A Brief History On August 15, 1281, the army and navy forces of the Mongol/Chinese Emperor Kublai Khan were destroyed at the Battle of Kōan, an attempt to invade and conquer Japan. Aided by a fortuitous weather situation called by the Japanese a “Divine Wind” (or “Kamikaze” in Japanese), the Mongol forces were defeated, and Kublai Khan never did get to conquer Japan. In fact, the great Khan had previously made an attempt at conquering Japan to add to his vast empire, back in 1271, and that attempt was also failed by a “Divine Wind!” Genghis Khan and his grandson,…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On August 14, 1937, the Japanese invasion of China that started July 7, 1937, at the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, saw the first air to air combat of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War and arguably the first air to air combat of World War II (presuming you consider the start of the war between Japan and China as the start of World War II). While Japanese aviation and aviators are often given accolades as the best trained and equipped air forces in the Pacific theater early in World War II, this first aerial combat resulted in a resounding…
A Brief History On August 13, 2019, we went and saw the latest horror movie from Hollywood, the movie version of Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Perhaps you read the books back in the day (the 3 books spanned the time from 1981 to 1991), as we did. Aimed at the preteen and teen-aged audience, even as an adult I found the stories interesting enough to read and finish the books. It was with this fond memory that we went to the movies this morning. Digging Deeper We enjoyed the movie. While not a pure anthology…
A Brief History On August 12, 30 BC, Cleopatra VII Philopator is alleged to have committed suicide by allowing an Asp (a venomous snake of the cobra family) to bite her. (Yes, she was THE Cleopatra.) We used this occasion to publish our article, “10 Famous Suicides,” and today we list another list of those that took their own lives, “5 More Famous Suicides.” We have also addressed the suicide phenomena in our articles “10 More Famous Suicides,” “10 World Leaders that Committed Suicide,” and “The Origins of Dr. Death (Assisted Suicide).” Please note that we do not glorify or…
A Brief History On August 11, 2019, the world of the rich and famous are still reeling from the allegations revealed in the release of court records on August 9, 2019, in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case. Epstein, a wealthy playboy that associated with rich and famous people, including Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, had been charged with a variety of sex related crimes, including crimes concerning minors. On August 10, 2019, he was found hanging in his cell in Federal custody, the victim of an “apparent” suicide. But was it? Digging Deeper In an infamous 2007 case, Epstein…