Browsing: October

A Brief History Since Call of Duty’s debut on October 29, 2003, it has become one of the best-known and most-played video game series of all time. It has prompted divides between children who want to play it and parents who will not let them, and it is diverted the attention of players away from their spouses to such an extent that it has been cited in divorce papers, but how much do you really know about the all-conquering Call of Duty franchise? We’re not talking about the best defensive positions to take on a map, or the fastest way…

A Brief History On October 31, 1917, during World War I, the war that brought the mass use of machine guns, armored vehicles, airplanes, and poison gas into warfare, a singular battle stands out as an anachronism when the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force sent infantry and cavalry units against the Yildirim Army Group (Ottoman Turks and Germans) defending the town of Beersheba in the Negev region of what is now Israel.  Incredibly, the largely Australian and Anzac mounted troops made the cavalry charge with their rifles slung over their backs, and their bayonets in their hands! Digging Deeper After some…

A Brief History On October 30, 1806, 5,300 Prussian soldiers defending the city of Stettin surrendered to only 800 French soldiers commanded by General Lassalle, falling for the ruse that the French force was much larger.  We previously used this example of wartime trickery as the start of our article, “Fooled You! Battles Won by Trickery.”  Today we continue to explore the use of ruses, false information, decoys, fakes and general trickery in the conduct of warfare.  Here are some more such incidents, and like our previous article, concerning World War II (with other tricky battles from other wars to…

A Brief History On October 29, 1877, former Confederate States of America Army General Nathan Bedford Forrest died, but despite being an early member of the infamous racist organization, the Ku Klux Klan and serving as the first Grand Wizard of the notorious hate group, he had changed his tune, denying involvement with the Klan and denouncing the racism and violence associated with the KKK! Digging Deeper If you believe Nathan Bedford Forrest is something of a folk hero to White Supremacists, and conversely a hated and despised person by those seeking racial equality, you would be right!  Forrest’s contribution…

A Brief History By statute enacted on October 31, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson was authorized to take possession of various territories ceded by France to the United States of America in what is known as the Louisiana Purchase.  In the swamps of Louisiana, there roams, in the shallow depths, a modern-day dinosaur: the Louisiana Crocodile. For years, this beast plagued the lands of Louisiana, claiming a few noble Louisianan lives until a group of knights — the Cajuns — became fed up. They called themselves ‘Swamp People’. And with a group of fresh Cajun recruits, the Swamp People armed themselves…