Browsing: Military

A Brief History On January 16, 27 BC, the Roman Senate conferred upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus the title “Augustus,” effectively making Augustus Caesar the first Roman Emperor, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.  While previously the Romans had indeed conquered many lands, their government had been a Republic and run by the Senate until Gaius Julius Caesar (the man usually referred to as simply Julius Caesar) became Dictator of Rome, sort of a de facto king or emperor.  If you notice the similarity in names between Julius and Augustus, you can be assured this is not coincidental. Digging…

A Brief History On January 14, 1943, the Japanese Navy began their operation to successfully evacuate the remaining Japanese land forces from the Island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands of the Pacific Ocean.  Called Operation Ke, the withdrawal of the Japanese forces is used to start us off on our list of 10 Famous or Infamous Withdrawals or Retreats.  The military calls such operations “retrograde operations,” the opposite of an attack or an advance.  Comedians refer to these actions as “attacking in a different direction.”  Far from being funny, retrograde operations, especially while still in contact with the enemy…

A Brief History On January 9, 1918, in Southern Arizona near the border with Mexico at a place called Bear Valley, one of the last battles of the American Indian Wars (1540-1924) was fought.   A force of about 30 US Army cavalry soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment shot it out with a force of about 30 Yaqui warriors, making this battle one of the last battles of the American Indian Wars fought between the mainly European settlers of what is now the United States and the Native Americans that originally lived in North America.  Only the Posey War in…

A Brief History On January 8, 2005, the United States Navy, normally pretty safe drivers of large grey boats, managed another one of those “Naval Oops Moments” we keep writing about when the nuclear powered submarine, USS San Francisco (SSN-711) (Los Angeles Class attack sub), managed to collide at full speed with an underwater mountain off the coast of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.  Operating at a depth of 525 feet and sailing at flank speed (the maximum, but classified top speed), it is a true testament to the brilliance of the designers and builders of the sub that the boat…

A Brief History On December 30, 2018, we at History and Headlines take a moment to remember some of the notable people that died this year.  (Yes, we know there is an entire day left in the year, so we will update the article to include any last minute deaths of note.)  As always, we invite you, the reader, to nominate any other worthy people that died in 2018 that we neglected to mention, especially as we are not trying to name every single person of minimal celebrity that died.  If you choose to mention a person that died, please…