Browsing: Military

A Brief History On January 4, 1847, inventor of the modern revolving pistol, Sam Colt, first sold his 1847 Walker .44 caliber revolver to the US Army, and the pistol promptly made its mark in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) where the revolver gave the Americans a decided advantage.  Since then, there have been many assorted pistols issued for use in combat by the US Military, some successful designs that lasted many years and some not so successful designs.  Today we list the 10 Pistols/Revolvers that we think are the best of the bunch.  (We will also mention a few of…

A Brief History On December 29, 1890, the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army perpetrated a massacre against Native Americans of the Lakota People near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota.  Included among those killed were about 200 women and children.  (Note:  It was the 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George A. Custer that was massacred at the Little Big Horn River in 1873.) Digging Deeper The soldiers had rounded up about 120 Lakota men and over 240 Lakota women and children (numbers vary with source) on December 28th and had herded them back toward the Pine Ridge…

A Brief History On December 18, 1981, the Soviet Union put into flight the largest combat airplane ever made, the Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack heavy bomber.  The Blackjack (which the NATO name, Russians call it White Swan) is also the largest Mach 2 supersonic airplane to ever fly, and is the largest variable swept wing airplane to fly.  It remains the longest and heaviest bomber ever built, with a length 18 feet more than a B-52.  Although built only in small numbers, the development of this giant, fast bomber stoked panic in Western democracies during the Cold War and provided fuel…

A Brief History On December 16, 1838, one of the greatest defeats of a large military force by a much smaller force took place with incredibly lopsided results when the Boers (also known as Voortrekkers or  Afrikaners) of South Africa fought the Zulu warriors at ‘Blood River’ (also known as Ncome River) in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Digging Deeper The Boers were Dutch settlers of South Africa, and those hardy souls that headed inland to settle were called “Trekkers” or pioneers (or “Voortrekkers” after 1880).  In 1838, the Trekkers had encountered many obstacles in illness, harsh terrain, and hostile African…

A Brief History On December 12, 1862, the United States ship, USS Cairo, an iron-clad gunboat of the City-class, was sunk in the Yazoo River by a remotely detonated Confederate “torpedo,” what naval mines were called back then.  The Cairo became the first ship ever sunk by a remote control mine.  (The Cairo was named after the city of Cairo, Illinois.) Digging Deeper Commissioned on January 25, 1862, Cairo was at first an Army gunboat, 175 feet long and 51 feet wide, protected by 2 ½ inches of plate armor, with a maximum thickness of 3 ½ inches of railway…