Passionate about History

Tuesday, December 02, 2014

For Fans of Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven"

A history resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2014

Ever since I saw Ridley Scott's film "Kingdom of Heaven" I have been curious about its hero, Balian, and how much of the politics of the era and climactic battle were true. Well, I don't have to wonder any longer. Dr. Helen Schrader has released the first book of a trilogy about the life of Balian d'ibelin entitled "Knight of Jerusalem". I'm taking it with me on a photoshoot in New York City and hope to get most of it read on the plane so I can write a comprehensive review when I get back. Here's the official press release:

A landless knight, a leper king and the struggle for Jerusalem

The Holy City and the Christian Kingdom are under siege. Salah-ad-Din (Saladin), a charismatic Kurdish leader, has united Shia Egypt with Sunni Syria. Now he has declared jihad against the crusader states. Opposed to him is the compromised king of Jerusalem[Baldwin IV] – a youth slowly dying of leprosy – and one more individual: Balian d’ibelin.
Hollywood made him a blacksmith; Arab chronicles said he was "like a king."

Hollywood made him the lover of a fickle princess; in reality, he married a dowager queen.
Hollywood had him return to his smithy; in fact, he founded a dynasty.

Balian d’ibelin served a leper but defied Richard theLionheart. He fought Saladin to a stand-still yet retained his trust and respect.

Learn more about the historical Balian d’Ibelin in historian and novelist Helena Schrader’s three-part biographical novel, starting with Knight of Jerusalem.

The idea for this novel began after Schrader viewed the 2005 Ridley Scott film The Kingdom of Heaven. She enjoyed the movie but questioned whether any of it was true. Her research revealed that not only was Balian d’lbelin a historical figure but that the real Balian played an even more decisive historical role than the Hollywood film depicted.

Schrader’s biographical novel in three parts tells Balian’s story. In so doing, it describes the fateful historical events surrounding the collapse of Jerusalem nine hundred years ago and the Third Crusade, launched to recapture the lost Holy City.

Knight of Jerusalem, the first part of Schrader’s three-piece novel, focuses on Balian’s rise from obscurity as a landless younger son to a baron of Jerusalem. It documents his close relationship with Jerusalem’s "leper king" as well as his scandalously advantageous marriage to the dowager queen and finally his role in the defeat of the Saladin’s first invasion of the Christian kingdom in 1177.

The second book in the series will describe the fateful events leading to the defeat of the combined Christian forces at Hattin and the fall of Jerusalem, while the third book will focus on the Third Crusade. These books are due to be released in September of 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Knight of Jerusalem contains numerous genealogical charts, maps, and historical notes that help anchor people, places, and events and that further enrich the experience of reading about Balian d’lbelin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Schrader comments, "My objective with this series is to tell Balian's story and to describe the fateful historical events surrounding the collapse of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem as well the Third Crusade, which was launched to re-capture the lost Holy City. The historical record is the skeleton of this historical novel, but the flesh and blood – the emotions, dreams and fears – are extrapolated from those known facts."

"Historical fiction at its finest….Schrader’s description of the decisive battle of Montgisard is a delight. From strategy (attack at dusk or dawn?) to cavalry tactics (compact formation, stirrup to stirrup, initial shock, use of infantry to protect knights and their destriers during hand-to-hand combat) to battle cries (‘Jerusalem!’ ‘Vive Dieu St. Amour!’ ‘Allahu Akbar!’) to yellow-turbaned Salah-ad-Dinh bursting from his tent, scimitar flashing, the scene is sustained, vivid, tightly-written…Don’t miss this book. She’s nailed it." ~ Amazon review by Michael Schmicker

Author: Helena P. Schrader earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Hamburg with a ground-breaking biography of the mastermind behind the "General's Plot" against Hitler. She has since published three nonfiction history books covering the German Resistance, the Berlin Airlift, and women in aviation in WWII. As a novelist, she has published books set in ancient Sparta, WWII, and the Middle Ages. Find out more about her various publications at http://helenapschrader.com or follow her at http://schradershistoricalfiction.blogspot.com. For more information about the crusades and the crusader kingdoms, visit her blog at http://defendingcrusaderkingdoms.blogspot.com

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Monday, November 17, 2014

World War I through Arab Eyes

A history resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2014

I received a press release from Al-Jazeera today about a new program they will be broadcasting on the Al-Jazeera English channel that examines World War I battles in the Middle East from the perspective of the Ottoman Turks. It sounds really interesting and a way to gain a more balanced view of the the conflict as it unfolded in the colonial political environment of the Middle East. I have to admit what little I know about World War I in that region was the result of watching David Lean's 1962 production of "Lawrence of Arabia", 1981's "Gallipoli", a film starring a very young Mel Gibson and the 1987 Australian production "The Lighthorsemen."

Unfortunately, I could not find the new documentary on the Al-Jazeera America channel schedule on DISH Network on November 18th or up on YouTube but I will keep an eye out for it. Perhaps it is only available in Europe at this time.

Press Release - On November 18^th, 2014, Al Jazeera English will start broadcasting a three-episode documentary series commemorating one hundred years since the outbreak of the Great War.

In this series, Producer Journalist Malek Al Tureiki, provides a political and cultural reading into World War I from an Arab and Islamic perspective, citing the commencement date of the war as November 14^th 2014, when Arabs were involved in the “jihad” against the Allied troops upon the call of the Mufti of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. This is in juxtaposition to the date Britain commemorates the war on August 4^th, 2014 – the day it entered the war.

The series sheds light on how colonized nations, which had no say in their own fate, ended up being forced into wars which resulted in enormous sacrifices. As a result of this, the number of victims within the Ottoman population, including Arabs, is in fact much higher than that of the Europeans. While the percentage of victims in Germany was 9% and 11% in France, it reached between 14-25 % in Turkey and the Levant.

It was also in the Battle of Gallipoli that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern day Turkey, began to rise as a military commander and political leader. The unknown truth until today, even in Turkey and the Arab World, is that two thirds of the troops involved in the Ottoman victory over Allied troops were from Iraq and the Levant.

World War I through Arab Eyes relies on archival materials presented for the first time, telling the fascinating story of how the war affected the Middle East – reverberations still being felt to the present day.

Broadcast Details on the English News Channel:

The first episode on Al Jazeera English screens on [Friday]? November 18th at 20:00
GMT, following which it will be available online.

Repeats (GMT)

Wednesday: 12:00
Thursday: 01:00
Friday: 06:00
Saturday: 20:00
Sunday: 12:00
Monday: 01:00
Tuesday: 06:00

2nd and 3rd episodes are running on the 25^th of November and 2^nd of December respectively, at the same times as the 1^st broadcast.

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Monday, September 01, 2014

Sheer ruthlessness: a hallmark of American capitalism and "The Men Who Built America" (DVD Review)

I watched an absolutely fascinating series on the History Channel (now available on DVD) entitled "The Men Who Built America". It traces the careers of some of the most powerful men in American history including Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan and Henry Ford. It is one of the first series I have ever seen that does not white wash the rise to power of these so-called 20th century "titans" of industry.

Probably the thing I found most disturbing in the series was the apparent viewpoint of these men that they were somehow above the subhuman worker populations they employed. They were willing to acquire wealth through any means possible and their net worth, regardless of how it was acquired, represented to them their superior worth as a human being.

Each of these men had personal ambition that knew no bounds and a ruthlessness that drove them to exploit every opportunity in an industrial landscape that had little regulation to prevent insider trading, overt market manipulation and outright intimidation.

Andrew Carnegie was treated a little more gently than the others mainly because he handed off the day to day operations of Carnegie Steel to a totally ruthless chairman named Henry Frick so Carnegie could ostensibly sail off to Scotland to enjoy the fruits of his labors.

Andrew Carnegie portrait at the National
Portrait Gallery. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Today, we associate Andrew Carnegie with education and the arts because of his philanthropic contributions to Carnegie Hall, Carnegie-Mellon University and thousands of libraries around the world. But, in truth, Carnegie was the ultimate decision maker in the operation of his steel empire during a tumultuous period of violence and even death. He was certainly aware of the decisions implemented by his chairman and did nothing to intervene in plant operations until nine workers at his flagship Homestead Steel Works were gunned down by the Pinkertons under Frick's orders in 1892.

The steel workers had been ground down by increasingly longer hours - 12 hours a day six days a week by the time of the massacre - under absolutely hellish conditions, while wages were whittled away by Frick to increase profits.

When I researched the life of Andrew Carnegie further to write this review I read that Carnegie claimed he was a disciple of Herbert Spencer whose economic theory of evolution is best characterized as economic survival of the fittest. Spencer declared that any provisions made to assist the weak, unskilled, poor and distressed to be an imprudent disservice to evolution and that "severe fate" was the natural process to single out the weak, debauched and disabled.

I noticed, however, that even Spencer was appalled when he visited one of Carnegie's steel works and remarked, "Six months' residence here would justify suicide."

The program pointed out that 1 in 11 steel workers at the time were suffering horrendous injuries or death. Yet labor unions had only been formed to bargain for wages and working conditions for just the skilled workers, less than 1/4 of the workforce. Even so, Frick complained about the labor union that represented the skilled workers at the Homestead Steel Works in a letter to Carnegie stating "The mills have never been able to turn out the product they should, owing to being held back by the Amalgamated men." Although Carnegie had publicly claimed to be in favor of labor unions, privately he agreed with Frick and gave his approval to Frick's efforts to break the union at Homestead.

Carnegie's carefully cultivated public personae as a responsible industrialist and generous philanthropist was often used as a smoke screen to obscure his less noble activities. For example, Carnegie publicly advocated less government while aggressively lobbying for protective trade tariffs that resulted in millions of dollars a year in extra revenue for his companies.

In this documentary, the producers pointed out that the development of Carnegie's benevolent personae was a direct result of the public relations nightmare generated by the Johnstown flood that killed 2,209 people in 1889.

Henry Frick, sometimes called the worst
CEO in American history. Image courtesy
of Wikipedia.

Carnegie's chairman, Henry Frick, and a group of speculators, developed an exclusive club for leading business tycoons of Western Pennsylvania, most connected through business dealings to Carnegie Steel. The club was located along the shore of Lake Conemaugh behind the South Fork Dam above the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

The area had been prone to flooding since its founding by Joseph Johns at the confluence of the Stoney Creek and Little Conemaugh rivers in 1800. The steep hills of the narrow Conemaugh Valley and the Allegheny Mountains range to the east produced large amounts of runoff from annual rain and snowfall. This vulnerability was further compounded as the community grew and became the site of Cambria Iron Works who dumped slag from its iron furnaces along the river to create more land for building, but further narrowed the riverbed.

To make matters worse, Frick and his development speculators then lowered the dam, so the top of the dam could be used as a roadway for Frick and his fellow wealthy clubmembers' carriages. They also built a fish screen in the spillway, the only remaining water control mechanism. A previous owner had already removed and sold for scrap the three cast iron discharge pipes that had been originally used to control the release of water.

A Johnstown house skewered by a tree.
Amazingly, all six people in the house
survived . Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Then the worst downpour ever recorded in the area, 6 - 10 inches of rain in just 24 hours, struck. Following a night of unrelenting rain, at 3:10 p.m. on May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam collapsed sending a 60 foot wall of water and debris down upon the residents of Johnstown. The death toll was the largest loss of civilian life in American history until the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. Wikipedia states the 1900 Galveston hurricane claimed more lives but the program producers must not have agreed.

As is usually the case when the uber rich are involved, the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club was never held legally responsible for the disaster. The court ruled the disaster an "act of God" and denied the survivors any legal compensation. But the club members, including Carnegie, were vilified in the national press. (The court ruling was considered so irresponsible a number of states adopted Rylands v. Fletcher, a British common-law precedent establishing the liability of a landowner with a reservoir for flood damage if the reservoir is not properly maintained.)

Anyway, since then, Carnegie had worked very hard to restore his reputation.

So back to the Homestead Strike of 1892 - just before the confrontation, the union had requested a wage increase in their collective bargaining agreement that was due to expire on June 30, 1892. Frick countered with a 22% wage decrease and proposed the elimination of a number of positions and that the steel works would become non-union after the expiration of the current contract. Pointing out that the union only represented the skilled workers at the plant, Carnegie exclaimed the union was "an elitist discriminatory organization that was not worthy of the Republic!"

Frick eventually relented a little and offered a slightly better wage agreement. But the union refused the offer so Frick shuttered the mill the night before the contract expired and built a barricade around the mill to keep workers from returning. The workers took possession of the mill anyway, determined to prevent operation by strikebreakers imported by Frick. So Frick called in the Pinkertons to route the workers from the mill using any means necessary.

I had no idea that the Pinkertons at this point in history actually had more firepower than the entire United States military. When the program explained this and I reacted with incredulity my husband pointed out "Where do you think we got companies like Blackwater?!!"

The Homestead riot / drawn by W.P. Snyder after a
photograph by Dabbs, Pittsburg. Image courtesy of
Wikipedia.

When I further researched this statement, I found it to be absolutely true. Apparently the Pinkertons by the 1890s had more agents than there were soldiers in the U.S. Army and were often hired by late 19th and early 20th century businessmen to infiltrate unions, block strikers, keep unionists out of factories and even recruit "goon" squads to intimidate workers. It sounds more like the mob than a reputable security agency!

Anyway, 300 Pinkerton agents armed with Winchester rifles fired on the striking workers at Carnegie's Homestead Steel Works, killing nine of the men and wounding 23 others. Seven Pinkerton agents were also killed.

As the program recounted these turbulent events I was totally riveted. The production was punctuated by short reenactments by professional actors playing the different industrialists in crucial scenes of their careers. These cut scenes were just enough to draw you into their world and make the program seem more of a drama rather than a documentary.

I would highly recommend this series as a way to understand not only the history of the individuals portrayed but the evolution of industry in the United States and how it impacts our lives today. I would especially encourage any American history teachers out there to incorporate this series into their curiculum to provide their students with an unvarnished look at the foundations of American capitalism.