A Brief History On October 20, 2011, the former King of Kings of Africa’s gruesome murder was recorded and posted all over the internet. Digging Deeper Muammar Gaddafi was once one of the longest “reigning” leaders in the world. After a revolution overthrew Libya’s monarchy in 1969, Gaddafi seized power, holding a number of ever more lofty sounding titles. From 1969 through 2011, he at various times referred to himself as the Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution in Libya, Prime Minister of Libya, Chairperson of the African Union, and yes, toward the end of his life, he even…
Browsing: Military
A Brief History On October 15, 1863, The H. L. Hunley, a Confederate (the South!) submarine, sank during a test, killing its inventor and namesake, Horace L. Hunley. Digging Deeper The Hunley was NOT the first submarine ever invented and certainly not the first one ever used for military purposes. The first military submersible was most likely the Turtle invented by David Bushnell in 1775 for use in the American Revolutionary War. Robert Fulton, another American inventor, invented the leaky Nautilus in 1800 and thus tried unsuccessfully to entice First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte of France to make use of the…
A Brief History On October 12, 1216, King John of England lost his crown jewels! Digging Deeper England has had only one king named John for a good reason: their only king who had that name was quite possibly the country’s worst monarch in its entire over 1000-year-long history! John “Lackland” or “Softsword” (December 24, 1166 – October 19, 1216) reigned as England’s king from April 6, 1199 until his death on October 19, 1216. He succeeded the famed crusader-king Richard the Lionhearted on England’s throne and experienced one debacle after another. Even before John’s reign officially began, he tried…
A Brief History On October 11, 1972, a race riot took place not in a city, but at sea! Digging Deeper From the 1950s on into the 1970s, tensions among American whites and blacks were appallingly high. While we Americans commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s peaceful efforts at integration with a holiday, the March on Washington and “I have a dream” speech are but part of the story of the long and arguably still ongoing effort at promoting racial equality in our country. By the end of the 1960s, another more violent part of that story came into play. Nationwide…
A Brief History On either October 10th or November 10th, 1580, after a three-day siege, a papal army surrendered to the English in Ireland, only to be massacred. Digging Deeper In the decades following the religious turmoil brought about by the Protestant Reformation, the various Christian groups of Europe battled each other in wars to either assert their religious independence or to forcibly convert their enemies. One of the most infamous examples of religious violence occurred in the British isles where King Henry VIII founded the Anglican Church primarily to divorce one wife so as to marry another. Henry’s reign…
