Browsing: Military

A Brief History On April 2, 1863, Southern women in Richmond, Virginia were at their wits end and had had enough, or more accurately had NOT had enough, because they and their families were starving for lack of food (aka, bread).  Rioting in the Confederate capital ensued, with men, women and children destroying property and looting stores.  Bread riots had become all too common in the American South during the Civil War (what my Southern friends call “The War of Northern Aggression.”), and the Richmond riots were the worst.  (See our article “10 Goofy Named Riots” for more riot history.)…

A Brief History On March 25, 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia joined the Axis Powers when they signed the Tripartite Pact, siding with the Germans, Italians and Japanese against most of the rest of the world in World War II.  Seldom do we hear mentioned in movies and television shows, or even in most popular books the part that other countries allied with the “Bad Guys” played in the biggest, deadliest war in human history.  Today we discuss some of these usually forgotten enemies of the Western Allies of World War II.  Some of these countries were actual treaty allies…

A Brief History World War I had seen its share of bloodshed and tragedy between its onset and its first Christmas. Still, around Christmas time in 1914, something miraculous happened. After violence had claimed a considerable number of lives, the German and British soldiers decided to stop killing each other for the holy Christmas day. Thus, the unofficial Christmas Truce of 1914 began, but what made it possible for them to start singing carols, and what is the actual story of the famous Christmas Truce? Let us find out more! Digging Deeper How It All Begun Before the legendary events…

A Brief History On March 17, 1891, a civilian ocean liner, the steamship SS Utopia of the Anchor Line ran into the moored battleship, HMS Anson in Gibraltar Bay, causing the ill-fated steamer to sink taking 562 of the 880 passengers to Davy Jones Locker!  We have frequently written about naval and maritime disasters, and today we include another one of those times a ship’s captain would love to have a “do over.” Digging Deeper As stated above, the British battleship HMS Anson (the 6th Royal Navy ship to bear the name, but not the last!) was anchored in Gibraltar…

A Brief History On March 15, 1493, Christopher Columbus made his triumphant return from his first voyage to the New World, a momentous occasion in human history and especially noteworthy for the Spanish Crown that he sailed for.  Today we look at 10 such Triumphant Returns, times when a person or a group of people made it back with an air of accomplishment, vindication, or victory, often with a page written in history about that very return.  No significance to the order listed, but feel free to add your own nominations to the list. Digging Deeper 1. Christopher Columbus, 1493.…