Browsing: Military

A Brief History On February 5, 1985, a war that started in 149 BC was finally put to rest when the Mayor of Rome, Ugo Vetere, went to Tunisia to meet with Chedli Klibi, the Mayor of Carthage, to sign a treaty of peace and friendship, officially ending the Third Punic War 2,131 years after it began. Digging Deeper The Punic Wars, fought between Rome and Carthage for supremacy in the Mediterranean, started in 264 BC and went through three iterations.  The conflict started as Rome was on the rise and sought to establish itself as a naval power, trying…

A Brief History On February 4, 1899, a war broke out between the First Philippine Republic and the US, called the Tagalog Insurgency, the Filipino-American War, and other names, that lasted until July of 1902, and continued as the Moro Rebellion until 1913.  Despite the length of the conflict and the significant casualties suffered by the US, the war remains largely forgotten by many Americans. Digging Deeper A Spanish colonial possession, the Philippines revolted against Spain in 1896, and then in 1898 the Spanish-American War was fought, including the famous naval battle at Manila Bay.  Part of the settlement of…

A Brief History On February 3, 1998, a bizarre aircraft accident occurred on the ski slopes of Italy when a USMC EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare jet flew below allowable altitude and cut the cable to a cable car carrying skiers. Digging Deeper The cable car was carrying an operator and 19 passengers, all of whom were killed as the car fell 300 feet from the severed cable.  The pilot and navigator of the jet were uninjured, and the damaged jet made a safe landing. The accident happened in the Dolomite mountains at Cavalese, and of course, the Italian public and…

A Brief History On January 30, 1968, the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong guerillas launched surprise attacks all over South Vietnam during a supposed “cease fire” period to celebrate the Asian Lunar New Year, known as Tet. Digging Deeper At this point in the Vietnam War, Americans were getting a bit war weary and were repeatedly told by their leaders that the US and South Vietnam were winning the war.  The uncharacteristically massive scale of the enemy attack destroyed American public belief that the war was going well or perhaps was even winnable. The North and VC involved in…

A Brief History On January 27, 1961, the Soviet Navy proved how dangerous the lives of submariners can be, when the Whiskey class submarine S-80 managed to sink with all hands without any outside help, what we call an “Oops moment.” Digging Deeper The S-80 was in a prolific class of submarines with 236 built between 1950 and 1960.  About 249 feet long with a normal crew of 52, the subs were powered by the familiar diesel-electric combination motors. On the fateful day, S-80 was patrolling the Barents Sea using its snorkel to allow the use of the diesel engines…