A Brief History On August 2, 1916, Austrian saboteurs managed to sink the Italian battleship, Leonardo da Vinci as the great ship lay in Taranto harbor. Was the magazine explosion an accident, or did the Austrians use some sort of novel booby trap to sink the mighty vessel? Either way, World War I, like other wars, saw the imagination of arms designers and military engineers run wild. Previously we have discussed 10 Weird Weapons of World War I, and today we expand our list by another 5 goofy gadgets both sides came up with to pursue victory in this terrible…
Browsing: August
Read More
A Brief History On August 1, 1993, the Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 came to its peak. Was this disaster the worst flood of the Mississippi River since European colonization of North America? The answer is a solid “maybe.” Different parameters for measuring how “bad” a flood is can leave the subject of which flood is the “worst” open to debate. In some ways, the Great Flood of 1993 can be considered the worst Mississippi River flood in US History. Digging Deeper Big floods often cause big damage, both in dollar amounts and in environmental impact. Washed…
A Brief History On August 10, 1901, Charlotte Anne Moberly (1846–1937) and Eleanor Jourdain (1863–1924) traveled by train to Versailles to visit the Royal Palace and grounds located there about 12 miles from the city center of Paris. Little did they realize their sight seeing trip would be a trip into the supernatural, a trip they would never forget. Digging Deeper Moberly was born in 1846 in Winchester, England, and had become an academician, working as Principal of St. Hugh’s College, in Oxford. Previously she had served as her father’s secretary, her father serving as the Bishop of Salisbury. Jourdain…
A Brief History On August 31, 1939, German troops dressed in Polish uniforms pretended to attack a German radio station near the German-Polish border at Gleiwitz (Gliwice in Polish). Concentration camp inmates had been previously shot and dressed in German uniforms and left at the radio station to make it seem the Poles had attacked Germany, giving Germany the excuse for starting World War II in Europe. Actions taken against one’s own side under the guise of being an attack by an enemy is a ruse known as a false flag operation. These can be done on air, on land…
A Brief History On August 30, 1879, American Army and Confederate Army General John Bell Hood died of Yellow Fever, only six days after his wife and daughter died of that disease, leaving behind 10 orphaned children and a rich heritage as a fighting man. Digging Deeper Hood was born in Kentucky in 1831, and received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point from his uncle, Congressman Richard French. Nearly expelled for being assigned an excess of demerits, Hood graduated #44 out of 52 graduates of the class of 1853. The Superintendent of West Point during…