A Brief History On July 18, 1806, a powder magazine exploded accidentally at Birgu, Malta, creating massive damage to the military and civilian infrastructure nearby and killing at least 200 people. Such accidental explosions have often taken place throughout the history of gunpowder and other explosives, and today we take a look at 10 of those memorable events. (“Gunpowder” includes black powder, the original explosive and propellant, as well as modern “smokeless” nitro based powders and modern explosives.) Digging Deeper USS Maine, 1898 We list this disaster first, because of the battle cry, “Remember the Maine!” How could we forget? …
Browsing: July 18
A Brief History On July 18, 1290, King Edward I of England, also known as “Edward Longshanks” or alternatively “The Hammer of the Scots,” issued the Edict of Expulsion, a royal decree ordering all Jews out of England. At the time, about 16,000 Jews resided in not so Merry Old England. Along with so many other pogroms, massacres, and forcible expulsions, Jewish people have had such a history of discrimination and exclusion that they have their own day of fasting and remembrance of various calamities and disasters, called Tisha B’Av, known as the “saddest day on the Jewish calendar.” Digging…
A Brief History On July 18, 64 AD, the center of Western Civilization, the city of Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, suffered an enormous fire that devastated the city and burned for 6 days. Contrary to popular myth, Emperor Nero could not have been fiddling during this event as the violin was not invented until the 1500’s! Digging Deeper Actually, Nero’s enemies accused him of sending out teams of agents pretending to be drunk to start fires around the city, and then as the story goes, Nero calmly played the Lyre (an old time stringed instrument) while the…
A Brief History On July 18, 1942, German aeronautical engineers reached a milestone in aviation history when the twin jet powered Messerschmitt Me 262 made its first flight under jet power. Initial flights of the soon to be first successful jet warplane had been made with a regular propeller driving engine mounted on the nose of the prototype in order to test the airframe. Digging Deeper The Me 262 Swallow (“Schwalbe” in German) would become operational in April of 1944, much to the chagrin of Allied pilots. The Me 262 boasted a top speed of 559 mph, more than 100…
A Brief History On July 18, 1969, Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy of Massachusetts, possibly the next Democratic presidential nominee, drove his Oldsmobile off a bridge over Chappaquiddick Creek, killing his passenger, a young woman not his wife. This scandal mixing a woman and booze may well have cost Kennedy a chance to ever earn the Democratic presidential nomination that he felt was his. Many times over the years famous politicians have tainted their legacies by sexual scandal, and here we list 10 of the most egregious and most famous indiscretions. Today, when surveillance video and cell phone recording capability are…
