Browsing: Military

A Brief History On August 22, 1864, the first of 4 treaties governing the conduct of war was signed in Geneva, Switzerland, a pact called “The First Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field.” Digging Deeper The lengthy title tells you what the pact concerned, and the 12 European countries or kingdoms that signed it agreed to humanitarian treatment of the war wounded. Later, 5 more countries signed, including the United States. The civilized world met 3 more times over the next century, establishing far reaching accords on the conduct of…

A Brief History On August 17, 1914, the World War I Battle of Stallupönen was fought between the Imperial German army and the Imperial Russian army near Nesterov, Russia.  The Germans were armed with the Mauser M98 chambered in 7.92 mm Mauser (sometimes called “8 mm Mauser”) and the Russians with the M1891 Mosin-Nagant rifle chambered in 7.62×54mmR.  both rifles were 5 shot bolt action repeating rifles firing smokeless powder cartridges topped by copper jacketed pointy nosed bullets that were accurate and highly effective. Digging Deeper Bullets were originally merely lead round balls, and then were blunt tip hollow based…

A Brief History On August 16, 1940, Flight Lieutenant Nicolson of the British Royal Air Force flew his Hawker Hurricane fighter into history during combat over England against the German Luftwaffe when he continued to fight an aerial battle despite his plane being on fire from 4 cannon shells and multiple machine gun bullets striking it from an enemy Me-110.  Only after shooting down the enemy fighter despite being wounded and suffering severe burns, did Nicolson bail out, and was later awarded the Victoria Cross. Digging Deeper Air to air combat is a demanding and tricky business, and one of…

A Brief History On August 13, 2008, the military forces of Russia took over the Georgian city of Gori following a Russian war of aggression against its smaller neighbor and former Soviet Socialist Republic, during the Russo-Georgian War between August 1 and August 12 of 2008. Digging Deeper Russia had previously waged war on Georgia during another Soviet-Georgian War, this time an invasion during 1921.  We say “Soviet” because at that time Russia was the leading Republic in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  An expansionist invasion, the Soviets, or Russians if you will, sought to expand the territory of…

A Brief History On August 12, 1914, World War I was merely two weeks old and apparently the German and Belgian armies did not yet realize the futility of using mounted cavalry in an age of rapid firing repeating rifles and automatic machine guns. Digging Deeper The Battle of Halen was fought in Belgium between the invading Germans, numbering 4,000 cavalry and 200 infantry against 2400 Belgian cavalrymen backed up by 450 bicycle mounted infantry.  The Germans intended to speed their way to the Belgian capital of Brussels, led by their silver helmeted cavalry, but the Belgians were smart enough…