Browsing: March

A Brief History On March 5, 2023, Americans celebrate yet another of those strange “National Days” that you may not be aware of, this time, honoring that fabled alcoholic beverage, Absinthe, known as “The Green Fairey.” Digging Deeper Created by French doctor Pierre Ordinaire in the late 18th Century and made with wormwood, anise, fennel, other herbs, and of course, plenty of alcohol, the libation was first intended as a medicinal elixir.  Containing a trace amount of a chemical called thujone, Absinthe was reputed to be hallucinogenic, and was banned in the US and most of Europe by 1915. Not…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on March 5th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On March 5, 1496, in the wake of the tremendous news about the voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World, King Henry VII of England granted “letters patent” to John Cabot, an Italian sailor and adventurer, along with his sons, to explore the world on behalf of the English Crown. On March 5, 1770, in an incident then known as “The…

A Brief History On March 5, 1946, while speaking at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, uttered the term “Iron Curtain” in reference to the divide between the Soviet led Communist Bloc and the democratic/capitalist Western group of nations led by the United States.  The phrase quickly assumed common and pervasive use amongst Westerners as both a derisive and ominous term describing the Communist Bloc. Digging Deeper World War II (1939-1945) had left the world with two competing camps of military and political power, the West and the East, the West being the US, UK,…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on March 4th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On March 4, 938, the relics of Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs, were translated, which means moved to a more permanent location. On March 4, 1917, the U.S. Congress welcomed its first female U.S. Representative (congresswoman) when Jeanette Rankin of Montana joined the exclusive group. On March 4, 1918, the USS Cyclops kept a date with destiny! On March…

A Brief History On March 4, 938, the relics of Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs, were translated, which means moved to a more permanent location.  Not really a king during his life, Wenceslaus was posthumously promoted to “King of the Czechs” after his death. Digging Deeper Wenceslaus was born in Prague, Bohemia in 907, and became Duke in 921.  In 935, he was assassinated by his own brother, the aptly named Boleslaus the Cruel.  The family murders had begun when Wenceslaus’s own mother had his grandmother and regent killed to prevent the grandmother’s influence.  The evil…