It’s one of the most famous remarks in history — an instantly recognizable catchphrase to convey haughty indifference to the misfortune of others. And we all know who said it and why: It was Marie Antoinette (1755–1793), the queen whose life was claimed by the French Revolution, dismissing news that the peasants were starving due to the high price of bread.
In the original French, the Queen allegedly said, Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!, which doesn’t quite translate to “let them eat cake.” Brioche is sweet, eggy bread that tastes only vaguely like cake. The translated English word “cake” made Marie Antoinette seem even haughtier than in French. But it’s beside the point, since Marie Antoinette never uttered “let them eat cake” in any language. There is no historical evidence that she ever uttered that phrase. The story is pure invention. It’s a historical legend that rivals the myth of Nero “fiddling” while Rome burned. And yet this outlandish fabrication has shaped our image of Marie Antoinette for more than two centuries.
Compared to other historical falsehoods, this legend is easy to trace to its source. It was the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In book six of his Confessions, written in 1767, Rousseau wrote of a “great princess” who had, when told that the peasants had no bread, replied with those words cited above, Qu’ils mangent de la brioche! Was Rousseau referring to Marie Antoinette? This is impossible. When he wrote that passage, Marie Antoinette was still a girl living at the Habsburg court in Vienna (under her original name, Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna). Rousseau’s story was entirely made up, probably borrowed from another source. And while his book wasn’t published till 1782, this was still seven years before the French Revolution began. In fact, the first time someone (spuriously) put the words “let them eat cake” in Marie Antoinette’s mouth was a half-century later, in a book published by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, Les Guêpes.
Matthew Fraser, “Marie Antoinette: Figure of Myth, Magnet for Lies”, Quillette, 2020-06-24.
September 25, 2020
QotD: “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!” [“Let them eat cake!”]
September 24, 2020
Furniture Forensics with a 19th Century Table
Rex Krueger
Published 23 Sep 2020Rescued from the trash, this table is filled with clues about who made it and how!
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The End of the European Empires? | The Suez Crisis | Part 5
TimeGhost History
Published 23 Sep 2020Whilst the fighting may be over, the Crisis certainly isn’t. For starters, the three invaders may have agreed to a ceasefire, but aren’t too keen to give up the land they’ve conquered. And even if this is resolved, what lies in wait for the humiliated ex-colonial powers? Ultimately, only one thing does seem certain — irreversible change.
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Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Francis van Berkel
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Francis van Berkel
Image Research: Daniel Weiss
Edited by: Daniel Weiss
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Maps: Ryan WeatherbyColorizations:
– Mikolaj Uchman
– Daniel Weiss – https://www.facebook.com/The-Yankee-C…
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/Sources:
National Archives NARA
Images from the UN News and Media
1960s Soviet Film “Egypt our Arab Ally”From the Noun Project:
– speech_16988 By Juan Pablo Bravo, CL
– Parliament_1658396 By Dimitrios Stamatis, GB
– Money by Gilberto
– Ship by Edward Boatman
– soldier by Wonmo Kang
– oil barrel by Musmellow
– europe By Randomhero
– Income(not dollar)_2897802
– Trade by Adrien Coquet
– Handshake By priyanka, IN
– world by Guilherme Furtado
– telegraph By Luke Anthony Firth, GB
– people by ProSymbols
– documents by Srinivas AgraSoundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
– “Devil’s Disgrace” – Deskant
– “In the Bank We Trust” – Jon Sumner
– “Searching Through Sand” – Deskant
– “The Inspector 4” – Johannes Bornlöf
– “Crying Winds” – Deskant
– “Scented Nectar” – Rune Dale
– “As the Rivers Collapse” – Deskant
– “Dark Beginning” – Johan Hynynen
– “Guilty Shadows 4” – Andreas JamshereeArchive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
TimeGhost History
2 days ago (edited)
So that’s the end of our series on the Suez Crisis. It’s been a pretty wild and messy ride, but we think our realtime format gave it a fresh perspective that hasn’t done before.If you liked that final point Indy made about Churchill and The Beatles, and you want to find out more about decolonisation, then you should look up the work of Bill Schwarz. He was the one who originally made the comparison in his book White Man’s World, and it’s a really fascniating read, if also a bit challenging. Decolonisation is actually becoming a really vibrant field of study in academia and there are a whole host of books available if any of you want to dive into the topic. Europe After Empire by Elizabeth Buettner is an excellent place to start and Fight or Flight by Martin Thomas will be right up your street if you want to learn about the wars of decolonisation and the politics behind them. If you have any other suggestions then feel free to post them below.
Anyway, we hope you enjoyed the series and learnt a thing or two.
PIAT: Britain’s Answer to the Anti-Tank Rifle Problem
Forgotten Weapons
Published 25 Nov 2017Sold for $3,163.
The British began World War Two with the Boys antitank rifle, but like all antitank rifles it rather quickly became obsolete. The replacement for it was adopted in 1942 as the PIAT – Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank. This was a unique sort of weapon which fired a 3 pound (~1.35kg) hollow charge projectile using a combination of a massive spring and a firing charge much like a rifle grenade blank cartridge — a spigot mortar, really. The large (3.25″, 83mm) projectile was able to defeat almost any tank that would be developed during the war, as it could burn through 3-4 inches of hardened armor. However, it had a terrifyingly short effective range — 110 yards on paper and more like 50 yards in practice.
The PIAT would recock itself upon firing, but the initial cocking was something like a crossbow, requiring the shooter to brace their feet on the buttplate and pull the body of the weapon upwards, compressing the 200 pound (90kg) mainspring. When fired, the weapon has a pretty harsh recoil, although it did not have any flash or backblast like the American Bazooka did. By the end of the war more 115,000 PIATs had been made, and they would serve the British military into the 1950s, when they were replaced with more traditional rocket launchers.
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QotD: Gurkha versus Japanese, mano a mano
September 23, 2020
The Man in Monty’s Shadow – Claude Auchinleck – WW2 Biography Special
World War Two
Published 22 Sep 2020Claude Auchinleck put military matters over that of politics. Although this angered some, mainly Churchill, Auchinleck still found himself in India, and later facing down Rommel in North Africa.
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Written by: Francis van Berkel
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Research by: Lennart Visser
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Sound design: Marek KamińskiColorizations by:
Norman StewartSources:
National Portrait Gallery
USHMMArchive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
Tank Chats #80 Black Prince | The Tank Museum
The Tank Museum
Published 12 Jul 2019The Tank Museum has the only surviving example of the Second World War prototype tank, the A43 Black Prince. The designers of the Churchill tank were commissioned to build a tank which could hold the larger 17 pounder gun. The Centurion was chosen to go into production instead of the Black Prince, due to its superior engine and armour.
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QotD: Don’t blame the Boomers for the “Summer of Love” … most of ’em were too young to participate
Now, I’m all for bashing the goddamn Boomers, but let’s be fair (since it matters for historical analysis). There’s a common misconception about the Baby Boom. Here, see if you can spot it:
Did you see it? Look closer, and you’ll see that while 1947(-ish) appears to be the peak year in terms of total births, the vast majority of what we call “Boomers” were born after 1950. Let’s do some simple math. The very oldest Boomers were born in 1946. The Summer of Love was 1967. Even if we assume the Summer of Love came out of nowhere — which is impossible, of course, any movement that large had antecedents going back years, probably decades, but let’s assume — that means that any “Boomers” participating were, at most, barely 22 years old. They were just barely 24 when Woodstock came around. Granted that the youngest are the dumbest, and thus can have outsize influence, they still can’t have been largely, let alone solely, responsible for the idiocy of the hippies.
That’s all on the older crowd, the so-called “Silent Generation” — the ones who were old enough to be aware of World War II, but unable to participate directly.
It’s easy to verify. The Port Huron Statement, the founding document of the New Left, was penned by coddled college kids in 1962 — meaning, by kids born, at latest, in about 1942 (its principal author, Tom Hayden, was born in 1939). Here are the Chicago Seven and their dates of birth: Abbie Hoffman (1936), Jerry Rubin (1938), David Dellinger (1915!), Hayden, Rennie Davis (1941),John Froines (1939), and Lee Weiner (1939).
Hoffman, especially, bears scrutiny. Though he’s best remembered as a Yippie — that is, the founder of an ostentatiously youth-oriented movement — he was 31 at its founding. Don’t trust anyone over thirty, right?
1936 to 1946 is only a decade, but it’s crucial. A kid born in 1936 would have vivid memories of World War II and its immediate aftermath — fathers, uncles, and older brothers (and, in more than a few cases, aunts and older sisters) coming home from the service. A kid born in 1946 would have a completely different experience — ask any combat veteran about the first year or two back in the world, versus being home for a decade. Those guys — the kids who saw firsthand the angry young strangers they were supposed to call “Dad” — were the ones who did the real damage in The Sixties(TM), just as it was the almost-but-not-quite frontsoldaten who did the real damage in the Third Reich.
With me? Now hang on to your hats, because here’s where it gets pretty meta: It was the “Silent Generation,” not the Boomers, who did the real damage in The Sixties(TM). That is, the guys who juuuust missed the giant social upheaval that was World War II. The Boomers have done all the damage since The Sixties(TM).
That — The Sixties(TM), which is why I’m using that obnoxious (TM) — is the great social upheaval they juuuust missed. [These people] aren’t old fossils from the flower power years, though many of those fossils are still alive and kicking (including four of the Chicago Seven: Hayden, Davis, Froines, and Weiner). Has anyone heard from Billy Ayers lately? How about Noam Chomsky (born 1928)? I’m sure they have plenty to say … but nobody cares.
It’s not retreads from The Sixties(TM) out there doing this stuff. It’s the people who wish they’d been around for the Summer of Love that are doing it. It’s the people who just know they would’ve ended the Vietnam War, if only they hadn’t been in junior high at the time. This is their Woodstock, not least because they only heard about the original when they arrived for freshman orientation in 1976.
Severian, “Talkin’ ’bout My Generation!”, Rotten Chestnuts, 2020-06-11.
September 21, 2020
The Iconic “Burp Gun” – Shooting the PPSh-41
Forgotten Weapons
Published 16 Dec 2017http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
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The Soviet PPSh-41 submachine gun is most distinctive for its very high rate of fire — approximately 1250 rounds/minute — and large drum magazine. What may come as a surprise to those who have not tried it is how this very high rate of fire does not actually make the weapon difficult to control or hold on target. In fact, the PPSh-41 is an easier SMG to shoot effectively than the later PPS-43, at least in my opinion.
The Soviets and the Germans made quite different choices in magazines and rate of fire with the PPSh and the MP40, but both turned out to be very good submachine guns. The glaring weak point of the PPSh are its magazines, and the difficulty in finding a drum that would run reliably in this particular example is why today’s shooting session is done with one of the 35-round stick magazines instead.
Thanks to Marstar for letting me examine and shoot their PPSh-41!
If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow
QotD: Prohibition and the Temperance movement
… [T]he original Temperance movement started out with the very best of intentions, and was trying to deal with a real problem. In colonial and early-19th-century America, people (men, women and OH HORRORS even children!) drank enough that by modern standards we’d call them alcoholics. Modern Russians drink more, but if they were transported back to that time and place, they’d fit right on in. Part of it was because water was often not safe to drink (tea and coffee were often expensive and hard to get, while beer and other alcoholic drinks were made just about everywhere), part of it was snobbery (only really poor people drank water!) and part of it was because people back then believed that alcohol strengthened and warmed the body.
Two of the good side effects of the Temperance/Prohibition movement were the provision of safe, clean drinking water in American cities and towns, and the modern fruit-juice industry (as a lot of churches went hot-Prohibition, they got uneasy about serving wine at Communion, so they went to work and came up with non-alcoholic substitutes.) Welch’s Grape Juice was started by a pastor who wanted non-alcoholic “wine” for Communion, and caught on, real big.
Eric Oppen, posting to the Lois McMaster Bujold mailing list, 2020-06-18.
September 20, 2020
Our World 100 Years Ago – September 1920 I THE GREAT WAR
The Great War
Published 19 Sep 2020Let’s take a look at our world 100 years ago, in September 1920.
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Another week, another half million for the Germans – WW2 – 108 – September 19, 1941
World War Two
Published 19 Sep 2020Kiev falls to the Germans, yielding hundreds of thousands of prisoners as whole armies are surrounded, but behind the lines all over German-occupied territories, partisan movements are gaining steam. Meanwhile, in China, Japan launches another campaign against Changsha.
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Source list: http://bit.ly/WW2sourcesWritten and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
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Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
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Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Monika Worona
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)Colorizations by:
– Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
– Carlos Ortega Pereira, BlauColorizations – https://www.instagram.com/blaucolorizations
– Olga Shirnina, a.k.a. Klimbim – https://klimbim2014.wordpress.com/
– Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/
– Jaris Almazani (Artistic Man) – https://instagram.com/artistic.man?ig…
– Daniel WeissSources:
– Ra Boe / Wikipedia / Lizenz: Creative Commons CC-by-sa-3.0 de
– Mil. ru
– Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
– EstonicaArchive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
The Lost Cause Myth in the 21st Century
Atun-Shei Films
Published 23 Feb 2019A former Gettysburg tour guide talks about how the American Civil War is remembered today.
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QotD: The anti-slavery movement
What did Wilberforce “cure”? Two centuries ago, on March 25th 1807, one very persistent British backbencher secured the passage by Parliament of an Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade throughout His Majesty’s realms and territories. It’s not that no one remembers the disease ever existed, but that we recall it as a kind of freak pandemic — a SARS or bird flu that flares up and whirrs round the world and is then eradicated. The American education system teaches it as such — as a kind of wicked perversion the Atlantic settlers had conjured out of their own ambition.
In reality, it was more like the common cold — a fact of life. The institution predates the word’s etymology, from the Slavs brought from eastern Europe to the glittering metropolis of Rome. It predates by some millennia the earliest laws, such as the Code of Hammurabi in Mesopotamia. The first legally recognized slave in the American colonies was owned by a black man who had himself arrived as an indentured servant. The first slave owners on the North American continent were hunter-gatherers. As Metaxas puts it, “Slavery was as accepted as birth and marriage and death, was so woven into the tapestry of human history that you could barely see its threads, much less pull them out. Everywhere on the globe, for 5,000 years, the idea of human civilization without slavery was unimaginable.”
Mark Steyn, The [Un]documented Mark Steyn, 2014.
September 19, 2020
History RE-Summarized: The Roman Republic
Overly Sarcastic Productions
Published 18 Sep 2020The Roman Republic is a fascinating story all on its own, but it also serves as an excellent object lesson in civics.
This video is a Remastered, Definitive Edition of three previous videos from this channel — History Summarized: “The Roman Republic”, “The Punic Wars”, and “Julius Caesar and the Fall of The Republic”. This video combines them all into one narrative, fully upgrades all of the visuals, and adds extra historical notes and clarifications along the way. Please let me know if you enjoyed this, and are interested in more videos like this. There are many historical miniseries on this channel that would fit neatly into a compilation like this, and I’d be thrilled to make them!
SOURCES & Further Reading: Virgil’s Aeneid, Polybius’ Histories, Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, Caesar’s De Bello Gallico, SPQR by Mary Beard, Rome: A History in Seven Sackings by Matt Kneale, Rubicon by Tom Holland, The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan, (and also my degree in Classical Studies).
Note for 14:15 — I mention Livy’s History Of Rome (“Ab Urbe Condita“) by name, but made the lizard-brain mistake of showing Polybius instead. Poor Livy, first 75% of his work is lost, and now this.
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