Malta
Malta known as the Republic of Malta, is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km south of Italy, 284 km east of Tunisia, 333 km north of Libya. With a population of about 475,000 over an area of 316 km2, Malta is the world's tenth smallest and fifth most densely populated country, its capital is Valletta, the smallest national capital in the European Union by area at 0.8 km.2 The official languages are Maltese and English, with Maltese recognised as the national language and the only Semitic language in the European Union. Malta has been inhabited since 5900 BC, its location in the centre of the Mediterranean has given it great strategic importance as a naval base, with a succession of powers having contested and ruled the islands, including the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Greeks, Normans, Knights of St. John and British. Most of these foreign influences have left some sort of mark on the country's ancient culture. Malta became a British colony in 1815, serving as a way station for ships and the headquarters for the British Mediterranean Fleet.
It played an important role in the Allied war effort during the Second World War, was subsequently awarded the George Cross for its bravery in the face of an Axis siege, the George Cross appears on Malta's national flag. The British Parliament passed the Malta Independence Act in 1964, giving Malta independence from the United Kingdom as the State of Malta, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and queen; the country became a republic in 1974. It has been a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations and the United Nations since independence, joined the European Union in 2004. Malta has a long Christian legacy and its Archdiocese is claimed to be an apostolic see because Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked on "Melita", according to Acts of the Apostles, now taken to be Malta. While Catholicism is the official religion in Malta, Article 40 of the Constitution states that "all persons in Malta shall have full freedom of conscience and enjoy the free exercise of their respective mode of religious worship."Malta is a popular tourist destination with its warm climate, numerous recreational areas, architectural and historical monuments, including three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni and seven megalithic temples which are some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world.
The origin of the name Malta is uncertain, the modern-day variation is derived from the Maltese language. The most common etymology is that the word Malta is derived from the Greek word μέλι, meli, "honey"; the ancient Greeks called the island Μελίτη meaning "honey-sweet" for Malta's unique production of honey. The Romans called the island Melita, which can be considered either a latinisation of the Greek Μελίτη or the adaptation of the Doric Greek pronunciation of the same word Μελίτα; this spelling is found in the New Testament. Another conjecture suggests that the word Malta comes from the Phoenician word Maleth, "a haven", or'port' in reference to Malta's many bays and coves. Few other etymological mentions appear in classical literature, with the term Malta appearing in its present form in the Antonine Itinerary. Malta has been inhabited from around 5900 BC, since the arrival of settlers from the island of Sicily. A significant prehistoric Neolithic culture marked by Megalithic structures, which date back to c. 3600 BC, existed on the islands, as evidenced by the temples of Mnajdra and others.
The Phoenicians colonised Malta between 800 -- 700 BC, bringing their Semitic culture. They used the islands as an outpost from which they expanded sea explorations and trade in the Mediterranean until their successors, the Carthaginians, were ousted by the Romans in 216 BC with the help of the Maltese inhabitants, under whom Malta became a municipium. After a period of Byzantine rule and a probable sack by the Vandals, the islands were invaded by the Aghlabids in AD 870; the fate of the population after the Arab invasion is unclear but it seems the islands may have been depopulated and were to have been repopulated in the beginning of the second millennium by settlers from Arab-ruled Sicily who spoke Siculo-Arabic. The Muslim rule was ended by the Normans who conquered the island in 1091; the islands were re-Christianised by 1249. The islands were part of the Kingdom of Sicily until 1530, were controlled by the Capetian House of Anjou. In 1530 Charles I of Spain gave the Maltese islands to the Order of Knights of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in perpetual lease.
The French under Napoleon took hold of the Maltese islands in 1798, although with the aid of the British the Maltese were able to oust French control two years later. The inhabitants subsequently asked Britain to assume sovereignty over the islands under the conditions laid out in a Declaration of Rights, stating that "his Majesty has no right to cede these Islands to any power...if he chooses to withdraw his protection, abandon his sovereignty, the right of electing another sovereign, or of the governing of these Islands, belongs to us, the inhabitants and aborigines alone, without control." As part of the Treaty of Paris in 1814, Malta became a British colony rejecting an attempted integration with the United Kingdom in 1956. Malta became independent on 21 September 1964. Under its 1964 constitution
Emilio Gentile
Emilio Gentile is an Italian historian specializing in the ideology and culture of fascism. Gentile is considered one of Italy's foremost cultural historians of fascist ideology, he wrote a book about him. Gentile is a professor at the Sapienza University of Rome, he considers fascism a form of political religion. He applied the theory of political religion to the United States after the September 11 attacks. Storia del partito fascista. 1919-1922. Movimento e milizia. 1989 Il culto del littorio. La sacralizzazione della politica nell'Italia fascista. Rome/Bari. 1993 English translation: The Sacralization of Politics in Fascist Italy, 1996, Harvard University Press, hup.harvard.edu Le religioni della politica. Fra democrazie e totalitarismi. Laterza, Rome 2001 English translation: Politics as Religion. Princeton University Press. 2006. Fascismo. Storia e interpretazione. Rome/Bari. 2002 Il mito dello Stato nuovo. Dal radicalismo nazionale al fascismo. 2002 Le origini dell'Italia contemporanea. L'età giolittiana.
2003 Renzo De Felice. Lo storico e il personaggio. 2003 Il fascismo in tre capitoli. 2006 La Grande Italia. Il mito della nazione nel XX secolo. 2006 English translation: La Grande Italia: The Myth of the Nation in the Twentieth Century. University of Wisconsin Press. 2009. La democrazia di Dio. La religione americana nell'era dell'impero e del terrore, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2006. ISBN 88-420-8051-9. English translation: God's Democracy: American Religion After September 11. Greenwood Press. 2008. Il fascino del persecutore. George Mosse e i totalitarismi. Carocci. 2007 L'apocalisse della modernità. La grande guerra per l'uomo nuovo. Mondadori. 2008 Contro Cesare. Cristianesimo e totalitarismo nell'epoca dei fascismi, Feltrinelli, 2010. ISBN 978-88-07-11107-5. Né stato né nazione. Italiani senza meta, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010. ISBN 978-88-420-9321-3. Italiani senza padri. Intervista sul Risorgimento, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2011. ISBN 978-88-420-9499-9. E fu subito regime. Il fascismo e la marcia su Roma, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2012.
ISBN 978-88-420-9577-4
Assassination of Julius Caesar
The assassination of Caesar was the result of a conspiracy by many Roman senators led by Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Marcus Junius Brutus. They stabbed Caesar to death in a location adjacent to the Theatre of Pompey on the Ides of March 15 March 44 BC. Caesar was the Dictator of the Roman Republic, having been declared dictator perpetuo by the Senate of the Roman Republic; this declaration made many senators fear that Caesar wanted to overthrow the Senate in favor of totalitarianism, as well as the fear that Caesar’s pro plebeian manifesto would endanger them financially. The conspirators were unable to restore the Roman Republic, the ramifications of the assassination led to the Liberators' civil war and to the Principate period of the Roman Empire. Biographers describe tension between Caesar and the Senate, his possible claims to the title of king; these events were the principal catalysts for Caesar's assassination. The Senate named Caesar dictator perpetuo. Roman mints produced a denarius coin with this title and his likeness on one side, with an image of the goddess Ceres and Caesar's title of Augur Pontifex Maximus on the reverse.
According to Cassius Dio, writing over 200 years a senatorial delegation went to inform Caesar of new honors they had bestowed upon him in 44 BC. Caesar received them while sitting in the Temple of Venus Genetrix, rather than rising to meet them. Suetonius wrote that Caesar failed to rise in the temple, either because he was restrained by Cornelius Balbus or that he balked at the suggestion he should rise. Suetonius gave the account of a crowd assembled to greet Caesar upon his return to Rome. A member of the crowd placed a laurel wreath on the statue of Caesar on the Rostra; the tribunes Gaius Epidius Marullus and Lucius Caesetius Flavus ordered that the wreath be removed as it was a symbol of Jupiter and royalty. Caesar had the tribunes removed from office through his official powers. According to Suetonius, Caesar was unable to dissociate himself from the royal title from this point forward. Suetonius gives the story that a crowd shouted to him rex, to which Caesar replied, "I am Caesar, not Rex".
At the festival of the Lupercalia, while he gave a speech from the Rostra, Mark Antony, elected co-consul with Caesar, attempted to place a crown on his head several times. Caesar put it aside to use as a sacrifice to Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Plutarch and Suetonius are similar in their depiction of these events, but Dio combines the stories, writing that the tribunes arrested the citizens who placed diadems or wreaths on statues of Caesar, he places the crowd shouting "rex" on the Alban Hill with the tribunes arresting a member of this crowd as well. The plebeian protested. Caesar brought the tribunes before the senate and put the matter to a vote, thereafter removing them from office and erasing their names from the records. Suetonius adds that Lucius Cotta proposed to the Senate that Caesar should be granted the title of "king", for it was prophesied that only a king would conquer Parthia. Caesar intended to invade Parthia, a task that gave considerable trouble to Mark Antony during the second triumvirate.
His many titles and honors from the Senate were merely honorary. Caesar continually strove for more power to govern, with as little dependence as possible on honorary titles or the Senate; the placating and ennobling of Caesar did not allay ultimate confrontation, as the Senate was still the authority granting Caesar his titles. Formal power resided in them. Brutus began to conspire against Caesar with his friend and brother-in-law Gaius Cassius Longinus and other men, calling themselves the Liberatores. Many plans were discussed by the group, as documented by Nicolaus of Damascus: The conspirators never met openly, but they assembled a few at a time in each other's homes. There were many discussions and proposals, as might be expected, while they investigated how and where to execute their design; some suggested that they should make the attempt along the Sacred Way, one of his favorite walks. Another idea was to do it at the elections, during which he had to cross a bridge to appoint the magistrates in the Campus Martius.
Someone proposed that they draw lots for some to push him from the bridge and others to run up and kill him. A third plan was to wait for a coming gladiatorial show; the advantage of that was. The majority opinion, favored killing him while he sat in the Senate, he would be there by himself, since only Senators were admitted, the conspirators could hide their daggers beneath their togas. This plan won the day. Nicolaus writes that in the days leading up to the assassination, Caesar was told by doctors and his wife, not to attend the Senate on the Ides for various reasons, including medical concerns and troubling dreams Calpurnia had:...his friends were alarmed at certain rumors and tried to stop him going to the senate-house, as did his doctors, for he was suffering from one of his occasional dizzy spells. His wife, Calpurnia, frightened by some visions in her dreams, clung to him and said that she would not let him go out that day, but Brutus, one of the conspirators, thought of as a firm friend, came up and said,'What is this, Caesar?
Are you a man to pay attention to a woman's dreams and the idle gossip of stupid men, to insult the Senate by not going out, although it has honored you and has been specially summoned by you? But listen to me, cast aside
Rimini
Rimini is a city of 150.590 inhabitants in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa, it is one of the most famous seaside resorts in Europe, thanks to its 15-kilometre-long sandy beach, over 1,000 hotels, thousands of bars and discos. The first bathing establishment opened in 1843. An art city with ancient Roman and Renaissance monuments, Rimini is the hometown of the famous film director Federico Fellini as well. Founded by the Romans in 268 BC, throughout their period of rule Rimini was a key communications link between the north and south of the peninsula, on its soil Roman emperors erected monuments like the Arch of Augustus and the Tiberius Bridge that they mark the beginning and the end of the Decumanus of Rimini and, while during the Renaissance, the city benefited from the court of the House of Malatesta, which hosted artists like Leonardo da Vinci and produced works such as the Tempio Malatestiano.
The main monuments in Rimini are: the Arch of Augustus. In the 19th century, Rimini was one of the most active cities in the revolutionary front, hosting many of the movements aimed at Italian unification. In the course of World War II, the city was the scene of clashes and bombings, but of a fierce partisan resistance that earned it the honour of a gold medal for civic valor. In recent years it has become one of the most important sites for trade fairs and conferences in Italy; the total approximate population of the Rimini urban area is 225,000 and the provincial population is 330,000. Rimini is the most populous centre of the Romagna Riviera, the second largest city by the number of inhabitants in the entire region, the twenty-eighth largest city in Italy. For ecclesiastical history, see Roman Catholic Diocese of Rimini The area was part of the Etruscan civilization until the arrival of the Celts, who held it from the 6th century BC until their defeat by the Umbri in 283 BC. In 268 BC at the mouth of the Ariminus, the Roman Republic founded the colonia of Ariminum.
The city was involved in the civil wars but remained faithful to the popular party and to its leaders, firstly Gaius Marius, Julius Caesar. After crossing the Rubicon, the latter made his legendary appeal to the legions in the Forum of Rimini. Ariminum was seen as a bastion against invaders from Celts and as a springboard for conquering the Padana plain; as the terminus of the Via Flaminia, which ended here in the surviving prestigious Arch of Augustus, Rimini was a road junction connecting central and northern Italy by the Via Aemilia that led to Piacenza and the Via Popilia that extended northwards. Remains of the amphitheater that could seat 12000 people, a five-arched bridge of Istrian stone completed by Tiberius are still visible. Galla Placidia built the church of Santo Stefano. It's understood that Rimini is of roman origins from the fact, divided by two main streets, the Cardo and the Decumanus. Crisis in the Roman world was marked by destruction caused by invasions and wars, but by the testimony of the palaces of the Imperial officers and the first churches, the symbol of the spread of Christianity that held an important Council of Ariminum in 359.
When the Ostrogoths conquered Rimini in 493, besieged in Ravenna, had to capitulate. During the Gothic War, Rimini was retaken many times. In its vicinity the Byzantine general Narses overthrew the Alamanni. Under the Byzantine rule, it belonged to part of the Exarchate of Ravenna. In 728, it was taken with many other cities by Liutprand, King of the Lombards but returned to the Byzantines about 735. Pepin the Short gave it to the Holy See, but during the wars of the popes and the Italian cities against the emperors, Rimini sided with the latter. In the 13th century, it suffered from the discords of the Ansidei families; the city became a municipality in the 14th century, with the arrival of the religious orders, numerous convents and churches were built, providing work for many illustrious artists. In fact, Giotto inspired the 14th-century School of Rimini, the expression of original cultural ferment; the House of Malatesta emerged from the struggles between municipal factions with Malatesta da Verucchio, who in 1239 was named podestà of the city.
Despite interruptions, his family held authority until 1528. In 1312 he was succeeded by Malatestino Malatesta, first signore of the city and Pandolfo I Malatesta, the latter's brother, named by Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, as imperial vicar of Romagna. Ferrantino, son of Malatesta II, was opposed by his cousin Ramberto and by Cardinal Bertrand du Pouget, legate of Pope John XXII. Malatesta II was lord of Pesaro, he was succeeded by Malatesta Ungaro and Galeotto I Malatesta, uncle of the former, lord of Fano and Cesena. His son Carlo I Malatesta, one of the most respected condottieri of the time, enlarged the Riminese possessions and restored the port. Carlo died childless in 1429, the lordship was divided into three parts, Rimini going to Galeotto Roberto Malatesta, a Catholic zealot who turned out to be inadequate for the role; the Pesarese line of the Malatestas tried, in fact, to take advantage of his weakness and to capture the city, but Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Carlo's nephew, only 14 at the time, intervened to save it.
Galeotto retired to a convent, Sigismondo obtain
Venezuela
Venezuela the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and a large number of small islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. The capital and largest urban agglomeration is the city of Caracas, it has a territorial extension of 916,445 km2. The continental territory is bordered on the north by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Colombia, Brazil on the south and Tobago to the north-east and on the east by Guyana. With this last country, the Venezuelan government maintains a claim for Guayana Esequiba over an area of 159,542 km2. For its maritime areas, it exercises sovereignty over 71,295 km2 of territorial waters, 22,224 km2 in its contiguous zone, 471,507 km2 of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean under the concept of exclusive economic zone, 99,889 km2 of continental shelf; this marine area borders those of 13 states. The country has high biodiversity and is ranked seventh in the world's list of nations with the most number of species.
There are habitats ranging from the Andes Mountains in the west to the Amazon basin rain-forest in the south via extensive llanos plains, the Caribbean coast and the Orinoco River Delta in the east. The territory now known as Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples. In 1811, it became one of the first Spanish-American territories to declare independence, not securely established until 1821, when Venezuela was a department of the federal republic of Gran Colombia, it gained full independence as a country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, remaining dominated by regional caudillos until the mid-20th century. Since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments. Economic shocks in the 1980s and 1990s led to several political crises, including the deadly Caracazo riots of 1989, two attempted coups in 1992, the impeachment of President Carlos Andrés Pérez for embezzlement of public funds in 1993.
A collapse in confidence in the existing parties saw the 1998 election of former coup-involved career officer Hugo Chávez and the launch of the Bolivarian Revolution. The revolution began with a 1999 Constituent Assembly, where a new Constitution of Venezuela was written; this new constitution changed the name of the country to Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The sovereign state is a federal presidential republic consisting of 23 states, the Capital District, federal dependencies. Venezuela claims all Guyanese territory west of the Essequibo River, a 159,500-square-kilometre tract dubbed Guayana Esequiba or the Zona en Reclamación. Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America. Oil was discovered in the early 20th century, today, Venezuela has the world's largest known oil reserves and has been one of the world's leading exporters of oil; the country was an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa, but oil came to dominate exports and government revenues.
The 1980s oil glut led to a long-running economic crisis. Inflation peaked at 100% in 1996 and poverty rates rose to 66% in 1995 as per capita GDP fell to the same level as 1963, down a third from its 1978 peak; the recovery of oil prices in the early 2000s gave. The Venezuelan government under Hugo Chávez established populist social welfare policies that boosted the Venezuelan economy and increased social spending, temporarily reducing economic inequality and poverty in the early years of the regime. However, such populist policies became inadequate, causing the nation's collapse as their excesses—including a uniquely extreme fossil fuel subsidy—are blamed for destabilizing the nation's economy; the destabilized economy led to a crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela, resulting in hyperinflation, an economic depression, shortages of basic goods and drastic increases in unemployment, disease, child mortality and crime. These factors have precipitated the Venezuelan Migrant Crisis where more than three million people have fled the country.
By 2017, Venezuela was declared to be in default regarding debt payments by credit rating agencies. In 2018, the country's economic policies led to extreme hyperinflation, with estimates expecting an inflation rate of 1,370,000% by the end of the year. Venezuela is a charter member of the UN, OAS, UNASUR, ALBA, Mercosur, LAIA and OEI. According to the most popular and accepted version, in 1499, an expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda visited the Venezuelan coast; the stilt houses in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded the Italian navigator, Amerigo Vespucci, of the city of Venice, Italy, so he named the region Veneziola, or "Little Venice". The Spanish version of Veneziola is Venezuela. Martín Fernández de Enciso, a member of the Vespucci and Ojeda crew, gave a different account. In his work Summa de geografía, he states that the crew found indigenous people who called themselves the Veneciuela. Thus, the name "Venezuela" may have evolved from the native word; the official name was Estado de Venezuela, República de Venezuela, Estados Unidos de Venezuela, a
Early life and career of Julius Caesar
The early career of Julius Caesar was characterized by military adventurism and political persecution. Julius Caesar was born on July 13, 100 BC, into a patrician family, the gens Julia, which claimed descent from Iulus, son of the legendary Trojan prince Aeneas the son of the goddess Venus, his father died when he was just 16. His family status put him at odds with the Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who had him executed. At about that time, Caesar found himself captured by pirates, only to crucify his former captors after he was ransomed. Soon he began his military career, he served in Hispania, married Sulla's granddaughter and was elected chief priest, all in rapid succession. Shortly after this, he was suspected, though not convicted, of involvement in the Catiline Conspiracy. Soon he was leaving for a governorship in Hispania and positioning himself to be one of the most important figures in history. Caesar was born into an aristocratic family, the gens Julia, which claimed descent from Iulus, son of the legendary Trojan prince Aeneas the son of the goddess Venus.
The cognomen "Caesar" originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor, born by caesarean section. The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations: that the first Caesar had a thick head of hair. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favoured this interpretation of his name. Despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not politically influential, having produced only three consuls. Caesar's father called Gaius Julius Caesar, reached the rank of praetor, the second highest of the Republic's elected magistracies, governed the province of Asia through the influence of his prominent brother-in-law Gaius Marius, his mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Marcus Antonius Gnipho, an orator and grammarian of Gaulish origin, was employed as Caesar's tutor. Caesar had two older sisters, known as Julia Minor. Little else is recorded of Caesar's childhood. Suetonius and Plutarch's biographies of him both begin abruptly in Caesar's teens.
Caesar's formative years were a time of turmoil, "savage bloodshed". The Social War was fought from 91 to 88 BC between Rome and her Italian allies over the issue of Roman citizenship, while Mithridates of Pontus threatened Rome's eastern provinces. Domestically, Roman politics was divided between politicians known as populares; the optimates tended to be more conservative, defended the interests of the upper class and used and promoted the authority of the Senate. These were not official political parties, but were instead loose confederations of like-minded individuals who would switch sides. Caesar's uncle Gaius Marius was a popularis, Marius' protégé Lucius Cornelius Sulla was an optimas, in Caesar's youth their rivalry led to civil war. Both Marius and Sulla distinguished themselves in the Social War, both wanted command of the war against Mithridates, given to Sulla. Sulla responded by marching his army on Rome, reclaiming his command and forcing Marius into exile, but when he left on campaign Marius returned at the head of a makeshift army.
He and his ally Lucius Cornelius Cinna seized the city and declared Sulla a public enemy, Marius's troops took violent revenge on Sulla's supporters. Marius died early in 86 BC. In 85 BC Caesar's father died while putting on his shoes one morning, without any apparent cause, at sixteen, Caesar was the head of the family; the following year he was nominated to be the new Flamen Dialis, high priest of Jupiter, as Merula, the previous incumbent, had died in Marius's purges. Since the holder of that position not only had to be a patrician but be married to a patrician, he broke off his engagement to Cossutia, a plebeian girl of wealthy equestrian family he had been betrothed to since boyhood, married Cinna's daughter Cornelia. Having brought Mithridates to terms, Sulla returned to finish the civil war against Marius' followers. After a campaign throughout Italy he seized Rome at the Battle of the Colline Gate in November 82 BC and had himself appointed to the revived office of dictator. Statues of Marius were destroyed and Marius' body was exhumed and thrown in the Tiber.
Cinna was dead, killed by his own soldiers in a mutiny. Sulla's proscriptions saw hundreds of his political enemies exiled. Caesar, as the nephew of Marius and son-in-law of Cinna, was targeted, he was stripped of his inheritance, his wife's dowry and his priesthood, but he refused to divorce Cornelia and was forced to go into hiding. The threat against him was lifted by the intervention of his mother's family, which included supporters of Sulla, the Vestal Virgins. Sulla gave in reluctantly, is said to have declared that he saw many a Marius in Caesar. Feeling it much safer to be far away from Sulla should the Dictator change his mind, Caesar quit Rome and joined the army, serving under Marcus Minucius Ther
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was a British statesman of the Conservative Party who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy", he made the Conservatives the party most identified with the power of the British Empire. He is the only British prime minister to have been of Jewish birth, he was a novelist, publishing works of fiction as prime minister. Disraeli was born in Bloomsbury a part of Middlesex, his father left Judaism after a dispute at his synagogue. After several unsuccessful attempts, Disraeli entered the House of Commons in 1837. In 1846 the Prime Minister at the time, Sir Robert Peel, split the party over his proposal to repeal the Corn Laws, which involved ending the tariff on imported grain.
Disraeli clashed with Peel in the House of Commons. Disraeli became a major figure in the party; when Lord Derby, the party leader, thrice formed governments in the 1850s and 1860s, Disraeli served as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. Upon Derby's retirement in 1868, Disraeli became Prime Minister before losing that year's general election, he returned to the Opposition, before leading the party to winning a majority in the 1874 general election. He maintained a close friendship with Queen Victoria, who in 1876 appointed him Earl of Beaconsfield. Disraeli's second term was dominated by the Eastern Question—the slow decay of the Ottoman Empire and the desire of other European powers, such as Russia, to gain at its expense. Disraeli arranged for the British to purchase a major interest in the Suez Canal Company. In 1878, faced with Russian victories against the Ottomans, he worked at the Congress of Berlin to obtain peace in the Balkans at terms favourable to Britain and unfavourable to Russia, its longstanding enemy.
This diplomatic victory over Russia established Disraeli as one of Europe's leading statesmen. World events thereafter moved against the Conservatives. Controversial wars in Afghanistan and South Africa undermined his public support, he angered British farmers by refusing to reinstitute the Corn Laws in response to poor harvests and cheap imported grain. With Gladstone conducting a massive speaking campaign, his Liberals bested Disraeli's Conservatives at the 1880 general election. In his final months, Disraeli led the Conservatives in Opposition, he had throughout his career written novels, beginning in 1826, he published his last completed novel, shortly before he died at the age of 76. Disraeli was born on 21 December 1804 at 6 King's Road, Bedford Row, London, the second child and eldest son of Isaac D'Israeli, a literary critic and historian, Maria, née Basevi; the family was of Sephardic Jewish Italian mercantile background. All Disraeli's grandparents and great-grandparents were born in Italy.
Disraeli romanticised his origins, claiming that his father's family was of grand Spanish and Venetian descent. Historians differ on Disraeli's motives for rewriting his family history: Bernard Glassman argues that it was intended to give him status comparable to that of England's ruling elite. Disraeli's siblings were Sarah, Naphtali and James, he was close to his sister, on affectionate but more distant terms with his surviving brothers. Details of his schooling are sketchy. From the age of about six he was a day boy at a dame school in Islington that one of his biographers described as "for those days a high-class establishment". Two years or so—the exact date has not been ascertained—he was sent as a boarder to Rev John Potticary's St Piran's school at Blackheath. While he was there events at the family home changed the course of Disraeli's education and of his whole life: his father renounced Judaism and had the four children baptised into the Church of England in July and August 1817. Isaac D'Israeli had never taken religion seriously, but had remained a conforming member of the Bevis Marks Synagogue.
His father, the elder Benjamin, was a devout member. After Benjamin senior died in 1816 Isaac felt free to leave the congregation following a second dispute. Isaac's friend Sharon Turner, a solicitor, convinced him that although he could comfortably remain unattached to any formal religion it would be disadvantageous to the children if they did so. Turner stood as godfather when Benjamin was baptised, aged twelve, on 31 July 1817. Conversion to Christianity enabled Disraeli to contemplate a career in politics. Britain in the early-nineteenth century was not a anti-Semitic society, there had been Members of Parliament from Jewish families since Samson Gideon in 1770, but until 1858, MPs were required to take the oath of allegiance "on the true faith of a Christian", necessitating at least nominal conversion. It is not known whether Disraeli formed any ambition for a parliamentary career at
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