A Brief History On September 14, 1814, while observing the Battle of Baltimore from a British ship, lawyer Francis Scott Key penned the poem, “The Defence of Fort McHenry,” the words that would be adapted as our (the USA) National Anthem. Commonly sung or played before sporting events and other special events, the tune is normally given the reverence reserved for those things that are greatly valued. Here we list times when the rendition of The Star Spangled Banner was performed in a way that drew criticism and ire from large chunks of the population. UPDATE: The performance of our…
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A Brief History On September 9, 9 A.D., Germanic tribes under the leadership of Arminius dealt an army of three Roman Legions and their auxiliaries a crushing and total defeat at Teutoburg Forest in what is now Germany. Called a “turning point in world history,” “Rome’s greatest defeat,” and “one of the most decisive battles recorded in military history,” the Battle of Teutoburg Forest ensured that the Romans would never go East of the Rhine River and the Germanic tribes in the East would not be subjugated by Rome. Digging Deeper The Romans were led by Publius Quinctilius Varus, a…
A Brief History On September 7, 1776, American revolutionary Ezra Lee attempted to use a submarine called the Turtle in combat. The hand powered little one man sub did not perform as expected, and Lee was unable to attach his offensive explosive charge to a British warship. Twice in the past we have used this example and the B-32 Dominator to make a list of 10 Underperforming Weapons and 5 More Underperforming Weapons. Today we take this opportunity to list another 5 weapons that disappointed the people meant to use them. Digging Deeper 1. M-4 Sherman Tank, 1942. When the American Army…
A Brief History On September 5, 1836, Sam Houston was elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas. Of course, we remember him largely through the city that is named after him, the 4th most populous in the United States and spreading a massive nearly 600 square miles, about double the area of New York City. In 2017, while the city of Houston is in the news as Hurricane Harvey and its resultant floods devastate the city and the area, we look into the man behind the city’s name. Digging Deeper Sam Houston was born to a Scots-Irish…
A Brief History On September 4, 1949, after a concert by African American singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson, riots broke out in the Peekskill, New York location of the concert. World famous for singing, acting, and as a Civil Rights and Trade Union activist, Robeson became the target of hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and White Supremacists. Digging Deeper Paul Robeson was a remarkable man, born in New Jersey in 1898, a time of Jim Crow Laws and segregation, in the state of Woodrow Wilson, a man we now know as a racist. Robeson’s mother was…