A Brief History On December 27, 1929, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin signed an order to “eliminate the Kulaks as a class,” resulting in a sort of genocide. The Kulaks were not an ethnic group but rather a social class that in today’s United States would be the equivalent of the upper working class or the lower middle class. In the Soviet Union, Kulaks were the upper class of peasants who had accumulated more property, wealth and power than the lower-class peasants. Digging Deeper Stalin sought to separate the Kulaks into 3 main groups, the first of which were those to be executed. The second group…
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 December 26, 1919, the owner of the Boston Red Sox gave the owner of the New York Yankees probably the greatest Christmas gift in history when he sold Babe Ruth, the greatest baseball player of all time to him. Red Sox owner Harry Frazee was said to have needed money to finance a play and so sold Ruth for only $100,000 in cash and a $350,000 loan. Digging Deeper The Red Sox had won the 1918 World Series and would not win another until 2004, often said to be because of “The Curse of the Bambino.” With both his terrific…
A Brief History On December 24, 1914, exactly 100 years ago today, British and German soldiers facing each other across No Man’s Land in the trenches of World War I confounded their superiors by leaving their trenches and walking out to meet and greet their enemies in the spirit of Christmas brotherhood. Digging Deeper Not only did the soldiers shake hands and converse but they even exchanged presents! When they sang carols together, it just about gave the generals on both sides fits. In some cases, football games (soccer) were played between opposing forces as well. French troops were a bit less eager…
A Brief History On December 23, 1972, the survivors of an airliner crash in the Andes Mountains were finally rescued after 73 days. Rescuers soon discovered the grisly evidence that the survivors had lived only because they had eaten those who had died. Throughout history, there have been instances where humans have eaten other humans, sometimes out of sheer desperation to survive, other times just because they wanted to. Here 10 more such incidents are listed. (No, Hannibal Lecter does not count, even if they do call him “Hannibal the Cannibal!”) In case you feel cheated out of a couple famous cannibals, consider…
A Brief History On December 21, 1965, the United Nations, often accused of being a useless organization, outlawed racism by passing The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. This agreement went into effect in 1969 and to date has been signed by 87 nations (somewhat less than half of nations in the United Nations). Digging Deeper This convention called upon all member nations to “outlaw hate speech and to criminalize membership in racist organizations.” Some of the nifty articles cover: methods to prevent discrimination, also in regard to immigration policies; definitions of appropriate terms; ways of resolving disputes and…