Sparks Commentary

I should preface this review by saying that I’ve examined a number of other histories of  World War One . For example, I watched  PBS’s 6-ho...

A war that killed at least 15 million people began with two quick gunshots in the Balkans . The fighting of  World War One  began in the  B...

German U-boats were once the terror of the high seas, and this was true during both world wars. In the  First World War , this campaign had ...

In the 1970s, a British television network made a series called  “The World at War,”  possibly the most comprehensive television history ev...

Anecdote about the European blockade of Venezuela, in the early twentieth century In 1902, three European nations imposed a  naval blockade...

Warning: This blog post contains some disturbing pictures. One of these, in particular, is very graphic, and may merit special caution. We a...

“There are a lot of people who say that bombing can never win a war. Well, my answer to that is that it has never been tried yet, and we sha...

“♪ We’re the D-Day Dodgers, out in Italy, Always on the vino, always on the spree. Eighth Army skivers and their tanks, We go to war in ties...

The Arab Revolt against the rule of the Ottoman Turks … When people hear the phrase  “World War One,”  they usually think of Europe . But it...

“In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundr...

“I had a little bird Whose name was Enza, I opened the door and ‘ in-flew-Enza .’ ” – A popular ditty sung by children, at the time t...

“[There shall be a] Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the following war material: Five thousand guns (2,500 heavy, and ...

“We [the German government] intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare . We shall endeavor in spite of this t...

The "Great Revolution" in Mexico: It's not the war of independence from Spain If your average person on the street overhea...

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely...

"The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible ove...

Disclaimer: I'm not a big fan of Wilson's presidency Before I begin this review, I should give a disclaimer that I am not a b...

The picture is of my Marine grandfather (1921-2011), who saw  intense combat in the Pacific  in  World War II . He never had loss of li...