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Plans that are never carried out, people whose legacy has been erased by time or marginalization... Scholars constantly rescue forgotten events in the drawer of history.
The invasion that was not. The world has sources of extreme tension such as Gaza and the war in Ukraine - remember? - but others remain in the background, such as Taiwan and the possibility that China decides to invade it one day. In World War II, the United States considered landing on the island to defeat Japan, but did not do so due to the human cost it represented. Operation Causeway put the sleep of the righteous to sleep. Maybe it's a warning to Beijing.
A forgotten researcher. The Austrian Lise Meitner discovered nuclear fission, she investigated new elements such as proactinium and suggested the existence of the chain reaction, but these findings were never recognized due to Nazism and the prevailing machismo. The German Otto Hahn took credit for Meitner, whom Einstein had called “our Marie Curie.” Her case is reminiscent of others, such as that of Rosalind Franklin, which has recently been qualified.
Shakespeare's legacy. Who knows if Shakespeare would have been forgotten if it had not been for Henry Condell and John Heminges, who after the author's death published his works in a single volume, something very rare at the time. Few copies of that book survive; A few years ago one of them was auctioned for millions of dollars. What was forgotten was Michelangelo's secret room, decorated with drawings by the Tuscan artist, which has now been recovered.
The Munich Putsch. If it were not for what happened ten years later, when the Nazis came to power, the Munich Putsch would be a footnote today. A young Hitler, encouraged by Mussolini's March on Rome shortly before, failed in his coup attempt but gained valuable experience. A pity that this attempt had not been buried by time; humanity would have been spared, among other things, the Holocaust.
Life in the Roman legion. On February 1, the British Museum will open one of the major exhibitions of the season dedicated to life in the Roman legion. The blog of this institution publishes an extensive article (in English) about the conditions under which military service was carried out, which could reach and even exceed 20 years.
Himmler's menu. In his visit to Barcelona on October 23, 1940, Heinrich Himmler was given time to witness a folklore exhibition in Poble Espanyol, look for the Holy Grail in Montserrat and attend a gala dinner. The Municipal Archive of Barcelona preserves the menu, an abundance that contrasts with the penalties of the post-war period. Himmler lost a briefcase with secret documents; Barcelona's public insecurity is apparently endemic.
Parallel interests. As the casualties in the Gaza war increase, the feeling that the conflict is unsolvable grows. One of the latest to speak out in this way is the historian James Barr, who last week assured that “Israel can do nothing to get out of the vicious circle of violence.” Barr also warned that the situation is being used by Western leaders for domestic purposes. The visits of Macron, Biden or Sunak have much more to do with defending the interests of each country or image operations of each leader in their public opinion than with a real will to solve the problems in the Middle East.
The use of confrontation by Western countries has, like the conflict itself, a long history. For example, historians allude to the Anglo-French promises, which in the context of the Great War sought to attract Arabs to their cause, as one of the elements in the origin of current violence. Some promises that, by the way, the powers never considered fulfilling. Later, in peacetime, when the Palestinians demanded that Winston Churchill rule out the idea of creating a state for the Jews in the region, the man who would later become British Prime Minister responded that the creation of that entity was good for everyone and, especially, “good for the British empire.”
When that empire was no longer such and the United States had taken over as the preponderant power, its policy in the region also began to have a domestic dimension and consequently electoral repercussions. Today the echoes of the war are having negative effects for Biden. Since the end of the Second World War, France has also tried to project itself in the area in order to gain international prestige, as has happened with successive French leaders from De Gaulle to Macron. Where the sincere desire to contribute to peace ends and where the use of Palestine as a stage for the political needs of each country begins is, at times, very difficult to delimit.
