James Blake Wiener

James Blake Wiener is a world historian, Co-Founder of World History Encyclopedia, writer, and PR specialist, who has taught as a professor in Europe and North America.

Website: worldhistory.org

The Saracen Raids of Early Medieval Switzerland

James Blake Wiener 10.10.2024 During the tenth century, barbarian raids affected large parts of what is now Switzerland. Seizing control of the western alpine passes, Saracens from the Emirate of Fraxinetum dominated the crucial arteries of trade and pilgrimage between France, Italy, and Switzerland for nearly a century. Much of Switzerland fell under their sway.

The capture of Syracuse (877-878), the Byzantine capital of Sicily, miniature from the Madrid Skylitzes.

The Battle of Malplaquet

James Blake Wiener 12.09.2024 The Battle of Malplaquet, fought on September 11, 1709 in what is present-day Belgium at the height of the War of the Spanish Succession, was the bloodiest battle of the eighteenth century with over 22,000 dead and wounded. Swiss mercenaries faced each other on the battlefield; 8,000 lost their lives.

Johan Ludwig Burckhardt: An Intrepid Swiss Explorer

James Blake Wiener 22.08.2024 In 1812, the Swiss adventurer and explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1784-1817) traversed the ancient Nabataean city of Petra. He was the first European to set his eyes upon the ruins since the time of the Crusades. His life is a curious story of research and unexpected high adventure.

Portrait of Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, also known as Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah, 1830.

The celestial event over Basel in 1566

James Blake Wiener 30.07.2024 A dazzling array of celestial phenomena occurred over the skies of Basel in July and August 1566. The spectacle was so unusual that it precipitated much public discussion and the publication of a leaflet which reflects a Switzerland grappling with deep social unease and tensions.

The celestial event over Basel on 7 August 1566. Pamphlet by Samuel Apiarius and Samuel Coccius.

The Battle of Murten

James Blake Wiener 21.06.2024 In the Battle of Murten on 22 June 1476, the Swiss Confederate army defeated that of Charles the Bold of Burgundy. The battle marked the beginning of the end of Burgundy as a major European power and became a cornerstone of national pride in traditional Swiss historiography.

Battle of Murten. The illustration (detail) from the Lucerne Schilling Chronicle is based on the large battle depiction from 1480 in Fribourg Town Hall.

The Lady Behind the Mask: Joan of France

James Blake Wiener 30.05.2024 The exquisite death mask of Joan of France (1464-1505) mirrors the grace, courage, and moral convictions of a long-suffering disabled woman who was briefly queen of France and later canonized as a saint.

The sinking of the Lusitania and the fate of its Swiss occupants

James Blake Wiener 06.05.2024 The sinking of the British passenger ship RMS "Lusitania" on 7 May 1915 by a German submarine is one of the worst maritime disasters in recent history. 1193 men, women and children lost their lives off the Irish coast. The stories of the "Lusitania's" Swiss voyagers afford unique perspectives into the Edwardian Age as it came to a conclusion.

The Lusitania left the port of New York on 1 May 1915.

Swiss on the Titanic

James Blake Wiener 15.04.2024 Over a century after her dramatic demise, the Titanic lingers omnipresent in the human imagination. The stories of the Titanic’s Swiss staff and passengers are a rich kaleidoscope of a maritime disaster and an era on the precipice of tremendous change.

The Titanic leaving the harbor in Southampton.