HistoryNow

Galveston pre 1900    Not long ago, Texas got hit by Hurricane Harvey . The Hurricane was devastating on Texas (the city of Houston in particular) and the state is still cleaning up even now, months after. However, it was not the worst natural disaster to hit the United States, much less Texas. That award (if it can be called that) goes to the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 .    For those uninformed, Galveston is a small island city located just south of Houston. It has a fairly busy port as well as a small tourist industry due to its accessible beaches, though most Texans will tell you that the beaches fall a little short of glamorous. Before 1900 though, Galveston was one of the grandest cities in Texas. It was a tourist hub as well as being a port. People from all over the United States came to the beaches of Galveston for vacation and the city was bustling. It is said that when the people of Galveston heard a storm was coming, they were unafraid because they believed their city

 For as long as humanity remembers, people of European origin have dominated history. However, it was not due to any kind of racial or ethnic reason that the Europeans conquered, but more due to a domino effect of sheer luck. The list of reasons for European prosperity is long and various so this article will attempt to talk about the three largest ones; the Crusades, the Plague, and Europe's geography.    First off is the Crusades. The term Crusades itself has to be explained a little because it was a term used for many different wars. There were, of course, the Crusades fought to retake the Holy Land I described in a previous post. There were the Spanish Crusades, or Reconquista as they are more known as, where the Spanish, over a serious of conflicts, pushed the Moores out of Iberia. Of course we can not forget the Northern Crusades, when Europeans marched into the Baltics and Scandinavia to spread Christianity. However, it is this author's firm belief that the Crusades

   Let me make this clear; I love Christmas. It is the best time of the year, blah blah blah all that stuff you hear on every commercial every December. However, even a Christmas lover like me has to admit Christmas has some weird ass traditions. While almost everyone and their mother has heard about how Christmas traditions originated from pagans and the such, not many have heard the finer details on those origins. Dear reader, I am here to fill that void you did not even know you had.    One of the first Christmas traditions many thinks of is, of course, the Christmas tree. Oh that wonderful time when we slaughter a tree, decorate its corpse, then parade it in our living rooms with decorations! Tree worship is something that had existed in Nordic and Germanic cultures for generations before Christianity came. In Nordic mythology, trees are central to existence as Yggdrasil, the World Tree , is what holds up the Nine Worlds and gives structure to the universe. However, as Chris

  Throughout the history of America, Christianity has had a noticeable impact. While other religions have left their own mark, Christianity has had probably the largest. One of the greatest movements to come out of American Christendom has been what is called the Social Gospel Movement .   With the advent of industrialization in the late 19th century, American city populations expanded rapidly. With this rapid expansion also came rapid changes in life. Suddenly, human beings were living in cramped, dark conditions. Disease and crime were rampant in these locations and poverty effected many. Picture depicting the unsanitary living conditions of the industrial revolution   From this struggle of the common man came the Social Gospel Movement. This movement was spear headed by Protestant ministers at the time who interpreted the Kingdom of God as requiring social work to help their fellow man. Authors like Walter Rauschenbusch and Charles Monroe Sheldon wrote great essays discus

On December 13, the United States National Guard (Both Army and Air components) will be celebrating 381 years of service upon this great continent. The Guard regards itself as the oldest current military branch, predating even America itself. However, the history of these soldiers runs deep. The Concord Minute Man of 1775 , a monument created by Daniel Chester French in Concord, Massachusetts. The Guard traces its founding to December 13 th , 1636, though militia in the America’s predated even that. The first militia mustering is dated in September 16, 1565 at the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine in present day Florida. Appropriately enough, this mustering was in response to a hurricane coming toward the coast. The militia was set to evacuate Spanish colonists to safety and guard supplies at the settlement while the regular troops traveled north to fight the French. Years later, the English would establish militias at their colonies of Jamestown (1607) and Plymouth Rock (