All Empires Monthly Magazine - February

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            The Age of Discovery

              The Chinese Columbus: Fact or Fiction?

              Did China discover the new world? 
                A
crowd of whale-like vessels, each with tall columns of earthly red
sails and complex compartments that lodge hundreds of men, floats
calmly on the ocean waves, defying the swelling tides that would have
swallowed up lesser creatures.  A large, broad faced mariner, dressed
in a sliver dragon robe and wrapped in a black cloak, stands firmly
atop the nearest ship, his eyes gazing at the seagulls disappearing on
the horizon. 
                As a part of the 600th
anniversary celebration, the Singapore Tourism Board invited Gavin
Menzies, author of the New York Times bestseller 1421: The Year China
Discovered the World, to open an exhibition and hold discussions about
his book.  In his controversial book, Menzies claims that, prior to
Columbus and Magellan, Zheng He's men already circumnavigated the
globe, discovered America, and set up colonies in areas such as
Australia, the Caribbean Sea, and Massachusetts.  [Read More] 
                Article written by Poirot

              Political and Social History 

                Henry Clay: American Political Genius  

                On
April 12, 1777, Henry Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia as the
seventh son to John and Elizabeth Clay. His father was a Baptist
Preacher and a tobacco planter who helped out in the effort to gain
religious freedom from the Church of England. During the American
Revolution, John Clay would die with another sixty mounted militia
defending the Hanover Court House against Banastrae Tarleton's 500
dragoons. Tarleton was notorious for such raids throughout the American
Revolution, as he would later do many of these raids in Carolina before
he was terribly beaten at the Battle of Cowpens. After the raid, some
dragoons even thrust their swords into the grave of John Clay because
they thought that it held treasure. They would stop only because of the
appeals of Elizabeth Clay. Henry Clay witnessed these events when he
was only four years old. Elizabeth would not stay a widow for much
longer as she would marry Henry Watkins, a twenty-six-year-old planter
and captain of the militia, whom was her sister's brother-in-law. [Read More]
                  Article Written by Rick Shumaker (Emp. Barbarossa) 

                The Aristocracy of Labor 

In their classic History of Trade Unionism of 1894, Sidney and Beatrice
Webb came to the conclusion that no institution that could be
considered a trade union could be discovered in England prior to the
beginning of the eighteenth century: they therefore began their history
at that point. Given their definition of trade union � �a continuous
association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving
the conditions of their employment' � which rules out temporary
�combinations' and also associations of those who earned their living
other than through wages, it was probably a reasonable decision.
However, to fully understand the way that the trade union movement
developed in the twentieth century in the UK, in particular that
section of it that was in no way Marxist and in many ways not even
egalitarian, rather more needs to be taken into consideration. [Read More]                
   Article Written by Graham Cleverley (gcle2003)

                Japan's Bridge to China: The Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902

                As
the twentieth century dawned, the European maritime powers had largely
carved up the Eastern Hemisphere into colonies or spheres of
influence.  In the Far East, China, in the trade with its huge
population, was looked upon as a prize valued by British and other
European commercial interests.  It was no less a prize for an eastward
expanding Russia, France's recent ally, and Britain's most persistent
adversary in Asia.  The Empire of Japan, such as it was, seemed not a
factor in this European Great Power game.  True, Japan had defeated
China in their war of 1894-95, and had secured the Ryukyu Islands and
Formosa.  True also, she had participated in quelling the Boxer
Rebellion in 1900 (the only non-Western participant).  Important
indemnities and trade concessions had come of these events, as had
recognition of Japanese interests in "Corea."  Japan was looked upon as
distant and exotic, and not as a great power, but her six modern
battleships, engineered, built and armed in British yards, constituted
the strongest fleet in the Far East in 1901. [Read More]                     
                Article Written by M. P. Benedict 

                Military History 

                The Indian Mutiny "A Nationalist Relolt?"

The Indian mutiny, or the sepoy rebellion, began within Indian troops
near Delhi in 1857 and quicjkly spread to other parts of the country.
Today it is portrayed by many as a 'nationalist' uprising against
British rule in India, even though prior to British rule India had not
been a single nation. After a near run struggle, the British managed to
subdue the mutiny, however it had a lasting impact on both British and
Indian attitudes. [Read More] 

                Article Written by Wilpuri 

                The  First Scottish War of Independence

                 The
First War of Scottish Independence started in 1296 by the English
invasion of Scotland. It would end as most wars do with a treaty. The
reasons for the war started much earlier than that though. During the
Gaelic invasions of the 5th Century C.E. from Ireland, the native Picts
of Scotland were conquered. These warlike people, though not unlike the
native Picts, would have their clans commit border raids in England
during the 13th Century. England could use this as a fact to justify an
invasion, but that would just not be the case. The invasion would
happen based on the fights over who would take the Scottish throne
after King Alexander III died. [Read More] 

                  Article Written by Rick Shumaker (Emperor Barbarossa)

                Features

                Chinese Letters in Japan, Korea and Vietnam: Past, Present & Future

Chinese influence is found in the written languages of many east and
south east Asian countries.  Several Asian languages have been written
with a form of Chinese characters, such as Khitan, Miao, Nakhi (Geba),
Tangut, Zhuang, Jurchen, Yi, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese. Of these
tongues only the Japanese still uses a sizeable number of Chinese
characters. In modern Vietnam and North Korea Chinese characters while
still figuring prominently in historical documents and classical
literature have become virtually extinct. In South Korea language
policy has swung back and forth since 1945 but still displays an
unmistakable trend toward the �de-sinification� of the Korean language.
                  [Read More] 
                Article written by Flyingzone

                The Chuvash & Bashkir Peoples

Sure, there are Russian Orthodox Churches and street signs in the
Russian language - but the omnipresent minarets of the Kul Sharif
mosque are never out of sight and the people of this city will
typically welcome you with the ancient Tatar phrase ra'khim itegez.
While the Volga and Kazanka rivers anchor the city firmly within Russia
and through Russia to Europe, five times a day the 1000-year-old city's
Muslims bow in prayer towards Central Asia, to Mecca. Ra'khim itegez to
Kazan, one of the most diverse cities on the face of the planet - home
to Tatars, Tatarstanli, Germans, Assurs, Jews, Ukranians, Belarussians,
Poles, Azeris, Russians, and Volgans. The Volgans are comprised of four
distinct ethnic groups, two of which share similarities and differences
that reflect the overall beauty and uniqueness of Kazan as a whole -
the Chuvash and the Bashkirs. [Read More] 
                Article written by Djamila Nesuvic (Mila) 

                Religion History 

                Jan Hus 

Jan Hus was a Bohemian priest and martyr born in Husenitz (75
kilometers from Prague) in 1369. At a very early age, he went to the
Prague where he made a living singing and serving at the churches. In
1393, he received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Prague and
a master's degree three years later. He was ordained as a priest in
1400, and was a rector at the University of Prague from 1402 to 1403.
He would also become a preacher at a newly erected Bethlehem Chapel.
When Hus did give his sermon, he did not say it in the traditional
Latin, but in Czech. Hus would later become very influenced by John
Wycliffe's writings. John Wycliffe was an English theologian who was a
very early critic of the corruption of the Catholic Church, and was the
first man to translate the Bible into English. [Read More]  
                Article Written by Rick Shumaker (Emperor Barbarossa)

                St. Jerome 

                There
is not much in the village of Grahovopolje that testifies to the
tremendous impact one of its beloved sons had on the Roman Catholic
Church and, though it, the world. The village is little more than a few
homes tucked into the folds of the western edge of the Dinaric Alps,
it's most endearing feature the road leading back to the towns of
central Bosnia and Herzegovina. This village, however, has a story of
such significance to tell that many major cities are less than its
equal. In the middle of the fourth century, a little boy
was born in the village - at the time known as Stridon. The settlement
was a trading post on the border between the Roman provinces of
Pannonia and Dalmatia and the little boy was none other than Eusebius
Sophronius Hieronymus. Like many rural Bosnian children, Eusebius
dreamed of a life away from the peaceful villages of the Balkans and
longed for an existence of significance in one of the Empire's major
cities, perhaps even Rome. [Read More] 
                Article written by Djamila Nesuvic (Mila) 

                Editorial

                Vintage Vault 

                 A new
monthly column by Paul giving the past a voice of it's own. Vintage
Vault reprints newspaper columns from period publications. The first
instalment comes from Stars and Stripes Newspaper, the trade newspaper
of the United States forces. A previous newspaper that lasted only one
issue during the American Civil War was the first to bare the
name. The Great War version ran from 1918-19 and was the forerunner of
Stars and Stripes Magazine which began in 1942. 
                    Stars and Stripes 

                  January 25th, 1919 - STARS AND STRIPES: ARMY ALONG THE RHINE SETS LOW RECORD

                    Only 33 Venereal Cases in Week - Whole A.E.F. Rate Down

                    Thirty-three venereal cases among 233,000 men.

This report by the Army of Occupation for the week of December 25 marks
a new low record in disease incidence in the history of the American
Army, according to the chief surgeon�s office. It represents a yearly
rate of 7 cases per thousand men. For the whole A.E.F., the rate has
been cut down to 34 cases per 1,000 men a year. The Army�s
before-the-war rate was 80 - 90 cases per 1,000 men, which itself, is
far below the civilian rate. 

Establishment of venereal disease segregation camps at Le Mans, St.
Aignan, St. Nazaire, Nantes and Bordeaux, embarkation centres, mean
that no soldier will be returned to the United States while capable of
spreading infection, the Chief Surgeon says. Men found diseased will be
kept in Quarantine at the embarkation points until they have been
restored to health.
                   Intensive medical
treatment and a program of daily working parties are features of the
quarantine system. The quarantine is expected to average more than 40
days per man. All troops marked for embarkation for the States will
undergo a series of rigid inspections.

                Community News 

                New moderators appointed!

The staff of All Empires welcomed six new members as new moderators for
the forum: Heraclius, Decebal, Flyingzone, Genghis, TheDiplomat
(returning moderator), and Poirot. 

                  About this Magazine 

The AE "Newsletter" was created to bring about more interest in the
expanding of the main site. Each edition is made with a particular
theme that encourages topics underrepresented in the articles on the
main site. Next month's theme will be Classical History. If you would like to
help out with the newsletter, please contact Paul. 

                  February Edition 

                  Editors: Paul, Invictus 

                  Contributing Writers:  Djamila Nesuvic, Flyingzone, M. P. Benedict, Poirot, Rick Shumaker, Wilpuri

Edited by Imperator Invictus

All Empires Monthly Magazine - February

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