The Battleground of History
Which sources can you actually trust?
There is no fiercer battleground than the record of history. This, of course, has always been the case — though the realisation of its extent has arguably never been more apparent than now, with the arbitrary tearing down of statues, redrafting of curricula, and subordination of public broadcasting to institutional agendas across the Western world.
The attempt to normalise historical revisionism in the service of nefarious supranational initiatives, from forced ‘diversity’ quotas in drama to the character assassinations of pivotal figures in Western history, may seem ludicrously provocative now. Yet the true extent of this evil lies in the long term consequences it will have in deceiving future generations.
The young men and women of said generations, having been deceived by a stage-managed reading of history, will end up severed from their roots. They will be unaware of the reality of what the world is — precisely because they never learned the truth of how it came to be.
With the rewriting of classic literature to serve political agendas already underway, Orwell’s words may well have been prescient beyond even his fears:
“By 2050 — earlier, probably — all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron — they’ll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually changed into something contradictory of what they used to be”
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four, Chapter Five
A large degree of what motivates us here at INVICTUS is a desire to circumvent the ‘middle-men’ of history, and go directly to the source. Those who follow our weekly Streams will know that we endeavour to name and share the primary sources on screen as often as possible.
Among the questions we are consistently asked is “Do you recommend a good book?” on the subject in question. In this article, we would like to begin to answer this question by presenting the relevant sources (both primary and secondary) for each of the figures who have been the subject of our deep dive pieces.
So, if you want to explore a selection of texts and resources which could well find themselves within the firing line by the year 2050, read on…
Marco Polo
Main Article: Marco Polo and the Wonders of the World
Uncovering the extraordinary travels of Marco Polo across Eurasia and to the furthest reaches of Yuan China is refreshingly accessible to the curious reader.
Polo himself famously recounted his adventures to his cellmate Rustichello da Pisa, who recorded it all in a grand travelogue initially known as Le Divisement du Monde (Description of the World), and later as Il Milione. In English, the collective work is most commonly known as either The Book of the Marvels of the World or, more simply, The Travels of Marco Polo.
The work has been translated into English several times, though our recommendation is either The Travels of Marco Polo of Hugh Murray, published in 1844, or The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian of Colonel Henry Yule, published in 1871.
Being written in the 19th century, the prose is both beautiful and out of copyright. Both can therefore be accessed free of charge online via the following links:
The Travels of Marco Polo, Hugh Murray, 1844
The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian, Colonel Henry Yule, 1871
With each stop on Polo’s itinerary described in fairly brief paragraphs which focus on the most interesting observations, the only real obstacle to comprehension a modern reader will encounter is the change in place names over the centuries — the modern Iranian city of Tabriz, for example, was historically referred to as Tauris in the West.
But where the change is not indicated in the notes, a swift Google search will clarify the 21st century name of any given place.
Hannibal
Main Article: The Crucible of Rome’s Greatness
Being the great nemesis of Rome, both as an actual military commander and as a symbol, Hannibal is referenced in a plethora of ancient texts. This comes with the caveat that we have no surviving substantial sources from the Carthaginian side itself.
His life and campaigns, therefore, are viewed through the lens of the cultures he faced, with bias either dampened or enflamed by a respect for his formidable prowess as a tactician.
The two principal sources for Hannibal and the Second Punic war, therefore, are the Roman author Titus Livy, who covers the conflict in Books 21-30 of his monumental work Ab Urbe Condita (literally ‘From the Founding of the City), and the Greek author Polybius, who does likewise in Books 3-15 of his Histories. Conveniently, the war is covered in a single coherent and chronological narrative in both.
Since both are core texts of Antiquity, often studied at school and university, translations of both are widely available both in print and for free online. For practical reasons, the works are often published in volumes divided by the era of Roman history covered. Penguin Classics, for example, publishes Books 21-30 of Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita as a volume titled The War With Hannibal.
For a more modern account of Hannibal that includes commentary on the context of the times, Serge Lancel’s Hannibal, published in 1998, is among the most authoritative, though it may prove frighteningly dense to the casual reader.
Saint Nicholas of Myra
Main Article: Who was the Real Santa Claus?
The life of Saint Nicholas of Myra and Bari has to be reconstructed from sundry accounts from across the centuries, courtesy of the loss of any writings he may himself have authored, and possibly the tremendous instability of the age in which he lived — the transition from the last state persecutions of Christianity to its acceptance under Constantine in the 4th century AD.
Many of the early biographies of Nicholas are either lost or fragmentary, with the first complete piece, The Life of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, being written in the 9th century by Michael the Archimandrite.
Despite this, an extraordinary resource for those curious to learn more about the man whose legacy would be twisted into ‘Santa Claus’, which brings together an impressive array of these primary sources, is the old fashioned yet complication free website of the St. Nicholas Center, specifically this page, which conveniently catalogues them all in chronological order, into pages containing the actual texts themselves.
Horatio Nelson
Main Article: “Thank God I have done my duty” - Horatio Nelson & Heroism
As arguably England’s most recent ‘mythic hero’, Horatio Nelson has been the subject of enough volumes to stock entire libraries. Due to the nature of his profession, primary sources are by their nature scattered across letters and memoirs authored both by the admiral himself, relatives, and contemporaries.
Especially modern accounts and articles have, as is now depressingly common, developed an unhealthy obsession with Nelson’s supposed views or activities as they pertained to the slave trade — with a natural view to demolishing his monuments — despite the irrelevance of this phenomenon to the admiral’s achievements.
Those who are serious in their approach to history, however, have two fine works to turn to. The first, by John Sugden, is the most extensive biography of Nelson to be written in modern times, divided into two volumes:
Nelson, A Dream of Glory, John Sugden, 2004 (Covering Nelson’s life up until 1797)
Nelson, the Sword of Albion, John Sugden, 2012 (Covering Nelson’s latter years)
Should you prefer a more portable read, and one focused particularly on Nelson as a man:
Nelson, A Personal History, Christopher Hibbert, 1996
Otherwise, for a more charming approach unburdened by modernist sensibilities, consider one of the biographies written by the admiral’s contemporaries, available free of charge to read or download from the following links:
The Life of Admiral Lord Nelson from His Lordship’s Manuscripts, the Rev. James Stanier Clarke & John McArthur, 1810
The Life of Nelson, Robert Southey, 1813
Augustus
Main Article: How Augustus Saved Rome from Total Collapse
As the first Roman Emperor, who reigned over an exceptional blossoming of Roman literary culture, one has little need for secondary sources to explore and understand the life of Augustus.
The principal primary sources for the life of Augustus are readily available in print or freely online:
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