Browsing: Society

A Brief History On June 16, 2010, Bhutan, a landlocked country in Asia and the smallest state located entirely within the Himalaya mountain range, became the first country to institute a total ban on tobacco. Digging Deeper Long before the enactment of the Tobacco Control Act of 2010, Bhutan’s government struggled against tobacco use.  In 1916, the first King of Bhutan Ugyen Wangchuck (r. 1907–1926) promulgated a ban on the “most filthy and noxious herb, called tobacco.” Just shy of a century later, 2010’s The Tobacco Control Act of Bhutan regulates tobacco and tobacco products, banning the cultivation, harvesting, production,…

A Brief History On June 11, 173, during the Marcomannic Wars (166–180), the Roman army in Moravia was encircled by the Quadi, a Germanic tribe, who had broken the peace treaty of 171.  In a violent thunderstorm, emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) defeated and subdued them in the so-called “Miracle of the Rain”!  (For more about Rome on this website, see Rome) Digging Deeper Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor in the beginning of the major motion picture Gladiator (2000), is considered the last of Rome’s Five Good Emperors and, arguably, the last emperor of the Pax Romana or “Roman Peace”.  The author…

A Brief History On June 10, 1190, during the Third Crusade, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (r. 1155-1190) drowned in the river Saleph while leading an army to Jerusalem. Digging Deeper Frederick I Barbarossa (known as “red beard”) is generally considered one of Medieval Europe’s greatest emperors.  He had a long reign as not only Holy Roman Emperor but also as King of Italy, King of Germany (which at the time also meant King of the Romans), and King of Burgundy, ruling some of these realms from 1152 until his death in 1190, or nearly forty years! He accomplished much…

A Brief History On June 5, 1829, the British ship, HMS Pickle, a 5 gun schooner, captured an armed slave ship, the Voladora, off the coast of Cuba.  This vessel was not the first British ship named “Pickle,” and in fact, it was the third British Navy ship with that name.  Indeed, there have been 8 Royal Navy ships with that goofy name!  With all the cool and bad ass sounding names you could give a warship, why settle for some goofy name?  Well, there are a bunch of goofy named warships, and here we list 10 of them.  (Our…

A Brief History On June 4, 2017, American singer and philanthropist Ariana Grande is performing in a concert with fellow celebrities to raise funds to help victims of the recent Islamist suicide bombing that occurred after her concert held in Manchester, England on May 22, 2017. Digging Deeper Twenty-three people (including the perpetrator) died in the disgusting attack and another 119 suffered non-fatal injuries. The concert to help those victims comes just one day after yet another Islamist terror attack occurred in England.  Last night, June 3, 2017, in London, England, three Islamic extremists used a van and knives to…