World History Encyclopedia

The causes of the Boer War (aka Second Anglo-Boer War, South Africa War, and Second War of Freedom, 1899-1902) stretched back to the early 19th century and competition for land and resources between British and Boer settlers. The rivalry turned to animosity as the century progressed, accentuated by discoveries of diamonds and gold, and further fuelled by mutual suspicions of unc...

Marduk was the patron god of Babylon who presided over justice, compassion, healing, regeneration, magic, and fairness, although he is also sometimes referenced as a storm god and agricultural deity. He rose to prominence during the reign of King Hammuabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE). His temple, the famous ziggurat described by Greek historian Herodotus, is considered the model f...

Baden-Powell was certainly resourceful, and he employed all kinds of tricks to confuse the Boers during the siege of Mafeking. He made, for example, a searchlight out of a biscuit tin and gave it to a runner who shone the light from various positions to give the impression there were lots of lights, and so a Boer night attack would be less likely. Another ruse was to put stakes ...

Tiamat is the Mesopotamian goddess associated with primordial chaos and the salt sea, best known from the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish. In all versions of the myth, following the original, Tiamat always symbolizes the forces of chaos, which threaten the order established by the gods, and Marduk (or Ashur in Assyrian versions) is the hero who preserves it.

The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was the last great colonial conflict waged between Great Britain and France in North America. Often considered a theater of the global Seven Years' War (1756-1763), it was sparked over a territorial dispute in the Ohio River Valley but escalated into a full-scale war of conquest and imperial domination. The war reached its climax at the Batt...