A Brief History Today, we celebrate our 100th post by going back to December 16, 1838 when the Ncome River in South Africa became the Blood River at what is known as The Battle of Blood River where the river ran red with blood! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the Boers, colonists of Dutch extraction, trying to settle land long owned by the Zulu Kingdom in what is now South Africa. The Zulu people were tall and physically imposing, living in large numbers with a warrior culture among their men and boys, and led by King Dingane. The Boers,…
Browsing: December
Read More
A Brief History On December 15, 1967, the “Mothman” prophecy came true when the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River collapsed tumbling cars into the cold water! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find a bridge disaster that claimed 46 lives that may have been predicted by a supernatural or alien entity! Connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Kanauga, Ohio the Silver Bridge was built in 1928 and crossed the Ohio River. It was a suspension bridge of the eye-bar chain design and was later found to have failed due to a chain link breaking and the design not allowing for…
A Brief History On December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen of Norway narrowly beat a doomed English expedition to win the race to the South Pole! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the Norwegian team of Amundsen (the tenth most famous explorer in history!) and 4 other men arriving just over a month before the Robert Scott led English expedition reached the South Pole only to find the Norwegian flag and evidence of Amundsen’s feat. While the Norwegians made it back to base camp safely, the ill fated Englishmen died along the way back, carrying the crushing burden of knowing they…
A Brief History On December 13, 1937, the blood-lust of a number of Japanese soldiers reached unprecedented proportions when they massacred over 250,000 Chinese in Nanking! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Japan waging a war against their huge but militarily weak neighbor, China, during the lead up to World War II. Resentful of western spheres of influence in China and western colonies throughout Asia, Japan was ready for their own piece of the pie. In their arrogance, they considered themselves the master race and as such deserved to rule all of Asia. This ethnocentric and nationalistic feeling set the…
A Brief History On this date, December 12, 1098, in what is now Syria, Crusaders massacred 20,000 Muslims and ate some of them! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find European Christians launching what is now known as the First Crusade, an attempt to take back lands overrun by the sweeping Muslim hordes. Besieging a city at Ma’arra (various spellings) the Crusaders were at the walls on December 12, 1098 when the Muslims inside finally surrendered after about a month of resistance. Promises of the safety of residents to the contrary, the Crusaders began the systematic slaughter of the population. Frustrated…