A Brief History On October 19, 1781, British and German forces outnumbered 2 to 1 by American and French forces finally surrendered after a 3 week siege of Yorktown, Virginia. Also known as The Battle of Yorktown or The German Battle, this was the decisive battle of the American Revolutionary War, even through the official end of hostilities would take another 2 years. The defeat and capture of Cornwallis and all his forces was a defeat on a scale unacceptable to the British government, who would begin negotiations for a peace settlement soon after word of the disaster arrived in…
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.
Read More
A Brief History On October 19, 1950, the worst fears of President Truman came true, when despite General Douglas MacArthur’s confident assessment that the Chinese would not cross the Yalu River and interfere with the Korean War, 200,000 Chinese soldiers streamed across the river and attacked UN/South Korean forces. MacArthur had told Truman only about 100,000 Chinese soldiers were near the Yalu, a gross underestimate. Even after initial fighting with Chinese, MacArthur did not grasp the scope of the disaster. Digging Deeper North Korea had invaded South Korea earlier that year, surprising the US and its South Korean ally. Korea…
A Brief history On June 13, 1525, former Roman Catholic friar Martin Luther broke church rules and married Katharina von Bora, a nun. Obviously, this marriage was a great scandal and was part of the schism that resulted in the formation of the Protestant portion of the Christian religious groups. Weddings can sometimes be scandalous, notorious, infamous, or just downright weird, and the marriage that comes after the wedding can be just as goofy. Here we list 10 of those. (On April 9 we have a list of “10 Unpopular and Weird Weddings.” Please see that list to check if…
A Brief History On October 18, 1945, the Soviet nuclear program received American atomic bomb (plutonium implosion type) plans from scientist, Klaus Fuchs, a German refugee from the Third Reich. Fuchs had been passing nuclear secrets to the USSR in Britain prior to his involvement in the US-British-Canadian Manhattan Project. Digging Deeper Born in Germany the son of a Lutheran minister, the Fuchs family had communist leanings and opposed the rise of the Nazi state. Fuchs went to Britain in 1933 to study physics, and was awarded a PhD and a DSc (doctor of science) degree. In 1939 at the…
A Brief History On October 17, 2003, the pinnacle was placed upon the top of the 101 story Taipei World Financial Center (the original name), making it (at the time) the tallest building in the world at a whopping 1667 feet tall, a full 184 feet taller than the previous record holder, the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Digging Deeper The Petronas Towers held the record from 1998 to 2003 (or 2004 if you want to wait until Taipei 101 was actually opened), and Taipei 101 held the record until 2010 when the even taller Burj Khalifa in…