A Brief History On February 24, 2022, days after recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered a full scale invasion of Ukraine. Digging Deeper Russia’s invasion has had five major phases thus far. The first phase covers the period from February 24th, 2022, when Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine, to April 7th, 2022 when fighting focused away from the northeast and Kyiv and towards the south and east of Ukraine. The second phase covers the period from April 8th, 2022, when the area of heavy fighting shifted to the south and east of…
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A Brief History On May 18, 1804, Corsican born army general and First Consul of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, was named as Emperor of the French by the French senate, effectively ending the Republic and creating a French Empire. Digging Deeper Famous as a person that valued pomp and appearances, Napoleon put the Crown of Imperial France on his own head at his coronation in December of 1804 at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. The great man’s reign would last 10 years until he was deposed and sent to Elba in exile, although he regained his role as Emperor in March of…
A Brief History On May 11, 1889, a US Army paymaster escorted by 11 “Buffalo” Soldiers were ambushed on their way from Fort Grant to Fort Thomas in the Arizona Territory by between seven and 13 bandits. The attack left eight of the soldiers wounded and the bandits absconded with the entire payroll of $28,000 in gold and silver coins. Digging Deeper The shootout resulted in two of the soldiers earning the Medal of Honor and the rest of the soldiers awarded Certificates of Merit, in spite of losing the payroll. The value of the payroll in today’s dollars would…
A Brief History On February 15, 1972, in what is surely one of the most frustrating political events in history, the President of Ecuador, José María Velasco Ibarra, was ousted by a military coup, incredibly, the fourth time such a coup took place out of the five times Ibarra was president! Digging Deeper A lawyer born in 1893, Ibarra became involved in politics in the 1930s, eventually rising to the presidency of Ecuador in 1934, a post he regained in 1944, 1952, 1960, and 1968. His unceremonious oustings occurred in 1935, 1947, 1961, and 1972. In 1956, Ibarra left power…
A Brief History On February 2, 1943, the last of the German army at Stalingrad surrendered to the Soviet Red Army, often called “the turning point” of World War II in Europe. Germany never recovered offensive momentum after the defeat at Stalingrad, having lost about a million men killed, as many as 5,600 combat aircraft, over 4,300 tanks, and over 15,000 artillery pieces. Digging Deeper The Germans were forced to redeploy men and equipment from other theaters to shore up their Eastern Front, affecting the course of all future battles in Europe. The Pacific Theater was an entirely different theater,…