Robert's European History Blog

'Human Smoke', the new work on World War Two by novelist Nicholson Baker, has now been reviewed by historians and commentators in the press; at best, it has been found greatly wanting. Britain’s Telegraph newspaper alone published two reviews, one which concludes “Whatever its merits as a work of literature, as a work of history it is virtually worthless”, and another which, in response to the author snipping little quotes out of all context to give a counter impression: “Incompetence or malice on Baker's part? So far as the reliability of this strangely childish book is concerned, it hardly matters which.” This page summarises a few reviews. While I rarely recommend not reading a book – after all, how can you criticise writing if you haven’t read it – it does sound like you’d really need to have some spare time before giving any over to Human Smoke.

Between 2000 and 2005 somebody planted 29 fake documents in the British National Archives, in 12 files relating to the Second World War. They claimed, amongst other things, that British secret agents killed Heinrich Himmler, a senior Nazi. As of today, we don’t know who or why, but the fraud has been called one of the greatest of its kind in the world. This article from the Guardian newspaper has more.

As we’re coming to the end of several months of Cold War themed material at European History, I thought I’d mention this interview Norman Stone did for Radio Free Europe (although the interview is text only) as it touches upon the Cold War, Stone concluding that Stalin made the war inevitable. Stone is a renowned Professor specialising in Eastern Europe and he’s not afraid to cause controversy in his conclusions.

Bloomsbury Press are delaying publication of 'Madame de Maintenon: The Secret Wife of Louis XIV' by Veronica Buckley as they deal with the fallout from a recent revelation about a diary she used heavily during the writing: it’s not real. Buckley believed she had discovered a previously untapped source in the form of 'Le Journal secret de Louis XIV', Louis XIV of France’s diary, supposedly discovered in 1997 after lying forgotten for over 280 years. If real this could have provided a major insight into the life (and in this case loves) of the ‘Sun King’. Unfortunately for all concerned, but especially Buckley - who is said to have quoted the text throughout her book - the diary was actually written in 1998 by a French expert on Louis called François Bluche as an experiment in constructing what such a diary would have been like. Critics of Buckley have not held back in their comments, and Bloomsbury is believed to be making changes to thousands of copies.

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat who, at the height of the Second World War, managed to save thousands of Jews from the Holocaust thanks to a mixture of bribery, diplomacy and sheer naked bravery. But, after the war ended, Wallenberg was arrested by Russian forces and taken into captivity, never to be seen again. Officially he died in 1947, but people have wondered ever since why Wallenberg was arrested and what really happened to him. I have to admit I hadn’t heard of him until I read this Yahoo news story, which takes a look at the Wallenberg Mystery, making a lot of his possible connection to a secret US organisation (perhaps too much) but explaining what we know happened and exploring some conjecture.

DNA analysis has shown that two bodies discovered last year are indeed those of Crown Prince Alexei and Princess Maria Romanov. Former Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered in 1918 and all but two of their bodies dumped in an unmarked grave. Amateur investigators working with primary testimonies believed the missing two had been killed and buried nearby – rather than escaping as some theories suggested – and their searching uncovered a second grave (reported here). Tests were done in both Russia and America and the missing children’s identities confirmed.

Wet timbers in England dating from the eleventh century are being preserved thanks to a donation of forty tonnes of sugar from British Sugar. The wood, originally part of three bridges, contains evidence of woodworking techniques of the period and will now be immersed in a solution of liquid sugar, crystals from which will slowly replace the water in wood and prevent warping.

France’s Louvre museum has spent $10.8 million on buying a broach which once formed part of the crown jewels of France. The 141 carat diamond brooch was made for Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, but sold off by the republican government of France over a century ago in 1887 where it made its way to America’s Astor family.

The end of this article from msn news is a plea for greater conservation of Britain’s marine life, but there’s some history in the first part, as Professor Callum Roberts talks about some of the sea life that used to be in Britain’s seas, including blue whales.

The Roman Emperor Lucius Verus (who ruled from161 until 169) wasn’t keen on sitting for artists which, coupled with the ravages of time, had left us with just four depictions of him. That number has just increased by one however, as a rare statue was discovered among a cache of looted artifacts in Italy. National geographic have a nice, large picture of the Lucius’ head…