“Shooting Stars” by Stefan Zweig

Completed on 8th of September 2017

Review: 

A delightful little book about some of the major historical events, focusing on their outcomes often driven by a set of accidental circumstances. 

What makes this book exceptional is the way the author narrates the individual events. His focus on the root cause of each historical episode gives us better perspective on those events.

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Notes: 

The following events are described:

1. The discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Vasco Nunez de Balboa in 1513. 
In search of gold he crossed the isthmus of Panama covered by hot marshy jungle and reaches the Pacific. Instead of gold they found pearls, and learnt that gold was further south in Biru (Peru). 
Exhausted, he returned to Spanish settlement. On his second attempt to cross the isthmus, he took with him timber to build ships on the Pacific coast. The timber rottted and the mission failed again. 
He tried once more and managed to build four brigantines to sail the Pacific. Unfortunately, a sudden tornado capsized the ships. He tried again and managed to complete two brigantines and to start on the remaining two. 
At that time, he got a friendly letter from Panamas governor to come back and discuss some details. Hoping to get more support Balboa returned and was met by his friend Francisco Pizarro, who arrested him. 
He was put on trial for his alleged earlier rebellion and executed. In the end, it was Pizarro who reached Peru and its gold.

2. The Conquest of Byzantium in 1453 by Mahomet succeeded when his troops discovered that one of the smaller gates, known as the Kerkoporta, had been left open.

3. The Resurrection of George Frederic Handel in 1741. 
Handel in 1737, at the age of 55 suffered a stroke and his right-hand side got paralysed. Gradually, he recovered his health by taking hot baths in Aachen. He returned to his work, but his financial situation was deteriorating and he suffered from depression. 
A letter from the poet Jennens triggered his creative forces to write his Messiah oratorio. He worked incessantly for three weeks to complete his masterpiece. Its premiere on 13th of April of 1737 turned out to be a great success.

4. The Genius of a Night – The Marseillaise. It tells a story of Marseillaise, created in one night by Captain Rouget on 25th of April 1792. He died in 1836, a forgotten man, who did not compose anything else in his life. Only after his death he got recognised and almost a hundred years later re-buried in the cathedral of Les Invalides, where the mortal remains of Bonaparte are.

5. The Field of Waterloo – After his escape from Elba Napoleon collected his army and clashed with the Prussian army at Ligny. The Prussian withdrawn towards Brussels. Napoleon allocated a third of his army to Marshal Grouchy to pursue the Germans. Soon after Napoleon encountered his enemies at Waterloo. Grouchy was unable to locate the Germans, who in the meantime turned around towards Waterloo. Despite some suggestions from the junior officers to re-join the core of the army, Grouchy insisted on pursuing the Germans to comply with his original order. The battle at Waterloo was undecided until Germans arrived and tilted the balance against the French. When Grouchy finally decided to go back it was too late and all was lost.

6. The Discovery of El Dorado in 1848 – Tells a story of the Swiss migrant John Sutter who arrived in America in 1834. In 1838, he arrived at Monterey in California and got a licence from a Mexican governor to build a settlement called New Helvetia. When gold was discovered in 1848 the California got swamped by thousands who come to seek their luck there. Sutter lost his property and moved to a remote property near the mountains to become an agriculturalist. When California joined the United States in 1850 Sutter sued the government to recover his land, on which San Francisco had been built. He won his claim in 1855 but the mob killed his sons and destroyed his property. Sutter escaped with his life and embarked on 25 years effort to get his compensation in Washington. He died of heart attack in 1880 a ruined man.

7. The First Word to Cross the Ocean in 1855. This story relates an attempt to connect Europe with the USA by an undersea cable. Tells a story of Cyrus W. Field, a young industrialist and investor, who wanted to connect Newfoundland with Ireland. The first attempt used a ship "Niagara" laying its cable from Newfoundland. Unfortunately, at one stage the cable slipped off the reel and got lost in deep water. In the following year, the second ship the "Agamemnon" was employed with the aim to start laying the cable from a middle point in the Atlantic. Unfortunately, a storm stroke the "Agamemnon" and damaged the cable. The second attempt failed as well. The third attempt started in July 1858. This time both ships succeeded and communication between two continents was established. However, soon after, the signal quality deteriorated and finally ceased. The whole work stopped for the next six years. Finally, Field organised a new capital and employed the largest ship available at the time – the "Great Eastern" built by the famous Brunel. This attempt failed again because of a tear in the cable. The second attempt in July 1866 turned out successful at last and the new cable got connected to the recovered lost strain from America. The connection worked this time for good.

8. The Race to reach the South Pole in 1912 – A story of captain Scott and his attempt to be the first man to reach South Pole. 
The expedition left England in 1910 and in January 1911 arrived at Cape Evans. They built their quarters and spent winter there. On one of the expeditions they found Amundsen’s winter quarters, which were 110 km closer to the Pole than their own ones. 
On 1st of November they set out in the separate groups of thirty, twenty and finally only five men making their way through the white wilderness. The weather remained poor. On 30th of December they reached the latitude of 87 degrees, Shackleton’s ultimate point. 
Here only five members were decided to go on. The chosen five were: Scott, Bowers, Oates, Wilson and Evans. On 16th of January they found that Amundsen had camped there already. 
Finally, they reached the Pole on 18th of January and found Amundsen’s tent. On their way back, Evans died on 17th of February. They suffered from low stocks of fuel in their depots. On 21st of March Oates walked off too exhausted to continue. On 29th of March they crawled into their tent to dye. 
Their companions at the base spent their second winter there and on 29th of October set out in search of Scott. They found their bodies on 12th of November 1912.

9. The Sealed Train talks about Lenin’s trip from Switzerland to Russia in April 1917 in a sealed train provided by the Germans.

10. Wilson’s Failure – Treaty of Versailles in 1919 – talks about failure of the American president Wilson to impose a balanced peace treaty after the First World War, which ultimately led to raise of Hitler and the Second World War.