become a dock worker (wikipedia). In 1897 he became a professional boxer and would have 123 bouts on his record by the time he retired in 1928.

The Galveston Giant

In 1901 Joe Choynski, the West Coast champion, knocked Johnson out in a bout. He would then teach him ring tactics as they both sat in jail after a police raid of that fight. “Until the 1920s, public prizefighting was illegal in most states, and matches had to be conducted in secret locations… in private clubs.” (Roberts & Skutt p.53, 147)

By 1903 Johnson defeated the holder of the black heavyweight title held by Denver Ed Martin in a twenty round bout. Jack would defend this title four times over he next two years only to loose it in 1905 (in one of only 13 professional losses during his career).

By 1908 he was finally allowed to fight whites when he fought Tommy Burns in Australia. “Johnson won on a technical knockout in the fourteenth round to become the first black heavyweight champion of the world.” (Roberts & Skutt p.148) With victory came fame and wealth. The Galveston Giant was not one to hide it, and his flaunting of his wealth caused more outrage in many whites. Johnson was also able to defend his title a number of times.

“[R]acial animosity among whites ran so deep that Jack London called out for a “Great White Hope” to take the title away from Johnson.” (wikipedia) That Great White Hope would take the form of former champion James J. Jeffries. Jeffries came out of retirement to battle Johnson on the 4th of July 1910 in Reno in front of 20,000 people. “Johnson proved stronger and more nimble than Jeffries. In the 15th round, after Jeffries had been knocked down twice for the first time in his career, his people called it quits to prevent Johnson from knocking him out. The “Fight of the Century” earned Johnson $65,000 and silenced the critics, who had belittled Johnson’s previous victory over Tommy Burns as “empty,” claiming that Burns was a false champion since Jeffries had retired undefeated.” (wikipedia)
“Blacks in cities across the country burst into an extended celebration, starting race riots in which several people died. The films of Jeffries’s demolition by the black champ were never shown.” (Roberts & Skutt p.148)

Johnson’s bi-racial love life caused further anger in some portions of the population. Eventually his enemies would arrange to have him convicted of transporting Belle Screiber across state lines for immoral purposes. Johnson had befriended her and had given her money to fund a trip form Pittsburgh to Chicago so she could establish a brothel there. The money was a gift and he was not going to profit form her activities.

To avoid prison he fled the country. He eventually ended up in Paris where he continued to defend his title. He would keep the title until 5 April 1915 when Jess Willard would defeat him in Havana, Cuba.

Jack would finally surrender to Federal authorities in 1920 and serve eight months in prison. While in prison he managed to patent an invention; patent #1,413,121 for a specially modified wrench. I’m not sure how many heavyweight champions have also had their own patents, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Jack was the only one.

patent #1,413,121

patent #1,413,121

After prison he would fight sporadically for nearly eight more years before retiring. “Johnson also acted in Hollywood movies, owned a Chicago nightclub, and fought bulls in Spain during his long career. He was working as an amusement arcade entertainer when he died in a car accident in 1946.” (Roberts & Skutt p.149) Some of his film credits include As the World Rolls On (1921) and For His Mother’s Sake (1922). More can be found on his IMDb page (see works cited).

“He wrote two books of memoirs, Mes Combats(in French,1914) and Jack Johnson in the Ring and Out 1927,reprinted 1975).” (findagrave.com)

Not only was The Galveston Giant a great boxer, but he was a great American. He overcame numerous setbacks and disadvantages to reach his dreams. He didn’t just fight in the ring, he fought hard in everything he did.

More Information:
http://lukemckernan.posterous.com/lives-in-film-no-4-jack-johnson-the-bioscope (an interesting blog post on Jack Johnson)

Works Cited
The Boxing Register, by James B. Roberts and Alexander G. Skutt, copyright 2006 by McBooks Press, Inc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Johnson_(boxer) (accessed 31 October 2010)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0425277/ (accessed 31 October 2010)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6125607 (accessed 31 October 2010)

Image Source
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Jack_Johnson_boxer.jpg (accessed 31 October 2010)

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2010 Mayor’s Cup Championship

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Today was the 10th annual Mayor’s Cup Championship at the Genesee Country Village & Museum. The Knickerbockers took on Live Oak. Not too long ago Live Oak was able to defeat the Knickerbockers but today would be different.

It was a very windy day, and much colder than I expected. I wore my light jacket for the first time of the year, but wished I had worn my winter jacket (or at least my gloves). The winds made me think that this would be a very high scoring game. Strong winds tend to cause the ball to become a bit unpredictable and in that past I have seen that translate into lots of extra runs for both teams.

This wasn’t the case today. In fact Live Oak was up to bat first and they quickly got two outs. After those two outs they did manage to score three runs. The Knickerbockers responded by scoring four of their own.

The runs slowed down after the first inning. The wind was coming very strong from the east and the balls were being struck into the oncoming gusts which was shortening their range.

During the 7th inning Live Oak may have been a victim of a bad call. It happened over at third base where one of the Knickerbockers got the ball while prone on the ground. He reached over and touched the third base bag with the ball before the Live Oak player arrived and it was called as an out. There were some people there that claimed that only the ball was touching the base, and per the rules part of the player must be touching the base, not just the ball. The umpire’s call stood and that was the third out for the inning. There was a chance that the next striker could have driven in a run or two and given Live Oak the lead. They did score three runs in the first inning while having two outs so it is possible they could have done it again. I was sitting along the first baseline so I didn’t have a clear view of the play.

After the game the Mayor of the Village gave a quick speech and awarded the trophy to the captain of the Knickerbockers.

Final Score

TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TOTAL
Knickerbockers 4 0 2 0 3 0 0 1 0 10
Live Oak 3 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 8
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The Great War Officially Ends

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

World War I is officially over.  Germany has recently paid the last of the reparations it owed the Allies.

Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles was teh first article of the the Reparations section of that document. 

The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.

This was the infamous war guilt clause which would allow the Allies to demand reparations from Germany of 226 billion Reichsmarks.  In 1921 this amount was reduced to 132 billion Reichsmarks.  During the Second World War Germany stopped payments on this debt.

According to Bild, one of Germany’s largest newspapers:

On Sunday the last bill is due and the First World War finally, financially at least, terminates for Germany.

Details on this can be found at this article from the Telegraph.

Of course the legacy of that war will never end.  Much of the trouble in the Middle East can be traced back to The Great War, border disputes that continue in the Balkans and other parts of the Eastern Europe are a direct result of the events in Paris 1919.

As for the War Guilt; I’ve started reading The Pity of War by Niall Ferguson.  I’ll give a review when I’m done.  In this book Ferguson makes the case that World War I was entirely England’s fault.

Illustration Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Orpen_-_The_Signing_of_Peace_in_the_Hall_of_Mirrors,_Versailles.jpg (accessed 29 September 2010; The Signing of the Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles by William Orpen)

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End of the Regular Season

Sunday, September 19, 2010

There was a double-header of base ball today. All four of the local vintage teams played. The games used the 1865 rules.

One interesting thing that happened was one of the balls got hit over the back fence. By the rules of the day this is an automatic double, not a ‘home run.’ In the earliest days of base ball there was no fence in the backfield. The fences came up when base ball became popular enough to start selling tickets. The fence would keep non-paying spectators away from the field. It had the additional advantage of allowing advertising space to be sold. In fact the museum’s outfield wall is decorated with adds from local businesses made up in a 19th century style.

TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TOTAL
Knickerbockers 0 0 2 3 0 0 4 0 0 9
Live Oak 0 1 1 2 3 4 1 0 0 12

The results of the second game are as follows:

TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TOTAL
Flower City 4 0 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 9
Rochesters 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 3

During the second game the Rochesters had 9 players available and Flower City had 11. Later in the game one of the Rochesters players pulled a muscle or something and was told to sit out for a time. Luckily one of the Knickerbocker players was still nearby and was drafted to fill in the whole in the Rochesters team.

These were the last regular games of the season. Next week is the playoffs for the Mayor’s Cup, in early October will be the championship game.

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