A Brief History On September 30, 1935, the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River was dedicated, completing one of America’s greatest engineering and construction feats. Despite the immense fame of the dam and the thousands of people that visit it each year, there seems to be some misinformation about the great structure. Here we list 10 Things You Might Not Know About Hoover Dam, no significance to the order of the list. Digging Deeper 10. Due to anti-terrorism concerns, tours no longer include most of the interior of the structure. The public is no longer welcome to tour any sensitive…
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 September 28, 2008, the history of space exploration reached a new milestone when SpaceX, a private company, launched their Falcon 1 unmanned spacecraft, the first private spacecraft launched into orbit. Breaking News: On Saturday, May 30, 2020, SpaceX and NASA made history together when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried 2 American astronauts into space up to the International Space Station in a successful launch and flight, the first manned flight from the United States in a decade. This flight is the first time a private company has ever taken NASA astronauts into space. The crew…
A Brief History On September 26, 1944, Operation Market Garden came to an end, failing to take all the objectives and suffering greater losses than the Germans, a fairly unusual occurrence at that point in the war. Normally maddeningly conservative, Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery placed his faith in a rapid advance to and across the Rhine by seizing a series of bridges including parachute drops on a large scale. Digging Deeper Particularly unsuccessful was the assault on the bridge at Arnhem over the Rhine, the most important of all the bridges targeted. British paratroopers briefly held one end of…
A Brief History On September 25, 1066, the Battle of Stamford Bridge signaled the end of the Viking invasions of England. This significant English victory was soon superseded by the Battle of Hastings only 3 weeks later, in which the Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the British. Bridges have often been focal points of battles, often pivotal ones of great importance. Here we list 10 Battles at Bridges that are either famous or significant. (The order of listing does not signify importance.) (Note: See tomorrow’s article about the ill fated attack on bridges during World War II called Operation…
A Brief History On September 20, 1835, Brazilian rebels captured Porto Alegre, starting a rebellion that lasted almost 10 years called The Ragamuffin War. The longest war against the Imperial Brazilian government (and second bloodiest), the Ragamuffin war raged between southern, rural “Ragamuffins” or “Gauchos” (cowboys) that wanted a Republican form of government against the northern portion of the country. Digging Deeper Despite an offer of amnesty and peace in 1840, the rebels continued the fight even though no realistic chance of winning existed. The famed Italian revolutionary and uniter, Giuseppe Garibaldi, came to assist the rebels in 1839 and…