World History – Page 2 – Sharing History

“MAS*H:” “A Timely Satire”

February 27, 2024May 7, 202420th CenturyLeave a Comment

On February 28, 1983, over 106 million Americans gathered around their televisions to watch the series finale of the incredibly popular television show “M*A*S*H.” This episode remains the most-watched program (outside of the Super Bowl) of all time. The finale aired after 11 seasons of the show: a situational dramedy about a mobile army surgical hospital during the Korean War. “M*A*S*H” not only broke the mold of television sitcoms, but also, in the shadow of the Vietnam War, addressed antiwar sentiment in a groundbreaking way.

The “M*A*S*H” storyline, based on a movie by the same name that had been released several years prior, featured two surgeons, Captain Benjamin Pierce, played by Alan Alda, and Captain John McIntyre, played by Wayne Rogers. The two, while talented doctors, are consistently caught up in silly hijinks, flirting with the nurses (though today we’d consider much of their flirting harassment), and drinking away the horror of war. The two are supported by a bevy of colorful characters, including the uptight nurse, Major Margaret Houlihan and her side-kick, Major Frank Burns, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, whose shocking death was one of the greatest television blindsides in history, the company clerk Corporal “Radar” O’Reilly, whose uncanny ability to anticipate needs earned him his nickname, and Corporal Max Klinger, who did anything he could think of to earn a medical discharge.

Though the characters were interesting and relatable, it was the commentary on war that captured the hearts and minds of the nation. At the time of the series’ first season in 1972, the U.S. was embroiled in the conflict of the Vietnam War. By this point, antiwar sentiment was high. As James Poniewozik of The New York Times wrote, “the covert operation ‘M*A*S*H*’ pulled off was to deliver a timely satire camouflaged as a period comedy.” The show looked like a sitcom and the laugh track could convince you that’s all it was, but “M*A*S*H’s” ability to lay sitcom lightness on a backdrop of dark, dark war. In doing so, according to Poniewozik, “even the sitcom-standard high jinks—dealing with the black market for medicine, inventing a fictional officer in order to donate his pay to an orphanage—were forms of protest.” CBS executives were unsure about this move. In fact, star Alan Alda remembers that after the season one episode “Sometimes You Hear the Bullet,” in which a friend of Hawkeye’s turns up on the operating table and dies, the network was convinced the show was ruined. Someone from the network said, “What is this, a situation tragedy?” But America loved the drama. And so, the show went on. For ten more years. And, as Alda observed, “the element that really sinks in with an audience is that, as frivolous as some of the stories are, underneath it is an awareness that real people lived through these experiences . . . the crazy behavior wasn’t just to be funny. It was a way of separating yourself for a moment from the nastiness.”

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The Vaccine that Eradicated Polio

February 23, 2024February 22, 2024UncategorizedLeave a Comment

On February 23, 1954, the first injections of the polio vaccine were given to a group of children at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh. The vaccine, created by Dr. Jonas Salk, has virtually eradicated polio worldwide over the last 70 years. In 1952, two years before the vaccine was introduced, the U.S. alone had an outbreak of over 58,000 polio cases, which killed 3,000 and paralyzed 21,000 Americans, mostly children. In 2021, only two cases of polio were recorded worldwide.

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is an extremely contagious virus that causes muscle deterioration and paralysis. In the early 20^th century, polio ran rampant around the world, posing great risk to school-age children, especially. Many who survived the disease were paralyzed, some even saw paralysis of the muscles needed to breathe, leaving them to live inside a large metal tube called an iron lung. In 1921, future U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted polio, which left him paralyzed. While president in the 1940s, President Roosevelt founded an organization called March of Dimes that aimed to raise money to research a cure for polio. It was this organization that hired Dr. Jonas Salk to do research on the disease.

Salk’s research led him to a vaccine that built immunity to polio without actually infecting the patient with the disease. He tested it first on his own family before it was used to inoculate millions of children in the U.S. and Canada. In 1957, annual polio cases in the U.S. had dropped from 58,000 to 5,600. By 1961, there were 161 cases. The polio vaccine had about 90% efficacity against the poliomyelitis virus. Salk knew that with universal vaccination, polio could be completely eliminated from the world. In order to ensure that the vaccine would be available to everyone, Salk did not patent the vaccine nor did he collect money from the production. When asked about who owned the patent, he famously said, “Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”

Polio is one of many diseases that has been virtually eradicated thanks to the science of vaccines, including smallpox, measles, and diptheria. Unfortunately, we are seeing a resurgence of many of these diseases in the U.S. as anti-intellectualism rises, misinformation abounds, and parents refuse to vaccinate their children.

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“From Your Valentine”

February 13, 2024February 12, 2024UncategorizedLeave a Comment

February 14 is celebrated around the world as Valentine’s Day. Contrary to what some may believe, Valentine’s Day was not invented by greeting card companies or chocolate manufacturers. Valentine’s Day has been celebrated in some form since the days of the Roman Empire.

In the days of the Romans, Valentine’s Day was celebrated as a festival called Lupercalia. It was a festival of fertility in which priests would sacrifice goats and bless both women and fields that they would be fertile that year. It was also a fête of matchmaking. Some historians suggest that the names of young women were put into an urn for eligible bachelors to pick out. The two were then often married. The name of the celebration wasn’t changed until the 5^th century when Pope Gelasius I was ridding the Catholic Church of pagan holidays. He named the day St. Valentine’s Day after the patron saint of lovers.

The namesake for the day was martyred around the year 270. Legend has it that St. Valentine was imprisoned for defying the orders of the emperor and marrying couples to save the husbands from military service. Thus, his holiday centers around a display of love. While imprisoned, St. Valentine fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and passed her a letter he signed “from your Valentine,” beginning the tradition of “Valentines” trading cards with one another. Printed cards began being sold sometime around 1500. Now, trading cards and sweets is incredibly popular in places like the United States, Canada, Australia, and South Korea.

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What to Read in February

February 2, 2024February 1, 2024UncategorizedLeave a Comment

February saw the births of many an eloquent writer throughout history, including James Joyce, Sinclair Lewis, Kate Chopin, and Toni Morrison. If you’re looking for a classic to read this month, consider the following options from these February-born literary icons:

Dubliners

James Joyce’s Dubliners is an extremely influential collection of short stories, with its final story, “The Dead,” being one of the most famous short stories in history. The collection, as its name suggests, is united by its setting: Dublin, Ireland. Joyce wrote of his collection: “My intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country, and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to me the centre of paralysis. I have tried to present it to the indifferent public under four of its aspects: childhood, adolescence, maturity, and public life.” The theme of paralysis is central to every story. We watch as characters are blocked by duty, by religious responsibility, and by the burdens of life from obtaining their true desires.

It Can’t Happen Here

The inspiration for Sinclair Lewis’ dystopian novel It Can’t Happen Here came from his wife, journalist Dorothy Thompson’s, interview with Adolf Hitler. As Lewis watched Hitler come to power across the Atlantic, he began to ask himself, “what would happen if a Fascist takeover occurred in the U.S.?” As Lewis writes it, in the 1936 election, populist candidate Berzelius Windrip promises to be the champion of the “Forgotten Men,” or working-class white men (sound familiar?). Upon his election, Windrip seizes control of Congress and the Supreme Court. If you’re looking for a novel to heighten your anxiety in an election year, this is it.

The Awakening

Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening is an essential text in the study of 19^th-century feminism. It follows a young woman, Edna Pontellier, as she travels with her husband and children for the summer. On her vacation, she meets a host of characters who force her to question her identity as wife and mother. The novel follows Edna’s quest to become free by taking full ownership of her own body and identity.

Sula

Sula is Toni Morrison’s second novel. It is a coming-of-age story that features two girls: Sula, and Nel. The two girls are best friends though their personalities are completely opposite. The reader watches as the girls mature and have experiences with family, tragedy, sexuality, and racism that indelibly change them. As in all of Morrison’s novels, Sula and Nel’s experiences are a portrait of Black Americans trying to find their place in a society that is determined not to make space for them.

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Anne Boleyn and the English Reformation

January 26, 2024January 25, 2024UncategorizedLeave a Comment

On January 25, 1533, King Henry VIII of England married his second wife, Anne Boleyn. This marriage ushered in the English Reformation, an act that would dramatically affect the future of the country. How did Anne Boleyn so capture the attention of the King that he was willing to alter the course of history to be married to her? How did she so quickly fall from favor that the King had her beheaded for treason only three years later? And, most importantly, how is it that we know so much about Anne Boleyn when the King ensured that all mentions of her were wiped from court history after her death?

Anne Boleyn was born somewhere around the year 1501. She spent her teenage years as a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of France. Her knowledge of French fashion, dancing, and language made her an interesting novelty when she returned home to England, and she, alongside her sister, Mary, became a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon, wife of King Henry VIII. The King had already taken Anne’s sister, Mary, as a mistress, and he soon became besotted with Anne as well. While she certainly encouraged the King’s affections, Anne refused to be his mistress, insisting that she would accept nothing short of marriage. The King began looking for a way out of his marriage to Catherine. Besides the fact of his obsession with Anne, the King was unhappy that Catherine had not provided him with a male heir. The two had one daughter: Mary I. He wrote to the Pope requesting an annulment of his marriage to Catherine on the grounds that it was an illegitimate marriage to begin with, as she was the widow of his brother (something expressly forbidden in certain verses of the Bible). The annulment was denied for a myriad of political reasons.

Anne was intrigued by the Protestant Reformation and encouraged the King to break with the Catholic Church. She encouraged him to appoint a Protestant, Thomas Cranmer to become the Archbishop of Canterbury. He annulled the marriage between King Henry and Queen Catherine and married Henry and Anne a few days later. Anne Boleyn was coronated as Queen of England on May 31, 1533. Soon after, King Henry VIII and Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which made him the King the head of the Church of England. He wouldn’t need permission to divorce ever again.

Unfortunately for Anne, the child she bore first was a girl, Elizabeth I. She suffered miscarriages and stillbirths afterward. She never did have a male heir. Anne was, to the King, a shiny toy that had lost its luster. By 1535, King Henry VIII’s love had shifted from Anne to her lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour. The King conspired with Thomas Cromwell to try Anne Boleyn for adultery. On May 19, 1536, just three years after her marriage to King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn was beheaded at the Tower of London. She maintained her innocence to the end. The King married Jane Seymour 11 days later. King Henry had any mention of Anne Boleyn struck from the record.

In 1547, King Henry VIII died, and his nine-year-old son, Edward VI became king. He passed in 1553, which left the throne to Queen Mary I, the first female monarch of England. She passed in 1558, and the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth I, became ruler. While Elizabeth sat on the throne, she reintroduced Anne into the history books, having portraits done of her and celebrating her as a religious reformer. Thanks to her daughter, Anne Boleyn lives on.

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Michelin: The Brothers, the Tires, the Restaurants

January 16, 2024January 15, 2024UncategorizedLeave a Comment

On January 16, 1853, André Michelin was born in Paris. Six years later, his brother Édouard was born. The two brothers would go on to run the company Michelin and Co., inventing the modern pneumatic tire and becoming one of the largest purveyors of tires in the world. The Michelin brothers are also responsible for creating the Michelin Guide, which has gone on to become of the most prestigious awards given to restaurants around the world. How does a tire company relate to fine cuisine? We’re glad you asked.

Michelin and Co. began long before André and Édouard were born. Their great-aunt and uncle, Elisabeth Pugh-Barker and Édouard Daubrée began making rubber bouncy balls in their Clermont Ferrand home in 1829. Daubrée realized that rubber had a more practical application in the production of farm machinery. He joined forces with his cousin, Aristide Barbier, and the two started a successful company selling farm machinery equipped with rubber hoses and valves. When Barbier died, the company fell on hard times. Her grandsons, André and Édouard Michelin took over the company and looked for ways to bolster the company’s portfolio. In 1889, a cyclist approached the brothers and asked them to look into creating a bicycle tire that was easier to replace than the tires of the time, which were glued to the rim. In 1891, the Michelin brothers filed a patent for their detachable pneumatic bicycle tire. It wasn’t long before they had applied the same concept to automobile tires.

At this point, cars were not very widely used in France. In order to drum up business for their tire company, the Michelin brothers needed to convince more people to purchase cars and use them for travel. In pursuit of this, the brothers created the Michelin Guide. Published for the first time in 1900, the guide listed French towns alphabetically and gave suggestions for lodging, restaurants, car repair shops, museums, and other points of interest. In 1926, the Michelin guide began putting a single star next to restaurants considered “fine-dining” establishments. In 1931, the three-star system that exists today was created. In 1936, the official judging criteria for the system was released. Today, the Michelin star is one of the most impressive designations a restaurant can receive. The Michelin Guide today covers 37 countries and there are approximately 2,800 Michelin Star restaurants worldwide.

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The Queen of Existentialism

January 9, 2024January 8, 2024UncategorizedLeave a Comment

On January 9, 1908, Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris. de Beauvoir would go on to become an award-winning author, a feminist icon, and a prolific existentialist philosopher. She lived her life by the philosophy she espoused: “One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others by means of love, friendship, indignation, and compassion.” She remains a significant influence in the feminist and philosophic spheres.

From an early age, de Beauvoir was interested in in education, philosophy, and writing. She studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, becoming the youngest person to pass the extremely competitive agrégation exam, a series of test and interviews to become a teacher. Her score was second only to that of classmate Jean-Paul Sartre, who became de Beauvoir’s lifelong intellectual companion and lover. For many years, de Beauvoir was a philosophy teacher, but she lost her job upon the occupation of Paris by the Nazis in 1940. It was then that she began writing. Over the next 10 years, de Beauvoir penned a number of influential works, including The Ethics of Ambiguity, America Day by Day, and perhaps her most notable work, The Second Sex.

The Second Sex has been named one of the most important works of literature of the 20^th century. It was a major influence of the Second Wave Feminist movement in the U.S., and many notable feminists, including Betty Friedan, were inspired by de Beauvoir’s work. It was, in fact, de Beauvoir’s studies in philosophy that led her to assert that women owed it to themselves to transcend the limits that the world placed on them and become what their hearts led them to be. This individualism is a main tenant of existentialism. Existentialists believe that every individual’s purpose is created by themselves rather than by the societal structures around them. As a philosopher, de Beauvoir was often written off as merely Sartre’s disciple. However, after her death, studies of her personal journals and correspondences with Sartre prove that the two exchanges ideas equally, de Beauvoir’s as original as those of Sartre. de Beauvoir is admired worldwide for those contributions and her writings are still incredibly popular.

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What is Boxing Day?

December 26, 2023December 25, 2023UncategorizedLeave a Comment

On December 26, countries around the world, including the UK, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, celebrate Boxing Day. While the origins of the name Boxing Day are not absolutely known, it is widely believed that beginning in the early 19th century, employers who expected their servants to work in their home on Christmas Day (think of Mr. Carson and Mrs. Patmore serving Christmas dinner to the Granthams) would give them the following day off to celebrate with their own families. They would often send the employees home with a box of gifts or money, leading to the term Boxing Day.

These days, Boxing Day is celebrated as an extension of the Christmas holidays. In the UK, the Boxing Day sales are the equivalent to America’s Black Friday, with sales reaching over £3 billion. Some Americans have suggested the US adopt Boxing Day as a sort of holiday from the holidays—a chance to relax after the hustle and bustle of Christmas and enjoy time together with family and friends.

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Wynne’s Crossword

December 22, 2023December 21, 2023UncategorizedLeave a Comment

On December 21, 1913, the New York World newspaper printed the first published crossword puzzle. The puzzle was created by Arthur Wynne, a journalist who hailed from Liverpool, England. Though the word puzzle was not an entirely original idea, Wynne’s version was the first to be published and made available to a large audience. Though the puzzle was an instant phenomenon, it was not until the publishing group Simon & Schuster published a book of crossword puzzles in 1924 that the game became popular throughout the country.

When Wynne’s first puzzle was published, the New York Times published an opinion article that referred to crossword puzzles as “a primitive sort of mental exercise” and a “sinful waste” of time. They suggested its popularity was of a fleeting sort. Ironically, the Times’ crossword is now the most famous crossword in the country. It was actually the bombing of Pearl Harbor that led to the New York Times changing its tune. After Pearl Harbor, the Sunday Times editor wrote to the publisher: “We ought to proceed with the puzzle, especially in view of the fact it is possible there will now be bleak blackout hours—or if not that then certainly a need for relaxation of some kind or other.” On February 15, 1942, the New York Times published their first crossword puzzle. Now, over 500,000 people subscribe to the Times crossword and crossword books are sold in their thousands each year in every bookstore around.

Though today’s puzzles might look different than the first one published in 1913, can you solve Wynne’s famous diamond game?

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A Common Currency

December 15, 2023December 11, 2023UncategorizedLeave a Comment

On December 15 and 16, 1995 members of the European Council met together to discuss their plans for introducing a standardized currency to their countries. A decision that started with the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1951 after the Second World War, the European Council agreed to roll out the new currency between the years of 1999 and 2002.

In the aftermath of WWII, European nations were eager to ensure that the economic devastation that affected Germany after WWI would not repeat itself after WWII. They felt that the best course of action was to act together, getting rid of trade customs between their countries and uniting the production of common materials such as coal and steel. In the 70s, it was suggested that a common currency would provide further economic stability. In 1992, the Maastricht Treaty was signed, which officially formed the European Union and outlined plans for the introduction of a common currency.

When the European Council met in 1995, they wrote that during their meetings the council “adopted the scenario for the changeover to the single currency, confirming unequivocally that this stage will commence on 1 January 1999.” They also chose a name for the currency. Their criteria were that “the name of the currency must be the same in all the official languages of the European Union, taking into account the existence of different alphabets; it must be simple and symbolize Europe.” The name “Euro” was suggested by Belgian professor, Germain Pirlot and was adopted by the council. The European Council made plans to introduce the currency in stages. On January 1, 1999, the Euro began to be used for electronic banking and transfers. In 2002, they began circulating the paper bills and coins. Today, 20 European Union countries use the Euro.

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