Browsing: March 12

A Brief History On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria and the absorption of Austria into Germany became a fact.  Other countries have either merged or absorbed independent lands, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and today we look at some of those mergers. Digging Deeper A long lasting, but tenuous merger is the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This union was a work in progress from 1535 to 1801, until most of Ireland became independent in 1922. The USSR, which resulted from Russia transforming into a giant communist state in 1922, incorporated 21 “republics” and…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on March 12th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On March 12, 1894, Coca-Cola, the preeminent soft drink on the planet, was first bottled and sold in Vicksburg, Mississippi by Joseph Beidenharn, a soda fountain operator who owned a candy store. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria and the absorption of Austria into Germany became a fact. On March 12, 1940, an epic battle of a David against a Goliath ended in…

A Brief History On March 12, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan was devastated by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, causing a reactor to explode and release radiation into the environment. Digging Deeper To this day a 12 mile radius “no-go” zone is imposed around the disaster site, with only scientists and technicians with appropriate protection allowed to visit.  Radioactive water will continue to be released into the Pacific Ocean for a period of 3 decades. Far from the only nuclear plant disaster, other disasters have cast a pall on what has been touted as “clean”…

A Brief History On March 12, 2020, people all over the globe are wondering about the true origins and the true implications of the “coronavirus” that (as we are told) originated in Wuhan, China.  Drastic measures being taken, including shutting down schools and colleges, draconian quarantines of cruise ships, cancellation public presidential campaign events, ending spectators at school athletic contests and the use of the National Guard to enforce a quarantine of New Rochelle, New York are all the types of measures we would expect in some sort of apocalyptic scenario, such as the Black Plague or the fictional “Captain…

A Brief History On March 12, 2018, we join movie fans in celebrating Alfred Hitchcock Day, remembering all the great films and television this English director brought to us over the years from 1919 to 1980, one of the longest and greatest directorial careers in cinema history. (Once again, we could not find out who started this day and when. Alas!) Digging Deeper Born outside of East London in 1899, young Alfred was a loner, though he did well at Catholic school, although the strict physical discipline instilled a strong sense of fear in the boy. Likewise, Alfred feared the…