Author: Dr. Zar

A Brief History On September 7, 1812, The Battle of Borodino was fought as part of the Napoleonic Wars during the French invasion of Russia.  As a result of France’s tactical victory, Emperor Napoleon I the Great (r. 1804-1814, 1815), one of history’s “great captains”, captured Moscow.  In commemoration of Napoleon’s victory, this article lists those particularly illustrious military commanders considered the “great captains” of history.  The notes for each entry are to sources that explicitly refer to the individuals as “great captains”. Digging Deeper Cyrus II of Persia (c. 600 – 530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great and…

A Brief History On June 14, 2017, in Alexandria, Virginia, a man belonging to a Facebook group called “Terminate the Republican Party” opened fire on several Republican members of Congress and their staffers, who were practicing for the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity, scheduled for the next day.  Amidst this appalling act of violence, several heroes acted to prevent a bad situation from being potentially far worse.  This article honors those heroes! Digging Deeper The practice game had been underway for about half an hour when the assailant, identified as former Bernie Sanders-campaigner James Thomas Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois,…

A Brief History On June 16, 2010, Bhutan, a landlocked country in Asia and the smallest state located entirely within the Himalaya mountain range, became the first country to institute a total ban on tobacco. Digging Deeper Long before the enactment of the Tobacco Control Act of 2010, Bhutan’s government struggled against tobacco use.  In 1916, the first King of Bhutan Ugyen Wangchuck (r. 1907–1926) promulgated a ban on the “most filthy and noxious herb, called tobacco.” Just shy of a century later, 2010’s The Tobacco Control Act of Bhutan regulates tobacco and tobacco products, banning the cultivation, harvesting, production,…

A Brief History Today, June 15, 2017, we raise a mug and wish all of our British readers a happy Beer Day Britain, Britain’s National Beer Day. Digging Deeper The date of this relatively new holiday has been celebrated annually on 15 June since only 2015.  The founders of the holiday chose the date because 15 June is also the date that the Magna Carta, one of Britain’s most important legal documents in the island’s entire history, was sealed in 1215.  If you are wondering what the heck does the Magna Carta, a peace treaty between an unpopular king and his…

A Brief History On June 14, 1986, The Mindbender, the world’s largest indoor triple-loop roller coaster, derailed and killed three riders at Galaxyland inside West Edmonton Mall, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Digging Deeper The accident occurred just a few months after the ride’s opening on March 16, 1986.  On a Saturday evening in June of that same year, the roller coaster’s yellow train (train No. 1) completed the ride’s second inverted loop before encountering one of three areas of uplift before the third and final loop.  Unfortunately, missing bolts on the left inside wheel assembly of the last car of the…